In honor of her birthday (July 6th!), I thought it wise to put together an education page for Frida Kahlo. She is actually a difficult character to study - especially for young children. Her life was filled with so much pain and suffering - and quite a bit of other adult subject matter. I strongly recommend that parents and educators review ALL lesson plans ahead of time for appropriateness. I have, however, found some great child-friendly resources, which I have listed below. But some are definitely geared for older children. If you want to learn about other important figures, check out my post on Latinos in History Your Children Should Know.
Also, please check out my Pinterest board on Frida Kahlo for Kids which has some incredibly beautiful finds.
This post contains affiliate links.
"I am not sick. I am broken.
But I am happy as long as I can paint."
~Frida Kahlo
Lesson Plans
• Jimmie's Collage again, is my go-to place on the topic of artists. She has a great Artist Study on Frida, and even includes notebooking pages.
• Kimball Art Center has this lesson plan for 4th grade students.
• Deep Space Sparkle has this excellent 16-page booklet on the artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. (5th & 6th grade...ish)
• PBS has made a Teacher's Guide and Parent's Guide available based on the Life and Times of Frida Kahlo. 10th -12th grade.
• PBS has made a Teacher's Guide and Parent's Guide available based on the Life and Times of Frida Kahlo. 10th -12th grade.
Coloring Pages
• Mom.me has a great coloring page, too (also by Pearmama).
• SuperColoring has Frida's Roots page available as a coloring page.
If your kids love drawing as well as coloring, then they may want to watch one of these 10+ Videos on How to Draw Frida Kahlo.
• Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera: Their Lives and Ideas, 24 Activities (For Kids series) by Carol Sabbeth
• Me, Frida by Amy Novesky and David Diaz
• Frida Kahlo (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists) by Mike Venezia
• Frida Kahlo: The Artist who Painted Herself (Smart About Art) by Margaret Frith and Tomie dePaola
• Frida English Edition and Spanish Edition by Jonah Winter and Ana Juan
• Frida Kahlo (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists) by Mike Venezia
• My Little Golden Book About Frida Kahlo or Mi Little Golden Book sobre Frida Kahlo (Spanish edition) by Silvia Lopez
Be sure to visit my page Frida Kahlo Crafts for Kids for additional ideas on crafts and activities.
• Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera: Their Lives and Ideas, 24 Activities (For Kids series) by Carol Sabbeth (see link above in "Books")
• Take a look at these Frida Kahlo paper dolls on Amazon.
• I really love this magnetic dress up set, Frida's Frocks and Smocks Dress Up Set, on the Unemployed Philosopher's Guild. They also sell this wonderful little set of Artist Finger Puppets, which includes Monet, Dali, Van Gogh and Frida Kahlo.
Arts & Crafts
• Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera: Their Lives and Ideas, 24 Activities (For Kids series) by Carol Sabbeth (see link above in "Books")
• Take a look at these Frida Kahlo paper dolls on Amazon.
• I really love this magnetic dress up set, Frida's Frocks and Smocks Dress Up Set, on the Unemployed Philosopher's Guild. They also sell this wonderful little set of Artist Finger Puppets, which includes Monet, Dali, Van Gogh and Frida Kahlo.
• RedTedArt has this tutorial for making Toilet Paper Roll Frida Kahlo Pinatas. (Oh my gosh!)
• Of course, you can't talk about Frida without mentioning La Casa Azul, which makes this origami craft from Fun for Spanish Teachers just brilliant.
• Here's an awesome video from the Bronx Children's Museum on The Art of Frida Kahlo: Creating a Self-Portrait
Kahlo's life was colorful and there were a lot of adult themes present. But here are a few videos geared for students. As always, parents and teachers should watch the videos first to determine appropriateness. These links are to YouTube. If you'd like to share them with your students without giving them access to YouTube, check out the cool tool Video.Link
Videos
Kahlo's life was colorful and there were a lot of adult themes present. But here are a few videos geared for students. As always, parents and teachers should watch the videos first to determine appropriateness. These links are to YouTube. If you'd like to share them with your students without giving them access to YouTube, check out the cool tool Video.Link
• If you are looking for some video tutorials appropriate for children, check out my list of How to Draw Frida Kahlo. It has some fantastic art tutorials in a variety of styles and for a variety of ages and skill levels.
• My favorite is from Ms. Jess Art Class and shows students how to draw Frida Kahlo and her spider monkey! (Shown above.)
• Comic Kids Org has this video that has many great photographs of Frida throughout her life.
• You may also enjoy sharing this great video that morphs the self-portraits of Frida together.
• TED-Ed also has a great biography video, but it is best geared for older students. (Note: Some nudity in the artwork is shown.)
For a SPANISH video biography, I absolutely love this one for little children from CBeebies Español: