The editor's poor attempt at a Jackson Pollock. "I'm off to sell it to the Tate," he said.
'Move your mouse to create plats and trails of colour to make a painting in the style of Jackson Pollock.'

A lot of people think art is a difficult subject, and think art museums are dull – here’s ten games that might help change your mind. By Suzanne Elvidge

All games are free downloads or free to view online, and need the minimum of equipment. Some games require your browser to have a 'plug in' for Shockwave, Flash or Java.

To play a game, simply click on its name. If you are a parent, we advise you to try the game and the site it's on first before letting your kids play them, to make sure you're happy. Don't forget, you can also find great games for kids at Christian Aid's Global Gang website

When downloading games from the Internet, don't forget to keep your anti-virus and anti-spyware software up to date.

Inside Art: An adventure in art history
Bored by a trip to an art museum, you get trapped inside a picture and need to learn about the painting and artist from a fish to get out. If you enjoy this one, try A Pintura: Art Detective.

Games Gallery
A whole series of short arts games, including animation, colour mixing, sculpting and more. You need to be quick, and if you get things wrong you lose lives. Great fun!

Artgames
Click on Artie to open the games (opens in a pop-up window). Explore Artie’s house for a range of art games, including games about paintings and painting games!

Still Life
Make your own still life paintings. Wait for ‘continue’ to appear on screen – this game takes a little while to load. Arrange objects on the screen, or hit ‘random’. Visit the Arts Zone for more art games.

Colour Theory vs Dr Gray
Dr Gray is taking all the colour out of the paintings – you need to solve puzzles to help bring the colour back. It’s hard work but fun.

Colouring.com
Choose a picture and then colour it in on screen by picking virtual colours (or print it out and colour it for real!)

JacksonPollock.org
Move your mouse to create plats and trails of colour to make a painting in the style of Jackson Pollock. Clicking the mouse will change colour, and pressing the space bar clears the screen.

Art Thief
Guess the key codes to get into the gallery and steal the paintings – the keypad will tell you when you are too high or too low.

Fimbles Arty Tunes
What you add to your picture will make a tune. Choose a Fimble, add percussion and stickers (you need to click on the one you want and then drag it), use the paintbrush to add colours, and then play the tune.

Learning to draw

Not so much a game as a list of websites. Want to draw cartoons? Watch the short videos on Videojug. Want to be a caricaturist? Download the course.

Want to draw animals? Follow the step-by-step instructions. Or even make your own stick man. SSFChildren has more learning to draw sites. And as an extra – meet Brian the Angry Art Teacher.

Links to more art games

• Incredible Activities and Games
• Art and Music Games

• Other games

• surefish.co.uk culture section index