making twirly art {using what you have}

I think it is safe to say that I am not the only preschool teacher who holds onto odd bits of scrap paper and other flotsam and jetsam I come across.  In my classroom one of the children's favorite activities to use the salad spinner to make art. Sometimes we use coffee filters in our spinner but with some prep time, I find that the centers of paper plates work best for durability. After I cut out all those circles I am left with a pile of paper plate rims that have just enough curl and twirl in them that I came up with this project that the children call twirlies.

All you need is a paper plate rim, any size, paint, and glitter. When the art is going to be super messy, I will lay put a sheet of wax paper for the children to use as an art mat. Wax paper is great for sticky gooey art projects because you can move the whole shebang to a safe place for drying and the art (mostly) won't stick to the paper. The wax paper also keeps any glue or paint from drip dropping all over your tabletops or, in our case, windowsills.

 

My kiddos absolutely adore glitter...and paint...and sweeping up with the dustpan. I keep the dustpan on our counter between the refrigerator and microwave and each kiddo in my class knows where it is stored and freely uses it to clean up the riff-raff that falls on our floor. They also return it to its spot when they finish. I think this young lady spent more time engaged in sweeping up than she did sprinkling glitter all over her twirlie. The finished twirlies were hung on our art wire across our room and/or under our windowsills, the children chose where they wished for them to be hung and were quite proud of their creations.

glitter glam

I recently glittered up some happy stars to decorate our walls at home. These were super simple, if not slightly messy (that pesky glitter likes to linger) to create. So simple your kiddos could enjoy making! them.

Materials:

*empty cereal box or other thin cardboard

*colored paint (acrylic or tempera)

*foam brush

*pencil

*scissors

*hole punch or staples

*glitter

To begin, have your kiddo think of a happy shape (hint hint...Valentine's Day is fast approaching). If they are eager to do so, allow them to draw their shape themselves otherwise follow their direction and draw away on the back of a recycled cereal box or other cardboard you may have on hand. You can also use cardstock or posterboard. 

Use scissors to cut out the shape your kiddo drew or directed. Try to get a handful or so drawn and cut. Shapes and things always look happier when grouped together. Set up on ap aint friendly surface.

  Distribute paint however you prefer. We like to blob it directly onto our cardboard. Hand out a foam bursh or other fat paintbrush and allow your kiddo(s) to go to town painting their cardboard shapes. If you used a recycled box, you may need to to more than one coat of paint to cover up the print if you are going to paint both sides (the pink paint was quite thin so we switched to blue for our second coat).

On the final coat, while paint is still wet, hand your kiddo their glitter shakers and shake, shake, shake! Set aside to dry. If you ae going to tack up to a wall or other surface, you will only need to paint one side. If you wish to hang like a mobile, make sure to paint both sides so that all surfaces are ready for their close-ups. Easy, peasy! 

To hang you can thread a length of yarn or string through a punched hole (punch hole before painting) or use a stapler to staple yarn to the shape. Find a happy place for display and go for it! 

scrubby sponge snowflakes

There are all sorts of household objects you and your children can use to make snowflake-like prints. A few years ago I used empty thread spools, this year why not try using a scrubby sponge? You can pick up a six pack of scrubbers from the  dollar store or even check under your kitchen sink to see if you have any tucked away already. 

scrubby sponge snowflakes

*cereal box or other thin cardboard

*acrylic paint in assorted colors

*plastic scrubby sponge (not steel wool)

*white paint

*glitter

*scissors

You can certainly create your snowflake prints on any type of art paper but I prefer to use up what I have so this cracker box was perfect. Simply open both ends and cut along one side with ap air of scissors. Have your kiddo squirt and dribble on two or three colors of paint. 

Use an edge of another box, folded up newpaper or paint scrapes to push, pull and scrape the paint so that it retains some of its original dribbly bits. This will create a nifty marble effect. Otherwise, let your kiddos go to town with a fat paintbrush or sponge. Set aside to dry and repeat on the flip side of your cardboard if you like.

 To create the snowflakes, pour a blob of white paint onto a plate or repurposed lid. Have your kiddo dip and press all over the cardboard. While the paint is still wet, hand them a glitter shaker and let them jazz up their snowflakes. Ignore the yarny parts of the pics. I had originally thought if I cut into the scrubby sponge five or so times and then tied it at the cuts it would make a more prominent snowflake print. It did not, though the yarn does make the picture look a bit more quirky. Set aside to dry.

Once dry, cut around each snowflake and flip over to add another snowflake print on the back. Add your glitter and allow to dry. Once dry you can tape them up on a window or turn them into gift tags. Tuck a few away and I'll show you another nifty projects to make hanging ornaments with them! Stay tuend and thank you for visiting scrumdilly-do!