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! 

dip-idy doo dah

 Back when we did our watercolor and painter's tape pictures, we found we had quite a bit of liquid watercolor left over in our repurposed applesauce cups. So as not to let it go to waste, I remembered that just that morning, I repinned a most nifty pin. I grabbed a handful of paper towels and folded them up into triangles for the little painters who wanted to continue arting it up and demonstrated that it was totally okay to dip their little triangles into the leftover paint. 

They had a blast dipping away it was all I could do to wrangle them up for outside play time.

**here is the original source that the Land of Nod linked up to.

The Art Teacher's Closet: Drippy Monsters

You may have noticed that we like making art through straws. Lookie what Amanda from The Art Teacher's Closet did with her students. Totally cool!

*photo from The Art Teacher's Closet, go check out the rest!

inside the box

This super easy painting activity looks super pretty when it is all finished. You can prep the board and paper ahead of time or you have your kidlet draw their rectangle stencil before you do the cutting.

Materials:
*heavy sheet of paper
*paint of your choice
*cardboard square, larger than paper (food boxes work)
*painters tape (the blue stuff)
*paintbrushes
*water
*paint friendly area

scrumdilly-do it:

Cut your cardboard down so that it is about two inches larger on (two opposite sides) than your paper.

Plop the cardboard on top of your paper. If you are using a cereal box or other printed material, place the printed side down so as not to distract your wee artist. Flip the two pieces over so that the paper is on top and the cardboard edges are exposed. Fold those edges over so that they "hug" the paper. Trim the other two edges so that they match the remaining width.

Flip the whole thing back over and now you have a blank piece of cardboard the same size as the paper. Draw a rectangle in the center or have your kidlet draw their own rectangle. Make is fairly large, you are impersonating (shhh!) a matte here and want the impression of the finished work to look framed.


Carefully cut out the inside of th rectangle. This part if for grown-ups only! No super sharp objects should be wielded near the kidlets. Tape off the rectangle to keep the edges straight and to create a seal so the paint doesn't slip under. Flip over your paper/board and tape the folded edges down as well. Blue painters tape is sticky enough to hold everything down but not too sticky so that it tears the paper. You can use masking tape but it might tear things up.

Flip the board/paper back over and set out the paints and let your kidlet paint, paint, paint!

and paint....

and paint some more...

Set aside to dry and once it is dry(ish) peel off the tape and board and admire! You can make this even more funky by cutting out all sorts of shapes and squares. Use the paper more than once (ooh, how about their name?), just cut a stencil of a different size and let them paint in the new shape. Compare how the paint looks when it is painted over...do colors mix when they are dry? Can you see the brush strokes from the first round? Have fun and let me know if you have a finished dilly project you want me to post about or link to!

last minute fireworks painting

Here's a fun and slightly messy fireworks painting project for your kidlets. This one is definitely for the outdoors. Beware of fits and giggles!

You will need:
*2 or more small bouncy balls.
*at least 1 pair of old tights or hose
*splat mat
*scissors
*white paper
*red and blue paint (or any other two colors you prefer)
*containers for the paint
*water to thin paint
*mess friendly clothes and work area

scrumdilly-do it!
Set up your work area by filling your containers with paint and water. I used a little too much water for mine so the colors are quite muted. Liquid watercolor or tempera is fine for this. You could even use food color and water if you wanted to.Have your kidlet cut the legs off the tights near the top where the legs meet.Pop a ball, I used large super balls, into each leg and shake it down to the toe. Add a knot just above the ball to ensure it stays in place.Toss your new paintbrushes into your pain mixture and let them soak up a bit of paint.When your tot is ready, pull out a "brush" and WHACK it onto the paper. It will make satisfying THWACK and splatter as it hits. Make sure your kidlet knows to only bounce their new brush onto the paper and NOT at their sibling or friend. Have your kidlet try different techniques. Try dropping the ball directly onto the paper or dragging it across for lines. Whatever you do, the more colors your tots use, the more fireworks-y their pictures will appear.Have fun and don't say I didn't warn ya!

salad spin art in action

Self Portrait-Literal Cubism

While not necessarily done in the style of Picasso, this project is a fun exploration of shapes and squares. You can use this project as a jumping off point to showcase the work of Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and other Cubist painters. This self-portrait project is done in four parts. The materials listed are only suggestions and I encourage you to try out a variety of mediums. Each part will allow your child to explore line drawing, creative painting (or collage) and scissor skills. You do not have to use a phonebook for the line drawing part of the project. I prefer to use phonebook pages as they allow for variety in paper texture and it uses up all those pesky FREE phonebooks!

What you need:
recycled phonebook pages (white pages work best)
paint of your choice
Glue or adhesive of your choice
scissors
paintbrushes or spongebrushes
fat black marker
large sheets of sturdy white paper (11” by 17” is good)

scrumdilly-do it:

For the first part, have your kidlet cover their large sheet of white paper in up to four colors of their choice. Encourage each child to paint the entire sheet so that no white is showing. Set aside to dry.

While that dries, paint your phonebook page all over. For greater visual impact, have your wee one look at their first painting and discuss which color is the least represented and have them showcase that color on their phonebook page. Set aside to dry. Make sure you have your wee one go easy with the brush here as the phonebook paper is delicate and will tear easily when wet. Using a sponge brush will help alleviate tears here. Because the paper is so thin, this will dry fairly quickly.

Once dry, encourage your tot to draw a simple line drawing self portrait in black ink. This is where the fat black marker comes in.

Next up, get those scissors and instruct the children to cut their portrait up into two or more squares or rectangles. You will need to do this if your wee ones are not scissors ready.

Once their large sheet of paper is dry, get out the gluestick and have your kidlet re-assemble their portraits so that there is space between each shape. They can of course mix up their features so that the mouth is on top, etc. It's like a portrait puzzle game. Have fun with it! Once they have their portrait pieces arrange to their liking, back each shape with glue from the gluestick, press and smooth out any creases.



When doing this project, children will work on their fine motor skills, sense of self, shapes, spatial relations and color mixing. They'll also get to know a little more about Picasso and cubism if you choose to share that info as well.

If you do this, make sure to add it to the flickr group so that I may post your projects here for the summer sharing time.

revisiting the shake and make

Also known as container painting! The cool thing about Valentine's Day is that you can bring out any of your favorite projects, use just pink & red and your are up to your eyeballs in festive love-fun!If you do not have an empty oatmeal container, you can use a coffee tin or a yogurt container. For this edition, I used a yogurt container. All you have to do is cut your paper to fit.Roll your paper into the container so that is sticks to the sides, add a handful of marbles, beads or buttons and a squirt or two of paint. The less paint you use, the more streaky fun the end result will be. Pop the lid on and hand of to your wee one for some shaking fun. Put on some favorite tunes and hold a mini dance party!When the shaking is done, pull out the art, set in a safe place to dry and add a sprinkle or two of glitter. Once dry, you can turn your kidlet's art into all sorts of valentine fun. Check back tomorrow for some ideas.

Cauliflower Projects Two, Three & Four

This one involves the leaves of the plant. You can of course do this with any type of non-poisonous leaf. Have fun!

Same set up as before, only hand your wee ones a paintbrush. Get out those leaves and have your wee ones arrange the leaves onto their paper. You may want to tack the leaves down a smidge with a loop of tape or a dot of glue stick.Once the leaves are arranged, have your wee ones paint over the paper so that the leaves act as a stencil. When they are done, remove the leaves and set aside, don't throw them away! If you use a large enough sheet of paper, you have some nifty gift wrap!
Project Three:
Paint with the painted leaves! Huh? Remove the painted leaves from the stenciled picture and flip them over so that the paint side is facing down.Lay on top of a new sheet of paper and press firmly so that an imprint is left behind. Do this until there is no more paint on the leaves and set the leaves aside for project four. Try to use the leaf imprints to create an object, shape or person. Have fun with it!

Project Four:
Make a collage with the painted leaves. I know, nutty, right? Pass out some cardboard cut from cereal boxes or maybe a paper plate, or heavy cardstock and have your wee ones make a painted leaf collage.

You may want to use regular school glue for this one. You can also use pre-cut cardstock folded in half and have them make thank you cards are "just because" cards.

Next up, stamping with the cauliflower core!

Play with your food!

Well, only some of it. The other day I was in the kitchen chopping away at a head of cauliflower when I looked into the scrap bowl and saw all these possibilities. I now bring to you an assortment of projects come to life by this underrated vegetable. Who knows? Maybe your wee ones will actually eat it after all is said and done and painted with, on and around!First up, paint with cauliflower! When you trim all those bits and pieces of for your food making adventures, you end up with a lovely core, smaller bits of stem and some nifty green leaves and such. I've got five projects for you using your scraps so stay tuned! Let's have some fun!

Materials:

*cauliflower scraps

*paper of your choice; recycled, cardboard or paper bags

*paint such as a washable tempera or an acrylic if you're brave

*paintbrushes

*tray or plate or palette for paint

scrumdilly-do it!

Project One:

Set up the workspace with paper and add your paints to the tray or plate. Set out a bowlful of cauliflower scraps and challenge your kidlets to paint a picture using only the scraps.

The best option for this project is the dip and paint.Limit your color palette to a few colors that mix well and you can avoid a glob of brown goo. Set aside to dry and you have a lovely abstract painting.This will also work with other veggie scraps. If you're planning on making veggie scrap soup by all means make the soup instead! See ya tomorrow for more cauliflower fun!