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.

odds & ends art in the style of louise nevelson

last summer i took a class on women in art. it was more awesome than awesome and i finished up the whole adventure with a deep yearning for more. one of the projects we did was a sculptural project based on the large scale installations of Louise Nevelson we began with a flat square of cardboard, a bottle of tacky glue and an enormous assortment of small wooden pieces. after we framed and layered and glued ourselves silly, we took our projects outside for a coating or two of black spray paint. it's interesting how everything looks nicer when it is all monochromatic.early this summer we were attempting to begin the big purge in my casa and had two kidlets in tow. we set them up in the garden with all sorts of doodads. plastic bottle caps, popsicle sticks, cereal boxes, wooden discs and anything else that was destined for the recycle bin. after all the glue dried, the kidlets picked out their paint colors and we did our own takes on a Louise Nevelson piece.creating an art project based on an artist's style is not meant to emulate their masterpieces but to tie it all in so that your kidlet can connect the two. they may not remember the artist's biography but chances are, once you have them do their own Nevelsons, Warhols or Picassos they will remember a familiarity with that artist's work and they will remember the joy they felt when making their own creations. children are never to young to receive art and creativity as long as we make it a joyful experience.

other Lousie Nevelson projects:
Art Projects for Kids
Art Lessons for Kids
Modern Art Projects for Kids
Art is Messy

**this is a project to do on a day when the kidlets are bored. it is a "use what you have" kind of project. it may use up your recyclable materials and you may be able to repurpose much for this but in no way am i trying to claim this is an environmentally sound project. using spray paint kinda takes away from that idea. you are free to, and encouraged even, to use other types of paint though those may not cover all your areas as nifty. however, by doing so, you will add another step for your kidlets to complete and a mess happy art experience for them as well. happy arting!

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.

Make Name Cards for Passover

There is no end to the many different ways you can make place cards for your Passover Seder. This idea uses up those plastic baskets that strawberries and other fruit may come in. My original idea was hoping that they would shrink like shrink plastic does alas they do not but this is still fun and it allows for some marker time and most kids do love marker time!What you need:
*scissors
*plastic fruit containers, washed & dried
*permanent markers (I know, I'm sorry but Crayola won't stick)
*foil
*cookie sheetscrumdilly-do it!

Wash and dry your plastic containers. Your kidlets can do this, easy peasy. If you can, remove the label from the container so that you can use both the top and the bottom. Each container will give you two place cards.

Cut apart your containers so that your wee ones can doodle-up the tops and bottoms. Save the sides for other fun but usually they are too bumpy to write on. You can even cut each top and/or bottom piece into two pieces for smaller place cards.
Have your tots use the markers to decorate each piece and then place on a sheet of foil on a cookie sheet and pop into a low temperature oven or toaster oven. 200 degrees or under is good.
The plastic doesn't shrink, but it does curl up quite a bit. You may choose to weigh it down with a cast iron skillet or other heavy oven safe pan. It goes without question that you are to do this part and NOT your tots! After about ten minutes, the plastic will curl and be pliable. As quickly as possible, remove pieces, one at a time and gently shape into a wave so that the place card can stand on its own. The plastic cools very fast and becomes rigid. And yes, it does get a might bit stinky.Viola! You are done! You may want to experiment with your kidlets and let them color up all bits of the containers and then see how wonky they will curl. Call it sculptural art!

Happy October!

When I was a kid, the Halloween countdown began the day after Halloween. I would immediately start planning my costume. It would drive my mom batty! What better way to celebrate Halloween by making it a month long affair? If you're not into Halloween you can tweak most any of the projects I'm going to share with you this month for fall or spring harvests!
Let's kick off Halloween month with a "use what you have" wreath! You may think a child would be uninterested in making a wreath for your door but hey, it involves paint, it involves glue and it can involve mess, or not, if your kidlet is not of the mess monster variety.

What you need:
*cardboard ( a cereal box will work)
*old phonebook or newspaper
*glue
*paint ( you can use whichever kind you have on hand)
*sponges or brushes or hands if you're brave
*scissors are optional but you will need them to cut out the wreath
*pipecleaner, soda tab, paperclip or wire to hang
*large bowl or plate
*wax paper (optional)
scrumdilly-do it!

Set up a mess friendly workspace. Use an old vinyl tablecloth as a splat mat or a sheet or put newspaper down on your work surface.

Breakdown the cereal box so that you have a large piece of cardboard. Have your child use a plate or turned over bowl as a stencil for the wreath. You can turn it into a hunt and/or a lesson in measuring and size concepts. "Which bowl will fit?" "How big do you want your wreath to be?" Turn the plate or bowl over and hold in place while your wee one traces a circle around it. You can of course ask your child to simply draw a large circle. Find a smaller bowl or round object to use for the center of the wreath. Trace. If your kidlet is able, have her or him cut out the first large circle. Cut out the center circle to complete the wreath shape. Set aside.Bring out the newspaper or phone book. Tear pages of the phone book out for easier workability. Set out your paint and challenge your wee ones to cover as much of the paper as they like. They can use any color they want but if you want to make the wreath more Halloween-like limit the color palette by first discussing what colors remind them of Halloween (or fall or spring). If you want to up the challenge set out only primary colors and let your kidlets mix the paint. You can turn it into a lesson of "what makes orange" (or green or purple). They can then paint using whichever means you've set out for them. Set the pages aside to dry. Phone book paper is pretty thin so set out a minimal amount of paint. The good thing is phone books are thick beasts. If the paper tears, just grab another sheet.Once dry, have your wee ones tear up the paper! Tear it up! They can cut it into strips if they like or you want them to practice with scissors but tearing is something most children don't get an opportunity to do. Tearing allows for fine motor skills, it encourages the pincher grip and allows an opportunity to experience cause and effect. "How long a strip can you tear?" "How small?".Once the strips are torn, liberate that glue and have your kidlet cover their cardboard wreath with it. Talk about how they are going to use the glue. They can paint it on, they can dab it on or they can pour a bug glob and use their hands to smear it all over the place! You can also begin by asking your wee one how they want to cover the wreath with their torn paper. Some may want to layer, others may want to crumble and glue. Do you remember making tissue paper pumpkins? You would wrap the small square of tissue paper around the end of a pencil, dab into the glue and press. There are a great many ways your wee one could do this, let them choose. Use a sheet of wax paper beneath the wreath shape to prevent sticking to the work surface. A plastic place mat or tablecloth will work as well.Your child can now cover that cardboard however they choose. They can add layer upon layer if they like. They can paint instead of glue. You can make this an ongoing process, take a few days if you like. Attention spans run short. Once dry, add your hanging attachment to the back, add embellishments such as a bow or candy, hang; and let the celebration begin!Since this is a "use what you have" project don't feel limited to newspaper and phone book pages. We have a stack of phone books that always seems to grow so I thought let's use this! You can use pasta, rice, fabric, colored paper, whatever you have on hand. This is a craft project that may appear to be project based but it is not. When you allow your child choices and freedom to create how they choose they develop important reasoning skills, autonomy and pride in their work. It is when you don't allow for creativity and wiggle room that keeps them from the process and from learning about the world around them. It doesn't matter if they finish the project it matters that they have fun while doing it. Happy October!

(corn) Pop Art!

Last week I taught an art class for kidlets that focused on Andy Warhol. We looked at a book of his art work and talked about the art behind everyday packaging. I explained that everything we purchase that comes in a package, comes in a package that was designed by an artist. We talked about the soup can and how Warhol took something simple and mundane and turned it into something extraordinary. I wanted to put it into their heads that art is all around us and sometimes all it takes is another person's vision to show us.

After we talked and looked and talked some more, I set out some large sheets of paper. I intended to use large sheets of canvas paper but that got left at the casa so we had to use what we had on hand. Next up, each kidlet picked out an empty wee cereal carton. You can do this project with any type of packaging you like. I adore the small cereal boxes!

We sat for a few moments and discussed our boxes. We talked about the colors used, the words and the design. I gave each kidlet a piece of matte board to use as a palette and asked them what color they wanted to use as their background. I also gave them some white and some black and we talked about mixing different shades of the same color. Most couldn't wrap their heads around the idea of mixing black with another color. I did my best to encourage them but didn't push.

 

 Rollers were past out along with paint brushes and the background work began.

Next up, we coated the back of the cereal box with tacky glue and the kidlets placed them on their papers. Then we headed out to play for awhile to let the paint dry.

Once the paint was dry, another color was chosen and a word was picked out from the cereal box. Each kidlet painted their word wherever they chose onto their paper and we ended up with a nifty assortment of cereal pop, Pop Art!


I can't wait to see what you and yours come up with!

Don't throw that away-strawberry baskets

We don't often come by these nifty little gems these days but if you get your berries from a local stand or farmer's market, you just may be lucky enough to score some! There is much you can do with a strawberry basket. Today, we will show you how to make a Mother's Day pendant or brooch!What you need:
*green strawberry basket
*ribbon, lace and string scraps
*pom-pons, buttons, sequins, etc.
*pipe cleaners
*paper scraps
*sandpaper
*glue
*glitter
*pin-backs if making brooches
*scissorsscrumdilly-do it!

First off, this project is most easily done with a strawberry basket but can be adapted using cardboard, styrofoam, cereal boxes or other material. Use this project as a guideline and have fun experimenting!

Cut up your basket into parts. You can cut it into five or more parts, depending on how big your wee one wants his/her surface space to be. You will be setting up materials for weaving which is perfect for working those fine motor skills. If your kidlet is easily frustrated and not ready for such an activity, prep one side of a cereal box for them by cutting out areas they can implement into a weaving project of their own.If you are going to make a pendant, make sure all "pointy" bits are trimmed. If your wee one is insisting on gluing away,please sand the surface of the basket piece a bit so that the glue has something to hold onto. Otherwise, the glue will peel off. You may want to encourage your kidlet to glue after everything else is in place. Pass out the small pieces and set out all the bits and trim and let your wee ones weave away. They can use paper cut or torn into strips,ribbon, yarn, string and pipe cleaners. They can weave, twist, turn or tie. The possibilities are endless! Next up, add some sparkle, buttons, pom-pons, you name and set aside to dry.Loop a length of ribbon or string through the top of the pendant to create a necklace. Glue a pin-back to the back of the pendant with a super strong glue like E-6000 if using as a brooch. Make sure you do the super gluing yourself. Never EVER let your wee ones use the powerful glues!Wrap your giftie up in a brown paper bag decorated with your wee one's artwork and handiness and you are as good as gold! Don't forget to take pictures and send them to us to be featured on "the 'do!"