Time for Tinting

Playing with color paint is a great tool for children to learn the basics in color theory. When you begin, you don't even have to give them the theory and all the hullaballoo, just let them paint and create. The really cool thing about this is that you can create challenges and limits without taking away their creativity. When you place creative limits on a project, you are not setting your child up for a cookie cutter project but getting them to think outside the box.

Tints, shades and tones are a nifty way to challenge your child while enforcing their foundation of color theory. You may or may not have already done some color mixing, let's mix up some more using only a base color and white paint. When you add white paint to a base color you are creating a tint. Add black and you get a shade, add gray and you get a tone. Most school art lessons will dally in tints and shades using primary colors. At home, you can have your kiddo choose any happy color they like (or stick with primary, it's up to you) plus white. Physically painting and seeing the changes in the initial color is super cool. Sometimes they will not even notice it until their paper is covered.

I use inexpensive acrylic because of the color choices. When working with a group of children, I will use a washable paint but when working with one to three kiddos, I bring out the acrylics simply because the colors are more interesting than what Crayola offers. Acrylic paint does generally stain however so make sure you set up and give your kiddos a smock or have them wear their "paint clothes". If painting indoors and above carpet, make sure to lay out a splat mat of sorts. The paint can be mopped easily up from a wood, tile or other smooth floor but once it hits carpet, all bets are off.

This project utilizes good old fashioned newspaper for a couple of reasons. It's cheap, it's recycling and it actually looks extra spiffy once it is all dry.

Materials Used
*paper plate
*paintbrush
*cup with small amount of water
*newspaper
*acrylic paint, 1 base color & white
*plastic splat mat

scrumdilly-do it!

Set up work area and squeeze a bit of base color onto paper plate. A small to medium blob is a good place to start. Have your kiddo dip their paintbrush into the water to wet the bristles to prevent the paint from drying too quickly (thus ruining the brush). Blot it a little bit on the splat mat and then dip into the base color. Next, have your kiddo paint a vertical column on the newspaper at one end. I would recommend beginning on the opposite side from which hand they use. This way there should be less paint trapped under elbows and wrists. I'm a lefty so I began on the right side of the paper (the nephew began on the left). If the brush gets too dry, re-dip into the water, blot and continue.

After the first column is painted (I would estimate about a two to three inch wide span), have your kiddo squeeze a little bitty bit of white paint into their base paint, mix it up and repeat the process; adding a new column right next to and up against the first.

Continue along until the entire newspaper sheet is covered. Add a bit more white first before moving on to the next column. Depending on how much white you/your kiddo adds, your final column may actually BE white. If you think there is not enough variation between the initial columns, up the ante of the white paint.

Set aside to dry. Once it is dry, it can be put on display. I think they look like abstract art and look extra spiffy on a wall using painters tape. Or put it aside to use as collage paper or hold onto it for a couple more ideas I will soon be posting. Get a little slap happy and create more! Try mixing up a secondary color first before creating your tint palette. Instead of columns, paint big blobby patches. Paint rocks or sticks, use cardboard or put the whole project on a large canvas. This is something to have fun with, have fun!

Art in Parts

Experimenting with paint, paper and folding. This project can be done in many, many parts. It's a quick fix for a kidlet who wants to "DO SOMETHING" and it can be done over a period of time with little storage or prep work.
What you need:
*big sheets of paper or newspaper
*acrylic or tempera paints (watercolor will also work)
*splat mat or paint friendly surface
*clothespins or paper clips
*paint brushes or sponges or alternatives to paintbrushes
scrumdilly-do it

Set out your supplies and get ready for some experimenting! The first thing you want to do is prep the paper. This involves folding it, not unlike as if you were making a paper fan but staggering the fold so that you can see all the edges you made. It may take a moment to wrap your head around the "HOW" but once you do, it will be fine. You end up doing a small fold then flipping the paper over for the next fold and then flipping it over again. Repeat. This step may best be done by you. Your children can fold their own paper any way they wish for the second adaptation of this project.

Once you're stir crazy with all the folding, clip the folded edges down using paper clips or clothespins. The idea is to keep the folds as flat as possible so that when your kidlet begins painting, they won't be painting under the folds.Hand over the paint brushes or sponges and let them paint their little hearts out. Set aside to dry.
Once dry, or the next time they want to paint, unclip your clips or pins and unfold the paper. There will be neat colorful lines of paint and big stretches of blank paper stripes. Refold the paper in the same style but stagger your folds so that your wee ones will be painting on new batches of white. Clip, paint, repeat.You can keep doing this until all of the paper has been covered in paint or stop whenever you feel like it.

You can also hand your wee one a sheet of paper and have them fold it up like crazy. Clip down all folds and let them paint, paint, paint away. Once dry, unfold and then refold and paint again.
If the paper has been covered with paint, hand over a color that will stand out and let your wee one paint with a stick or car or other alternative paintbrush.

Give them globs of glue and fun things to collage with. Cut the painting up and turn it into a wall hanging. There are endless opportunities here.

The experimenting comes in when your wee one figures out that that paper under the folds won't get painted on, that each time they refold their paper, a whole new painting emerges. Try using just one color scheme each time. Or just one color. It doesn't matter how the paper gets folded. After you do it enough, both sides will be covered in art. I can't wait to see what your wee ones come up with!

make a st. patrick's day garland ombre style

Or...as I like to call it, fun with tints! I did a post on tints back in 2011 and want to revisit it for this St. Patrick's Day garland.  Not only is this garland super pretty, there are many opportunities for learning if you hand the reins over to your child or children to create it. 

Materials:

*scissors

*marker; any color

*white paint

*green paint

*sponge brush or large paint brush

*small container for paint

*one large sheet of paper 11"X17" or newspaper

*yarn or twine

*stapler and staples

The first thing you will want to do is set up your crafting space to allow for a mess and easy clean up. I have used oilcloth, a vinyl tablecloth and wax paper, all of which work well. Once you have your area set up with your paint, brush and paper you can begin by first folding your paper in half as many times as you can. I got four folds into my paper which was 11"X17". Teaching your child to fold the paper in half as many times as they can can trigger conversation detailing math concepts such as fractions. The physical work of folding and creasing the paper as even as possible is not as easy for little hands as it is for us grown-ups.

Next up we're going to get to painting each section of the folded paper going from a light tint to a dark or vice versa. You can begin with white paint or green paint, it doesn't matter which only that you use a LOT of paint. Well...more paint than you think you need as you will be adding to your bowl for each section of folded paper but to keep the color changing you want to make sure you have enough of your base color whichever it may be.  If you choose to begin with white, you will want it to be mostly white with a drop or two of green paint mixed in so that your white paint is the faintest of greens. 

You can refer to my original post if you like to explain what tints are to your kiddo but to get to the painting have your child paint up the first section from top to bottom or bottom to top.

Once that fold is painted, add another drop or two of your white or green paint and get to painting the next fold and so on, adding a drop of paint with each fold. 

By the time you reach the end your painted sections should go from light to dark or dark to light but still remain within the same hue...aka ombre. Set aside to dry.

 Once dry, have your child fold the painted paper in half from top to bottom or height-wise. Once folded, flip the paper over and draw a line along the fold. This will be a guide for your child to cut along. Scissors work is an important skill for young children to work on. We as adults take it for granted how easy it is to pick up a pair of scissors and get to cutting, but a youngster around 3 or 4 finds the task quite trying, especially if they have yet to figure out which hand is their dominant hand. Scissors work utilizes hand to eye coordination and develops both fine and large motor skills. Learning how to properly hold and use a pair of scissors strengthens your child's fingers which will aid in a firm grip for writing. An added benefit to scissors work with your child is that they learn how to use them properly under your guidance. Think of it as both a bonding experience and a learning adventure. 

Once your child has (or you, depending on the age of your kiddo though I encourage you to allow your three year old to practice cutting) cut the paper in half, flip it over and number each fold so that once the next batch of cutting is finished the pieces will be numbered to maintain the nifty ombre effect. Make sure to number the other half in the same order to keep it consistent.

Now we're back to folding. Have your kiddo fold each piece in half and stack in a safe place in numerical order. My paper gave me sixteen pieces. Once fold, hand your kiddo their scissors and let them fringe the edges. Fringing with scissors is usually a bit easier than cutting along a line so your child may really enjoy this part. If they have a completely different idea, let them get to it. It's remarkable what children can produce when their ideas are encouraged. 

Now it is time to assemble the garland which means your child gets to use THE STAPLER! Oh how a kiddo loves a stapler. You would be surprised how difficult stapler work is for a young child. I know you are probably thinking "What? A stapler? For my three year old? Are you kidding me?" and well, I'm not, unless you plan to hand them a stapler and then leave them alone. It goes without saying that one should never leave a young child alone with scissors, staplers, or any other sharp object. But under your guided supervision your child will joyfully staple away even when things go awry, and they usually do. To create the garland you will need a large length of yarn about six feet or so. Fold over one end and tie in a knot to create a loop of sort and place a fringed and folded piece of garland over the yarn so that it is nestled inside and give that stapler a good push. Er...have your child give the stapler a good solid pressing. Kachunk! Continue until all your pieces have been garland-fied and you are ready to hang. 

Pretty, isn't it? If you begin now you can have your child work on this in stages and be ready to hang the next day. Change out the color and you can create a garland for any holiday! Hop on over to scrumdillydilly for a grown up version which is much the same except I scalloped the bottoms and stitched it all together. Happy almost St. Patrick's Day! 

DIY calaca for Dia de los Muertos!

Here's a nifty way to double up on festive October fun by repurposing your Halloween skelly into a calaca for Di a de los Muertos!

Materials:
*paper jointed skeleton
*white paint
*puff paint and/or glitter paint
*salt (optional)
*markers, including a black permanent marker
*paintbrushes
*container of water
*paper towels, rags or newspaper

scrumdilly do it!
Set out your paper skelly on a tabletop that has been prepped for paint and fun. If you wish to double the use of your skelly, flip it over so that the back side points and and the printed side is facedown. If your skelly is jointed, arrange it into a happy dance party position. Once you paint it, the paint will seal in the joints so your skeleton will be "frozen" "in whichever position s/he was when you started.Hand your child a paintbrush and have them paint the whole shebang with white paint. Set aside to dry and give it another coat if you can still see the original print through the paint. You may wish to leave a little shadow of the print to help you line up eye holes and such but it isn't necessary. If you paint the back of the skeleton it's all up to you so have fun!Once dry, use a black marker to outline some general shapes to the skeleton. Ink in the eyes and define the arms, legs and ribcage. Here are some pics of Day of the Dead skeletons to use as inspiration. After you have filled in the black, break out the puff paint and markers and art your skelly up!If your puff paint is too watery, sprinkle your paint blobs with salt. The salt will hold the paint in place and add a spiffy texture to the overall look. You can of course, get all fancy and use glitter and glue or glitter paints.Set aside to dry and hang in a happy place when ready. Take care after the holidays to pack it up so you can use it again and again!

Happy Holidays!

gingerbread men round 2

This year the children whipped up their own puffy paint to paint their gingerbread men and/or houses with. After reading more than a dozen recipes for diy puffy paint I came to the conclusion that the ratios did not need to be exact and that all you needed was salt, flour, baking soda, and a little water (plus liquid water color).

 

We mixed up our paint at circle time. Each kiddo was given a small container and spoon on one of our white plates (I LOVE these plates). Then I talked about the paint we were going to make and how it was a recipe. We've been working on recipes almost every week. The children took turns scooping out their desired amounts of the ingredients and got to mixing.

There were a lot of comments when the children found their paint to be too thick or too thin. After a little experimenting they each came up with their perfect pot of paint.

 

I poured the paint into small squeeze bottle that made it difficult for the children to get all squeeze happy. They really had to work those squeezing muscles!  Even though they each mixed up their own color we talked about sharing the paint with the rest of the class and how we could accomplish that through kind words and questions.

 

While I love the idea of using real candy to decorate their cardboard people and houses (like we did last year) I wanted for them to make something that could possibly be kept without attracting critters. To remedy this I spent one television program using various paper punches and a paper pad of holiday paper from Michael's to punch out circles, stars, and hearts of various sizes.

 

 

The children delighted in their creations and use oodles of thinking skills when they realized their paint would not puff up when we cooked it  (pop into microwave and cook for 20 seconds or so)if it was covered in paper. I loved seeing and listening to their collaborations and discoveries. Some layered circles and told me it was like "Disky" back from when we did our Kandinsky study, while others talked about shapes, size variations, and practiced their one to one correspondence with one paper shape to each blob of paint that they then counted out.

I mean, lookie how happy these creations are (blurry photos and all)! I used a template the mister made for me last year. I need to transfer to the computer so you all can have a copy if ya like.

Also, the clean up was so pretty I had to take a picture of it as well. We kept the paint out and available for the day. Oh my goodness! I just realized the sticky bottles of paint are in a zip bag somewhere in the casa...where did I put them?  I better find them before they get super ickified! Yikes! Enjoy!