the lion and the mouse: spin art lions!

Back in the fall we spent a week with The Lion and the Mouse. One of our art projects was to make a spin art lion. The kiddos as school LOVE painting with our salad spinner.

 

This was a bit unplanned but I knew we could do it. I pulled out some coffee filters and dis some quick scissors work to create shapes to use for lion faces. After rifling through the yarn box, I found some funky fiber and had one of the children snip a few strips for whiskers. The paint colors were decided by the children as well after a discussion on what a lion looks like (I think tigers may have influenced their choices as well).

 We used three filters per lion. One filter ends up folding into itself as it spins around the basket. The paint usually seeps through the filters so that they stick together. Three filters are stable enough to spin and hold all the paint. Each child took a turn placing his or her filters into the basket and adding paint before replacing the lid and giving it a spin or two or three or seen or twelve.

 

 

Once they were ready, they removed their now paint splattered filters and selected shapes for their features. We dialogued as they went. The paint is wet and sticky enough to hold the shapes down without needing any glue.

 

Here are two sample lions. The one on the top got three whiskers on each side "like a kitty-cat". The artist also selected orange circle ears but then wanted to turn them into eyes by adding paint. The second lion was all about the gold paint, and the whiskers across the forehead.

Can you tell this one is teacher-made? The children wanted to take theirs home after they were dry so I made one for the curriculum folder. I love how our thrifted little salad spinner can make most anything.

make a spin art raccoon!

During the first two weeks of school our theme was The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. We talked a lot about school and feeling and raccoons...

One of the projects we did was to make our own spin art raccoons. First up was a discussion about the different colors a raccoon's fur might be and pulled out some paint to match. We then selected some scrap pieces of construction paper from our scrap box and gathered up our salad spinner and coffee filters. I had also cut out an assortment of triangles and circles to complete our project.

The children placed three coffee filters into the basket of the spinner, we use three because of the viscosity of the paint. It's weight and thickness tend to smoosh the filter into a corner and then all you have is a mess of coffee filter. Using a short stack anchors the filter down and allows the paint to spin about. We used a washable tempera for or paint.

Once the filter was in the basket, the children selected the colors they wished to use and gave great big squirts of paint into the basket (with a little help from me a the bottles were new and not easily squeezable).

 

Next up was placing the lid onto the spinner which is not as easy for a three year old as it is for an adult, and then turning the handle that spins the basket. This part was really fun and interesting to see how each child would approach it. Our spinner has a crank handle and so the children needed to figure out how to hold the basket with one hand and turn the crank with the other. Some children grew frustrated and asked for help.

 

 

After a few checks and maybe more squirts of paint, the children removed their raccoons-to-be and added features.  The thickness of the paint took place of any glue we would need and so eyes and stripes and noses were added by simply selecting their preferred shapes (we used a variety of raccoon images from various flashcards as inspiration) and pressing them down onto the paint with their fingers.

 

 

They were quite proud of their raccoons and really into the spinner and so we made another spin art bit just for fun.

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! 

art up a paper plate or two

 I did this project for my April Bed but with a little planning, you can totally have your kiddos whip up a pretty installation as well!

Materials

*sturdy paper plates in two sizes

*acrylic paint in three colors plus white

*paintbrushes and water

*metallic marker 

*double-sided foam tape

Have your kiddo pick out two colors of paint plus one additional shade that matches one of the colors. I used two shades of pink and one of yellow. Set out three plates and have your kiddo paint the center of each one in each color.

Next, grab another plate and add a squirt of color and a squirt of white and have your kiddo mix the paint up. Do one up for each color. If yer up for another round of painting, repeat the second step but add a bit more white. Take a moment to teach you kiddo about tints. Set aside to dry.

Once dry, have your kiddo paint a picture or pattern to each plate using the white paint. Give them a skinny brush and limit the amount of paint they use. Set aside to dry.

 

Now it is time to have your kiddo doodle a bit on top of the white paint. Once they are finished, it is time for the installation.

Depending on how long you want your installation to hang, you have a few choices for implementation. You can glue paper clips to the back of some of the plates and hang them using small nails, or you can use a mounting putty or double-stick foam tape (it takes a while to press all the plates into place. You can see one of my plates falling in the photo below). I went the route of putty for the base layer and double-stick tape for the second layer. Arrange the larger plates in a scatter across your wall surface making sure to keep a few close to each other so that you may later the smaller plates on top.

Enjoy!

ten hats in ten days: the classic newspaper hat

Today's hat is one that is glue free. The classic newspaper hat a la dilly-do! The only difference is, I invite you to paint up your swath of newspaper before you get to folding. The paint will dry and give your newspaper a slightly shiny look while giving it a little boost in the sturdy department as well.

Materials

*large sheet of newspaper

*acrylic or liquid tempera paint

*white school glue

*paintbrush

*tape or stapler  (optional)

Set up your paint by squirting a trio of colors onto your kiddo's palette. Add a squirt or two of white glue and a smidge of water (no more than a tablespoon) to each color and have your kiddo use a clean paintbrush to blend each color. The water will thin the paint allowing it to cover the newspaper a wee bit more quickly and the glue will give your newspaper a little more shelf-life.

Have your kiddo paint up a storm. The larger the brush the quicker the coverage. Sticking to three harmonious colors will keep the hat from being a muddy mob. Though, there is nothing wrong with muddy and kiddos relish the process of mixing their paint colors. If you want to keep their hat from becoming muddy, choose two shades of their favorite color and then add a dollop of white. They can mix to their heart's content and you can have a happy photo. Or, stick to two primary colors and white then they can mix up their own secondary color. Paint as a color theory tool is an awesome thing! Set aside to dry.

Once dry get to folding...

  First fold your squarish sheet in half, painted side out.

 

Next up, fold in half to get a crease to mark your middle then pull the corners down to make a bit of a triangle. Do not pull them all the way down to the bottom and make sure your fold is at the top so that the bottom will ope to create your hat.

Fold up a brim from the bottom.

Add a helpful piece of tape or two to keep the hat from unfolding and pop that bit of happy on your kiddos head and go exploring! 

Fun with Water, Paper & Paint

The nephew a-go-go (who is 8) is on spring break this week and next, so we've been puttering around making, painting, drawing and crafting stuff. If the nephew had his way, he'd be making alien something or others non-stop but yesterday, the sister a-go-go pulled out a super nifty project from Water Paper Paint by Heather Smith Jones. The project she selected involved drawing with pencil, a large object and within, a smaller object. You then use watercolor to fill in the background and the small object within, leaving the large object as is. We explained to the nephew that this was an exercise and that for this there would be "rules" to follow.

After selecting a piece of watercolor paper (we used all sorts of sizes). He eagerly went to work creating a dragon with a U.F.O. (of course) clasped in its jaws. It was awesome. We gave him a quick lesson in watercolor using liquid watercolors, had him select a paint brush and let him begin.

Now, the boy is a bit of a perfectionist and needless to say, the watercolor was NOT behaving in a pleasing way for him. There was a lot of garumphing and frowning. He sighed the loudest sighs and came this close to tossing the paintbrush and giving up on the whole thing.

He wanted to start over. He NEEDED to start over but mean aunties that we are we said no. But hey, we said it gently. We encouraged him to move slower, to take breaths. We explained how different watercolor was from colored pencils. We pointed out the natural texture that we saw in his brush strokes and complemented him on color choices and he sighed a little more but kept going.

And then he wanted to paint his dragon, which was the LARGE object in his picture and we firmly told him that this exercise did not involve painting the dragon. We told him that he could paint the next dragon but that this one was to not be painted. He was NOT happy with that but I gently told him that this was an exercise. I talked about the difference between simply painting and creating and then creating within limits. I told him that sometimes we get very comfortable with making things we are good at and that working within limits can help us be even more creative. He listened and nodded and continued and made the most awesome painting!

And of course we let him do another and of course he painted his dragon. Actually, he used watercolor pencils on the dragon and then a damp brush to blend. I knew that if he tackled the beast with a wet brush there would have been much anxiety. The cool part is that he really got the hang of it. He talked about how he really liked working with the paint and that he noticed it was different from using pencils. He thought it was a good thing to do the first one as it was practice. I tried to tell him that if we let him paint the first dragon, he then wouldn't have TWO awesome dragon pictures. He even asked his mom if he could stay to finish painting, the boy remained focused and was really proud of his work.

In between it all, we did another project but that is for a different day. So what I mean to share with you is that allowing your kiddos to create for the sake of creating is totally the way to go but sometimes, boundaries too, are a very good thing. Just make sure they match your kiddo's temperament and skill and make sure you explain the reason behind the boundaries.  And if you do decide to do something like this, turn it into a family thing. While the nephew worked on his painting, I, the sister a-go-go and the mama a-go-go also painted and then we looked at how different they were even though we used the same paint, paper and project. Have fun!

another three part project

Just for fun!
I have no name for this project but it can take a while to complete so may be good to bust out when the "I'm bored" chant begins. It also makes for a fun collaborative project if your tots are all levels of ages and developments.

You will need:
One color of dark paint (tempera or acrylic)
White paint (tempera or acrylic)
Paintbrushes
Large sheet of heavy white paper
Paint friendly area
Markers (make sure yer kidlet is ready for these)

scrumdilly-do it!
Grab your sheet of paper and your dark color of paint and have your kidlet cover the entire sheet. You can use a couple of shades here and let yer kidlet mix them up but the idea is to create a solid background. Set aside to dry.Set out the white paint and have your kidlet paint an outline of a picture or shape or design on top of the painted background. Use a fat brush here, you will want the outline to be at least and inch thick. Set aside to dry.Bust out the happy markers and have your wee one doodle, design and draw all along the white paint. Use one color family or mix it up. Try using just black. The idea is to have fun, practice patience and let yer imagination loose. Try it with outlines of large shapes or maybe a silly face. Let your wee one come up with the next step. It's all about the process here.*crayola or kid friendly markers will work on the white paint but their colors will be muted. If your tots are older or you're totally chill about the permanent kind, go ahead and bust those out as they add more pop to the project.