Art and Creativity

The Fine Art of Scribbling

2012-01-16T15:22:00.000-08:00

Children’s scribbles were once conceived of simply as practice for “real drawing,” but educators today recognize that scribbling is an important step in child development. Scribbling is the foundation of artistic development and is intimately linked with language acquisition. Young children love to scribble and adults will enjoy it too, if you give them permission to “let loose with a crayon.” So, as I pondered what to address in my first post of 2012, it seemed like a good idea to start at the beginning – with the scribble stage.

Scribbling reflects a child’s physical and mental process. This young girl is scribbling with one of my favorite early learning tools, a Colorations® Smooth and Silky Art Stick (SILKYSTK). Colorations® Silky Sticks are great for toddlers because they’re easy to grasp and make exceptionally smooth, bright marks on paper. When toddlers first pick up a crayon and make a mark, they experience a pleasurable moment in which they use a tool and produce a result. They don’t realize they are taking the first step of a long journey, a journey that will culminate around the age of 8 with a mastery of line that is remarkably controlled. They only know that in this powerful moment, something they did with their body created a visible result and that feels very exciting.

This scribble drawing is from Mona Raoufpour’s 4 year old classroom at Pressman Academy in Los Angeles. Mona artfully links children’s early drawings to language and literacy. Early in the school year, many of her students are immersed in the scribble stage or just moving into more representational drawings. Mona takes meticulous dictations and mounts them directly onto children’s scribble drawings as shown here. Without this detailed dictation, who would ever know that Noah, this young artist, has a story in his mind about a “big monster who ate broccoli then fell down and broke his face and arm and leg.”

Mona has her 4 year olds work on long term book making projects that include scribble drawings with dictations. Children are indeed natural storytellers, and scribbling is how their visual story telling begins.

No study of scribbling would be complete without mention of Rhoda Kellogg. Kellogg was a pioneer in the study of analyzing children’s art. Over the course of 20 years, Rhoda Kellogg collected and analyzed over 1 million children’s drawings from children ages 2-8. In 1967, she published an archive of 8000 drawings of children ages 24-40 months, focusing on scribbling and the early “ages and stages” of child development. Kellogg concluded that children need plenty of time for free drawing and scribbling to develop the symbols that will later become the basis for all writing and drawing. Before Kellogg, scribbles were considered nonsense. Children were discouraged or even forbidden from scribbling, and encouraged to copy adult models (sounds ghastly and misguided, but this shows how far we’ve come in understanding child development.).

Stages of Scribble
Here's something creative to do with scribble drawings - check out the "Stages of Scribbles" created by children at the Alpert Jewish Community Center in Long Beach, CA. Assistant Director, Alayna Cosores, asked teachers to contribute examples of scribbles and compiled them into an Ages & Stages frame that hangs in their Early Childhood Office. Not only is it colorful and fun to look at, "Stages of Scribble" reminds parents that scribbling is an important process to encourage at home. Why not try something like this in your own center, it costs so little to put together and will provide years of stimulating conversation.

Last but not least, scribbling is not just for kids…it can also be liberating for adults! Scribbling is a physical process that emphasizes freedom of movement. It can help us relax and get into the sensory mode of our bodies as well as the creative, right hemisphere of our brain. With this in mind, I often begin Teacher Trainings with some form of a scribble warm-up. My favorite is a paired up exercise called a “Scribble Chase.” Click here for the printable lesson plan from my book Smart Art Ideas 2 (MOREART). While the original lesson plan used Colorations® Liquid Watercolor for the top layer, I’ve come to enjoy it even more using Colorations® No-Drip Foam Paint. (BFPSET).

Scribbling is it’s a great way to energize a room at the beginning of a workshop, and we got beautiful results from the Scribble Chase warm-ups shown here. Both were created by teachers at this week’s Messy Art Workshop, hosted by Beach Cities AEYC at Long Beach City College. I suggest you try “grown-up” scribbling sometime soon. Happy New Year!

Materials Used:
Colorations® Smooth and Silky Art Sticks (SILKYSTK, set of 24, or SILKYPAK, set of 72)
Colorations® Regular Crayons (CRS16)
Colorations® No-Drip Foam Paint (BFPSET, set of 7)
White Sulfite Paper (A80SU)
Smart Art Ideas 2 (MOREART)

* Brought to you by Discount School Supply®

* For more ideas, visit Art and Creativity in Early Childhood Education

“The Painting Experience” by Stuart Cubley

2011-12-12T09:06:00.000-08:00

This week I am fulfilling the lifelong dream of taking a painting class at Esalen Institute. I am “out of my mind” excited about being here, and each day is a gift. Here’s my first painting, which I just finished yesterday. This is process oriented art, which I find is just as “developmentally appropriate” for me as it is for children.

To be painting for five days straight in an incredible environment overlooking the ocean, this is the stuff that dreams are made of.

I am painting with 25 other adults who came here from all over the country. None of us knew each other three days ago, but we all came in search of relaxation and restoration. We come from a multitude of professions but we’re all searching for something authentic and meaningful, and we’re finding it here as we paint away in this large white canvas “yurt” by the sea. Esalen has five different workshops going on this week and most people here are steeped in gratitude for this opportunity.

I love immersing myself in creativity with a group of adults. You can feel the sense of community as we paint together, share materials, and observe our creative process emerge. Here are a couple of my new “best friends” – one a therapist from Montana and the other a widow from Sebastopol who is reinventing her life. Isn’t creative companionship grand? And isn’t it amazing how the creative process can magically break down the barriers between us?

Most people taking The Painting Experience are not artists, and many have never painted before. Stuart Cubley created The Painting Experience to help people find pleasure and meaning in process oriented painting. His book Life, Paint and Passion is wonderful, but there’s nothing like taking one of his hands-on workshops. Some are just a weekend long, and others are a week or ten days. The Painting Experience embodies open ended for adult “non-artists” in the same way we encourage open ended art in early childhood education. I encourage you to try it for professional development, or as a vacation treat that will make your spirit soar. Imagine walking along this pathway to your painting class every morning. That’s something to dream about for 2012.

REFERENCES

Find workshops and classes with Stewart Cubley at The Painting Experience (www.processarts.com).

Check the schedule at Esalen (www.esalen.org) for more workshops!

Read Life, Paint and Passion by Michele Cassou and Stewart Cubley and learn all about creative process!

Weaving with Young Children

2011-11-23T11:13:00.000-08:00

Weaving is a traditional art activity that most children enjoy. It’s probably easier than you imagine to introduce a loom into your classroom. Weaving on a “classroom loom” brings children together in a collaborative learning activity and provides a unique experience that ignites curiosity and imagination. Boys and girls will often spend long periods of time weaving together at a classroom loom, experimenting with a variety of yarns, collage strips and other raw materials. Weaving is fun, it’s challenging, and it enjoys a long, historic tradition across world cultures.

I was so moved by this weaving I found while visiting Creative Care for Children, a family childcare owned by Danielle Monroy in Santa Barbara, CA. It seemed to transform an already lovely room into an artful studio space. The children at Creative Care created so many weavings on this one classroom loom that Danielle said she often ran out of wall space to display them!

I loved the unique shape of this one with its irregular sides. It felt like “real art” and reminded me of the many folk art weavings I had admired over the years at art festivals and craft fairs.

I was truly inspired, and ended up ordering the same loom so I could try it out myself. (Classroom Loom - STLOOM). Thus began my journey into weaving. I took photos of the loom assembly to show you here, so I could share my story and perhaps invite you to do the same. The loom is just $29.99 and about the best deal around for a holiday gift. I assembled the loom in about 15 minutes, and then took another 15 minutes to thread it (called “warping the loom”). All materials were included and the instructions were visual and easy to follow (whew).

Along with the loom, I ordered Textured Crafts Yarns (TEXYARN) to which I added leftover yarns from another project, Jumbo Roving Yarn (ROVING). You may have yarn scraps of some type around, and if not you can work with a combination of donated and purchased yarns. I was very happy with the Textured Crafts Yarn, they are fluffy, colorful and fun to work with. If you have a fabric scrap bin, tear strips of fabric and weave with those as well, or be creative with old t-shirts.

Here’s how the Classroom Loom looked after I had assembled it, warped it, and started weaving. The loom comes with a wooden threader, so I tried weaving just with my fingers then with the threader. Both were easy.

Here’s a close-up where you can see the combination of yarns, fabric strips, and even a few bird feathers (we own a large macaw so that part was easy). Half the fun of weaving is figuring out what to weave with. It’s more interesting if you incorporate the odd feather, strip of newspaper, pipe cleaner, or plant material from your yard.

Instead of finishing my weaving, I donated it to a 4-year-old classroom at Pressman Academy where I asked mentor teacher Francine Farkas to incorporate it into her classroom. Her 4 year olds finished the weaving and were so enchanted with it, Francine told me weaving was now her favorite new art form.

Later that same month, I visited Little Owl Preschool in Long Beach and noticed children working on smaller individual looms (Beginner's Wooden Looms - RLOOM). These individual looms were a lovely counterpoint to the Classroom Loom that I had fallen in love with.

I can’t say enough about the learning that takes place when children approach a weaving project. Weaving teaches children many developmental skills while offering a creative and challenging learning experience. As they weave, children learn patterning, critical thinking skills, problem solving, and they learn to create 3-D art, or think in three dimensions. By weaving in and out in a pattern, children learn to coordinate their eyes, hands and minds; and they also cross the midline, which reinforces brain development between the right and left hemispheres.

Last but not least, weaving appeals to our innate human desire to experience patterns and rhythm. Humans are pattern-seeking animals. Weaving helps us slow down and enjoy the rhythm and pattern of repetitive motion as we weave in and out, over and under, around and through a series of warp threads. Weaving can even reduce stress and provides a positive community activity where children work together.

Thank you for taking the time to check in, I so appreciate your interest in sharing art ideas. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, and I look forward to reading your comments!

Materials Used:
The Classroom Loom (STLOOM)

Textured Craft Yarn (TEXYARN)

OtherMaterials Shown:
Beginner's Wooden Looms (RLOOM)
Jumbo Roving Yarn (ROVING)

Pipe Cleaner Classroom Pack (PCPACK)

What I Learned on My Summer Vacation

2011-09-08T10:09:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a much needed summer vacation and was reminded that I need more NATURE in my life! Since I’ve attended numerous “Outdoor Classroom” workshops, and learned about the negative effects of “nature deficit” on today’s children, it was good to be reminded that I too find nature incredibly inspiring. On my vacation, I renewed my love affair with the sensory world of the forest. I fell in love with colored rocks, birch trees and waterfalls. It was all so simple, yet profoundly restorative.

As an educator, I was inspired by what I might bring back from my nature vacation to include in the classroom. There were so many things to choose from! Moreover, having this “take home task” on my mind helped me engage all the more in my natural surroundings.

Trees were just beginning to show off their Fall colors, and the white birch trees were especially lovely.

Imagine how excited I was to find this abandoned bird’s nest, all intact and perfectly formed! The woven strips of birch bark in the nest gave me an idea, and I picked up fallen strips of bark to take home and use as collage.

When I got home I tore strips of white bark and used Tacky Glue to mount it onto wooden picture frames, adding colored rocks as accents. How fun! I was amazed to find that birch bark tears along a seam just like fabric does, so you don’t need scissors to cut it. Such are the discoveries that excite me, and I bet you as well.

We also visited several lakes and found an abundance of beautiful colored rocks around the larger lakes.

Many local artisans made creative use of these naturally colored rocks that were a signature of the local geology. Here’s a large rock and driftwood mirror that I couldn’t resist purchasing. I hoped it would remind me to make nature a regular part of my life once I returned home to the city.

Later, I tried duplicating this idea of rocks as collage material on top of wooden picture frames. The rocks I brought were a little too large so I used them as accents and made a mental note to check out the Home Depot garden department for smaller pebbles. Or better yet, find a local hike where I could collect smaller rocks on my own home turf.

I was eager to make “Leaf Glitter” for a second collage project and had collected just a few Sugar Maple Leaves with tinges of red and yellow. Once they had dried, I made Leaf Glitter by simply crunching up the dried leaves, which were then glued onto the picture frame. When I do this in a classroom, I’ll ask children to sort the dried leaves by colors first, then crunch them into separate bowls so they’ll have yellow, red, brown and orange Leaf Glitter to work with.

Together these two experiments in nature collage make a nice pair, don’t you think? I realized I could extend the activity by first “staining” the wooden base frames with wet tea bags or another natural colorant before gluing items on top.

How fortunate I feel to have been able to replenish myself before the beginning of a busy school year. I hope you were also able to restore yourself, and will continue to do so on your weekend time. It’s so important.

Maybe we will run into each other at an Education Conference soon or at NAEYC where I’m presenting “Art as a Language with Children.” Please attend if you can! Most importantly, I want to thank you for reading my Blog and being a part of the Art and Creativity community. I hope you have a wonderful new school year full of passion and promise. To life!

Materials Used Here:
Colorations® Tacky Glue, set of 12 - (TCGJAR)

Colorations® Wooden Stand Up Frames - (WDFRM)

BioColor® Monoprints on Fabric, Paper, and Canvas

2011-08-10T14:41:00.000-07:00

Last week I attended the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach to see how fabric artist Jane LaFazio uses BioColor® in her Fabric Painting Workshop. I had so much fun and came away with lots of ideas and inspiration. I adapted what I learned from Jane’s adult fabric painting class and simplified it for children’s art making. But before we get to that, let’s look at some of Jane’s inspired students as they use BioColor® and BioColor® Fabric Medium to monoprint on plain white fabric. There was such a creative buzz in the room when I arrived with my camera to take it all in!

To make these fabric designs permanent, students added BioColor® Fabric Medium to their paints as part of their set-up. I was impressed that Jane had marked the fabric medium with a big, bold FM so it would not get confused with the white BioColor®, smart lady! (why hadn’t I thought of that?)

These painted fabric designs were created using 4 basic steps. (1) Apply a thin layer of BioColor® onto a printing plate using a foam roller (2) Drop stencils, drag scrapers and sprinkle rubber bands on top to create shapes & textures (3) Lay fabric on top, then finally…… (3) Rub the fabric with your hands (rubbing long and hard) to transfer the paint, shapes and textures onto the fabric. Jane is quite a whirlwind of inspiration and leads art making safaris to Italy and all sorts of exciting places, so I hope you will look her up sometime, or find other creative “gurus” in your own community to help keep your creative juices flowing.

I came home so excited from the International Quilt Festival that I got out my BioColor® paints and played around to simplify Jane’s ideas for the early childhood classroom. I turned a Colorations® Art Trays upside down and it worked just fine as a printing plate (who knew?).

I especially loved the idea of using rubber bands to create shapes and textures. The results were colorful, creative and easy.

If you want to see what else I discovered in modifying Jane’s ideas for the classroom, watch the video clip below.

Check out Jane LaFazio’s website for more creative ideas at JaneLaFazio.com. Thank you, Jane!

Materials Used:

Textured Paint Scrapers (SCR)

Foam Paint Rollers (FRS)

BioColor® Paint (BIO)

BioColor® Fabric Medium (BIOFAB)

Colorations® Art Trays (ARTRAY)

Colorations® Craft Cups (CRAFTC)

Good Projects for BioColor® Monoprints:

Classroom Canvas Quilt (CLASQLT)

Canvas Boards (VANGOGH)

Blank Canvas Aprons (DECAPRON)

Canvas Pillow Cases (PILLOW)

American Idol Quilt Creates Community

2011-06-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

Check out the HUGE community quilt made by American Idol fans in North Carolina last month, using our “Button Up” Canvas Quilt Squares! I'm sure they helped Scotty win the big competition! Barbara Wolfmueller of DSS donated these no-sew fabric squares to help her local community celebrate local hero, Scotty McCreery who went on to win the celebrated singing competition. As you can see, there's NO END to how many fabric quilt squares you can button together. Families and children came together to support Scotty by creating a colorful “fan club quilt” with Colorations paints and markers.

In this next fabric quilt, art teacher Marianne Richmond had school aged children design a Community Quilt using the same button-up quilt squares. If you look closely, you’ll see this quilt combines plain canvas squares with “Picture Quilt Squares” that have an insert for a 4 x 6” photo or poem. Both these fabric products come in a set of 12 squares and cost less than $1 a square.

Marianne asked children to work in pairs and design one quilt square with their partner, using a combination of fabric paints, acrylic paints and permanent markers. This way they got to share ideas and collaborate in two different ways: first with their buddy, then together with the larger group.

This last quilt example is from a Baby Shower. During the baby shower itself, each participant created a square using fabric paints and collage materials. I painted these “Picture Quilt Squares” ahead of time and inserted poems and quotes about babies to match the party theme. I later buttoned these in with the rest of everyone’s finished artwork. Printing out poems and quotes, or having children write their own poetry on 4 x 6” file cards, is a good way to give your quilt a unified theme.

Check out this close-up of the same quilt…pretty sweet, don’t you think? Imagine….all these fabric quilts are so diverse, yet they are created on the same set of no-sew quilt squares. Don’t forget, they come in both plain canvas and picture insert versions, which you can easily combine to make a quilt of any size.

Let’s close that thought with one last look at the American Idol quilt, created by Scotty’s loving fans in North Carolina. It’s a pretty great example of how creative collaboration builds community. I hope it inspires you to make an easy, no sew fabric quilt this summer.

Enjoy yourself and keep those creative juices flowing!

Materials you will need:

1) Classroom Canvas Quilt, set of 12 (and/or)
2) Classroom Picture Quilt, set of 12
3) Colorations® Permanent Fabric Markers
4) Colorations® Fabric Paint Set
5) Colorations® Acrylic Paint Set

Optional: Miscellaneous Collage Materials including:
Ribbons, Stampers, Stamp Pads, Tacky Glue

Ice Tunnels: Bring on the Summer Fun!

2011-06-14T09:02:00.000-07:00

Summer is a wonderful time for outdoor art and sensory science activities you can do outside. "Ice Tunnels" combine ordinary salt, ice and Colorations® Liquid Watercolor in an unforgettable art and science experiment that costs only pennies. Try this on sunny day with lots of bright sunlight and you'll experience amazing color, light refraction and salt crystallization with the ultimate "hands-on" experience for children of all ages.

To make "Ice Tunnels," fill up a variety of plain plastic containers with water and freeze overnight. Dump the ice onto an art tray or sand & water table, and follow the simple directions attached below from Smart Art 2. Use ordinary table salt or experiment and find different results from using "Ice Cream Salt" which is sold in most grocery stores next to the table salt.

Get the printable instructions here!

What happens when the salt, color and ice sit out for a while and begin their tranformation? Salt is an interesting mineral with many unique properties. It lowers the freezing temperature of water, so it corrodes little crevices into the ice as it melts down portions of it. These crevices, or "nooks and crannies," show up beautifully when liquid color is dropped into them. As the ice chunks sit in the sun, the salt will create more crevices and as it does, the liquid color moves, blends and sparkles in the light. Hold up to the sun for a wonderful discovery that looks almost like a crystal!

If you leave chunks of ice touching each other, the salt will make some of them stick together after you leave them on the tray for a while. Can you guess why? It's the corrosion happening between the walls as they touch each other. Amazing, huh?

Here are a collection of salted ice chunks after about a half an hour in the sun. We used mostly blues here, combining Colorations® Liquid Watercolor in teal, blue and turquoise. Let children select their own colors, or experiment with the primary colors (red, blue and yellow) and watch wonderful secondary colors naturally occur. There's so much to see as you watch the ice, salt and color transform, so bring out the magnifying wands as you enjoy this activity on a warm, sunny day.

Find more creative art lessons in Smart Art 2.

Shop here for your own copy!

Painting on Canvas & Studio Art

2011-05-18T14:52:00.000-07:00

I visited Creative Care for Children in Santa Barbara last month and found the most inspiring art studio for young children, full of open ended art with emphasis on canvas painting. I was lucky enough to catch a young girl at work, and watched her carefully study each brush stroke and admire the results. Danielle Monroy, the Director and Owner of this inviting In-Home Preschool, told me how much her children enjoyed the freedom of painting and how the youngest children accomplished very impressive self portraits and abstracts, especially when given a stretched canvas to paint on. Here, Danielle shows how she helps children use masking tape to protect some sections of a canvas while they go on to develop other sections. In the painting she is holding here, waxed paper and masking tape are protecting the middle “self portrait” section which the child said was finished, while the background and surrounding areas are further developed. This “masking off” technique is particularly useful when using acrylic paint which is opaque. I’ll talk a little more about acrylics versus other paints at the end of this post.

Canvas always makes a painting seem official, as if painting on a canvas makes it “real art.” Maybe that’s because art galleries are filled with canvas paintings, and grownups artists usually paint on canvas. But it’s never too early for children to learn the pleasures of painting on the crisp white surface of canvas board, and with Discount School Supply’s new set of 6 canvas boards, you can do that affordably. Here are examples of toddler paintings on these very boards, taken on a site visit directed by Angie Gish at Grossmont Community College’s Child Development Center in San Diego. Each one is beautiful and their artful gallery display helps create a welcoming, intimate environment in this model toddler classroom.

What paint should you use on canvas? You can use any paint on canvas, but I recommend starting with either BioColor® or Colorations® Simply Washable Tempera and natural bristle easel brushes. Acrylic paint is also popular and offers the ability to layer without transparency, but it is not at ALL washable. Some people wait until elementary school before offering canvas for children to paint on, but I hope these pictures inspire you to dive right in way earlier than that. Have fun developing your art studio and help expand your children’s imaginations through open ended studio art.

Materials you will need:
Canvas – Real Stretched Canvas, set of 6 – Item VANGOGH
Small Easel Brush Set – Best Value Easel Brush Assortment – Item FULLSET
(or)
Classroom Easel Brush Set, set of 24 – Item SHPK
Best Paint Options:
BioColor® – BioColor, Set of 13 Colors - Item BIOSET
Colorations® Simply Washable Tempera – Set of 15 Classic and Cool Colors - Item SWTALL
Acrylic - Colorations Acrylic Paint, set of 8 – Item CACRYLIC

Foam Paint Fun!

2011-04-18T12:02:00.000-07:00

When was the last time you used Colorations Foam Paint in your classroom? This paint is so much fun, children never get tired of it no matter how many times you bring it out. Here's the way I set it up for a group of 4 year olds.

Here we are using Foam Paint to decorate the cover of Paper Bag Books, which we had made the week before. Here I am introducing the idea to everyone, you can see how engaged they are.

Foam paint is so inviting, children are always eager to get started. Of all the paints I use with children, foam paint is one I can bring out again and again with any age child and they never get tired of it. There's something magical about watching brightly colored foam spritz out of a can and pile up high on a plate! It even makes noise as you spritz in out onto a paper palette, it is the ultimate sensory experience!

Sometimes I pass out large bristle brushes and sometimes we use paper towel rags to apply the paint. Here you see four year olds applying foam paint with large chubby brushes. You can see the white crayon scribbles underneath the paint, if you look at the finished book on the tabletop.

And here you see a 3 year old boy applying foam paint with a paper towel. He is using the paper towel as a "painting rag" instead of using a brush. Either paper towel rags or large chubby brushes works fine, and I suggest you try both ways at different times. After all, when you vary how you apply paint, you stimulate new problem solving and a variety of different fine motor skills.

Here's the finished result from the 3 year old class. In this particular application, the children were working on "Rainforest Paintings." They used large write crayons to first put down lines that represented rain (scribbles, dots and stripes) then patted foam paint on top with their paper towel rags. We used foam paint that represented the colors of the rainforest. Then, for the final layer, we used Liquid Watercolor in bingo bottles to create rain "splashes" on top. The foam paint gives these paintings wonderful color and texture. For an introduction on how to use foam paint, view the video clip below. Thanks for checking in!

MATERIALS YOU WILL NEED:

Colorations Foam Paint, set of all 7 colors - BFPSET
Triangular Chubby Brushes- TRIBRU
Large White Crayons - 12PCWH

More X-Ray Handprints!

2011-04-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

I just got back from the California AEYC Conference where I delivered workshops on “Art, Literacy & Brain Development.” The handouts from those workshops are posted here (you'll see them on the right sidebar) for you to view or print out. To prepare for the workshops I taught several literacy based art lessons to a variety of children in classrooms that varied from ages 3-5. It was fun leading children through messy art ideas that had a literacy connection, and once again I included the X-Ray Handprint in some of the lessons. These photographs were taken from a Kindergarten class, and the video clip shows a wonderful close-up of a child doing the final phase of scraper art, which reveals her handprints. Take a look!

So many of the conference attendees were excited to learn about X-Ray Handprints, so I decided to post these new photos here. See my previous post from Tuesday, Dec 14, 2010 for more X-Ray Art ideas, or find the complete lesson plan on page 44 in Smart Art 2 (MOREART).

It’s been a busy conference season so I’m a bit late on my monthly post. Thanks for waiting! If you sign up to be an Art and Creativity Blog subscriber, each new post will conveniently come to you as an email. That makes it super easy to get a stream of new art ideas for your classroom. Please subscribe today, you’d be doing me a favor by showing your support. Thank you!

Art in the Outdoor Classroom

2011-02-15T13:42:00.000-08:00

Recently I attended an Outdoor Classroom conference at Child Educational Center in Pasadena, and took photographs of their outdoor areas. These photos illustrate just some of the ways CEC artfully integrates drawing, painting, sand tray, natural collage, 3-D sculpture and mud pit activities into their outdoor curriculum.

Art and outdoor sensory play provide children with delightful ways to experience the joy of self discovery, especially when these activities are child initiated and teacher supported. Many wonderful sensory activities like making mud pies would be prohibitive indoors but are unforgettable outdoor experiences. Sensory experiences with dirt, leaves, pinecones, sea shells, feathers, wood and other natural materials help children develop a positive relationship with nature and help them appreciate the wonders of earth science.

Here's my favorite excerpt from a handout provided at one of the conference workshops, it is credited to Dr. Bruce Perry, author of Shared Discovery - Shared Learning.

Curiosity and Brain Development
Curiosity.........leads to Exploration
Exploration.....leads to Discovery
Discovery.......leads to Pleasure
Pleasure.........leads to Repetition
Repetition.......leads to Mastery
Mastery..........leads to New Skills
New Skills.......lead to Confidence
Confidence.....leads to Self Esteen
Self Esteem....leads to Sense of Security
Security..........leads to More Exploration

I hope these words and photographs inspire your own curiosity and exploration, and help you discover new ways to integrate art and sensory play into your outdoor classroom.

Materials Shown Here:
Natural Recycled Drawing Paper, 9NCS
Portable Drawing Boards, SCRIB
Colored Masking Tape, NMASK
Sea Shells, SHELLS
Natural Feathers Classroom Pack, NATURAL
Wood Geo Shapes, 1000W
Wood Craft Rounds, WOOD50
Colored Wood Cubes, CWCB
Colorations Liquid Watercolors, set of 8 - PLWS
Super Safe Plastic Droppers, 12SSD
Hanging Outdoor Double Easel, HDE

Reggio Inspired Use of Liquid Watercolor

2011-01-18T15:20:00.001-08:00

I just had the good fortune to attend an inspiring BJE Early Childhood Institute hosted by Adat Ari El Synagogue in Los Angeles. I was completely mesmerized by Adat Ari El’s classrooms, which were full of life and color, and clearly reflected engaged learners. I found great pleasure and inspiration from their use of art and the way children responded to their open ended approach to creativity. Check out these colorful examples:

Their ECE Director, Beryl Straus, explained to me that Adat Ari El has been slowly incorporating Reggio Emilio principles into their curriculum for seven years. Adat Ari El preschool is known in LA as one of the places to schedule a site visit if you want to learn more about the Reggio approach to learning. But Beryl pointed out to me that their Reggio inspired program didn’t happen overnight - that their curriculum is always in a fluid state of change, adaptation, and improvement. They have an “Atelier” (art studio) and an “Atelierista” (art specialist) – how exciting! But each of their teachers also incorporates art in their classroom daily, and they share ideas and materials with Tali Soffer, their Atelierista. Adat Ari El preschool is a truly engaging environment and I’m happy to share photos from their Atelier and classroom art here, by video clip. Most of the artwork shown here uses Liquid Watercolor, one of my favorite paints. I found Liquid Watercolor being used in every classroom, with beautiful results.

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www.ArtandCreativity.blogspot.com

Materials List

Colorations Liquid Watercolor - complete set of colors

Colorations Liquid Watercolor Kit

Colorations Oil Pastels

Real Watercolor Paper - 50 Sheets

Colorations® Super Classroom Paint Brush Set

X-Ray Hand Prints!

2010-12-14T10:56:00.000-08:00

Watch how your hand prints seem to magically jump off the page, when you make x-ray hand prints using BioColor® "Scraper Art." X-Ray Scraper Art is an amazing process, take a moment to watch the video clip recorded live at the Discount School Supply NAEYC Math & Science Workshop.

I've also added a new "NAECY Handout" column at right which includes X-Ray Art as part of the NAEYC Math & Science Handout. Please consider printing out and sharing this handout at the next staff meeting! Teachers are always asking for new ideas that teach math and science through hands-on, sensory play. The handouts provided here are written with your "right-brain" in mind, they are easy to digest and rely heavily on diagrams and pictures. You'll find the same applies to Smart Art Ideas Activity Book and Smart Art 2: More Smart Ideas Activity Book.

These photos show 3-year olds making x-ray hand prints as part of teaching nutrition & building strong bodies. This activity provides a great opportunity to talk with children about the importance of milk, yogurt and other calcium rich foods in building good bone health. With that in mind, I added my favorite new science product, the charming little skeleton man (18" Skeleton Model), which allowed me to reference an anatomically correct skeleton model as we began the activity by discussing our bones and hands. This incredibly inexpensive skeleton model is a must-have for science centers.

I hope these photos inspire you to try x-ray hand prints with even the youngest of children. By giving the children a chance to create a colorful paint border around their hand prints, we ended up with delightful paintings that combine art and science in the best of ways.

Materials you'll need:
BioColor® Paint, 16 oz., Black
BioColor® Paint, 16 oz., White
BioColor® Paint Scraper
Nancy™ Paint Bottles Classic Tips, 2 oz. - Set of 12

Enhance this Lesson with:
18" Skeleton Model
More Smart Art Ideas Activity Book
Human X-Rays - Set of 18
Body Banner
Foam Skeleton Floor Puzzle - 15 Pieces

Craft Stick Faces: More than Just Smiles!

2010-11-17T09:01:00.000-08:00

Teachers had a great time making Craft Stick Faces at the Discount School Supply NAEYC booth last week, and this economical craft project is SO creative! Collage materials of all sorts adhere easily to the blank wooden craft stick faces, and design possibilities are endless. Try out a few new collage materials, and combine them with what you already have on hand. This project is small enough that you can use up bits and pieces of fabric scraps, yarns, dried beans, or any number of crafty odds and ends. A variety of collage elements will inspire unique designs.

Take a look at some of these creative ideas, and imagine the fun your children will have. Turn Craft Stick Faces into "self portraits," use them in dramatic play as puppet figures, or introduce them as a way to help children express their feelings. One teacher at NAEYC created a happy face on one side, and a sad face on the other side, I really loved THAT idea! There's nothing like an arts & crafts break during a long conference to help people relax and enjoy themselves.

To get this particular range of collage effects, see the recommended materials below. I especially recommend the wonderful Tacky Glue Pens, which you'll use often in other classroom projects. You'll also love the Fantastic Foam Stickers - they are bright, fun shapes that stick to any surface and are easy for young children to manipulate. These products are what I call "incredible values" that you'll use with pleasure, again and again.

Thanks for checking in, I hope you enjoy the NAEYC photos!

Recommended Materials for Craft Stick Faces:

Craft Stick Faces - Set of 20
Tacky Glue Pens - Set of 24
Fantastic Foam Stickers - Set of 24
Black Wiggly Eyes - 1000 Pieces
Super Lightweight Air-Dry Putty - White
Mini Pom-Poms - 500 Pieces
Rainbow Feathers Classroom Pack - 8 oz.
Rick Rack Ribbon - 150 Feet
Crayola® Multicultural Washable Markers - Set of 8
Colorations® Tropical Chubbie Markers- 8 pieces

Gardening with BioColor®

2010-10-13T13:56:00.000-07:00

I’ve been working with a lot of Science & Outdoor Classroom ideas lately and set up a Root Vue Farm® planter to watch the carrots, radishes and onions grow. I had seen this product for years but never watched one develop, and while I found it very easy to set up, it was so plain to look at that I decided to decorate it with BioColor®.

It’s so much more inviting with the BioColor® design on the plastic “light shield,” that I wanted to pass along this idea. I think it’s a great example of how art, even simple doodles or designs, can always ADD VALUE to any project. Color adds a playful element to activities and is nature’s most delightful form of “sensory stimulation.” I can for sure say that the color I added to my Root-Vue Farm® definitely made my family more interested in keeping track of its developments. It now sits over my kitchen sink in a sunny window, and I find my son lifting up the “light shield” every day to check underneath and see how much the vegetable plant roots have grown.

I planted it on Oct 1 (noted on the plant stakes which come in the kit) – and here it is on Oct 14. The radishes have taken off, although the roots are all very delicate still.

The Root-Vue Farm® kit comes with seeds, soil, and accessories, and an activity guide that gives you several ideas on how to incorporate it into classroom lesson plans. I found it easy to set up, and it took me less than 20 minutes to read the guide (which was well written) and plant the carrots, radishes and onion seeds.

The final set up phase involves inserting a plastic “light shield” onto the front to protect the delicate roots from the sun as they continue to grow.

The light shield was so plain, that I immediately thought of painting it with BioColor®, which of course sticks to plastic, so was the perfect choice for paint. I first cut out the Root Vue log from the cover of the Activity Guide and glued it onto the light protector, since I figured we would be studying the root growth for a few months and I wanted visitors to see at a glance what this project was. Labeling is always good for language development, so I suggest doing this in the early childhood classroom as well.

Now for the painting part: I set out to paint on my kitchen counter, squirting a few colors of BioColor® onto a paper plate and rolling through them with patterned foam rollers. I chose the square roller pattern from the Colorations® Cool Designs Foam Roller - Set of 12, which has six different designs. It's easy to get a "cool design" onto the light shield in no time.

Gardening is a great way to teach science to children, and helps foster curiosity and wonder. How a small seed can grow into a radish or a carrot is one of nature’s greatest miracles. I’m glad I took the time to start up a Root-Vue Farm® and look forward to seeing root vegetables grow on my kitchen window sill in the weeks to come. Please join me if you can!

CD Photo Frames

2010-09-20T09:42:00.000-07:00

Recycle old CD’s and turn them into colorful picture frames, using BioColor® and your favorite photos. Since BioColor® sticks to plastic and other slick surfaces, it’s easy! Simply collect used CD’s and choose photographs with images that are small enough to cut out, glue down, and still leave enough room to add BioColor® paint. This recycled art project is easy, inexpensive, and unique!

This first example shows a wedding photo created with a BioColor® design that lets the shiny CD peek through. After gluing down the picture, I used gold BioColor® to create a circular border, then I applied black and yellow BioColor® around the photo into a star shaped design. It hangs in a prominent spot on my wall at home, and is often a conversation piece. People love it when they realize the picture is simply glued onto a CD then painted. No other tempera paint will stick to plastic, so this recycled art project makes good use of BioColor®’s unique property of sticking to slick surfaces.

These next two photo frames are simpler examples of the same process and could easily be created by younger children. Apply BioColor® using pre-filled plastic Nancy™ Bottles. When making a photo frame, it’s important to have something to hang the frame from. The easiest way to create a hanger is with a loop of yarn. Slip a 12” strand of yarn through the center of the CD hole, and tie it at the top. Now glue on your photo using tacky glue, and begin applying BioColor® any way you like. It’s easy to make dots of various colors, and a little more challenging to create lines, like the blue and white heart shapes shown here. Start with dots if you want to start easy. Drag a toothpick through the dots to create little swirly designs if you like.

Apply BioColor® in dots and lines directly from Nancy™ Bottles, or use a paintbrush, or combine both. In this close-up you’ll see that dots were applied from Nancy™ Bottles first, then a paintbrush was used to spread around the paint and change the surface texture. You want a fairly thick layer of BioColor®, so make sure to lay it on a flat surface to dry overnight.

Another fun idea for Recycled CD’s is to make Dream Catchers using BioColor®, feathers, and collage materials. Traditional Dream Catchers hang over beds and “catch bad dreams” before they bother your sleep. Authentic Native American Dream Catchers can be very intricate and beautiful. These playful imitations, or what I like to call “Urban Dream Catchers,” are a fun way to imitate the real deal.

Lastly, here’s a picture of my workspace before I began making some of these samples. This recycled art idea has easy set up, and uses very affordable supplies, probably no more than 10 cents per project. And if you’re like me, you have dozens of old CD’s stacked around, just waiting to come to life as something shiny, fun and artful.

Materials You’ll Need:

CD Photo Frames:

BioColor® – BIO16 – Set of all 11 Original Colors
Gold BioColor® – BIOGO – BioColor® Gold
Nancy Bottles – NANTWS – Nancy™ Bottles, set of 12

Tacky Glue Pens – TACKYPEN – Tacky Glue Pens, set of 24

Used CD’s
Yarn – 5LBR - Remnant Yarn, 5 lbs

Urban Dream Catchers:

Fluorescent BioColor® - FBIO – set of all 9 colors

Nancy™ Bottles – NANTWS – Nancy™ Bottles, set of 12

Tacky Glue Pens – TACKYPEN – Tacky Glue Pens, set of 24

Neon Colored Feathers – NEON- 750 feathers
Iridescent Fabric Shapes SHINYFAB – 500 pieces
Yarn – 5LBR - Remnant Yarn, 5 lbs

For more ideas on how to use BioColor® on slick surfaces check out this video!

IncredibleFoam® Dough: Delightful, No Mess Art

2010-08-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

IncredibleFoam® Dough is a light modeling compound (think substitute for clay) that’s wonderful to touch, squish, and sculpt into 3-Dimensional Art. It comes in dozens of colors and it’s an inspiration for creative young minds, like 4 year old Jordan pictured here. Does he look proud of himself or what? Jordan came up with this idea on his own, by pressing several colors of Foam Dough onto an 11" x 17” piece of construction paper, then later gluing down the pieces with white glue so they’d stick.

Foam Dough also makes a great Small Group Activity, as illustrated by this collaborative artwork. A small cluster of school age students created a picture by working together and pressing Foam Dough onto the tabletop where they were seated. Each child was given a different color of Foam Dough to start, and they were asked to work cooperatively to decide on a theme and create one unified picture. I loved the result, as well as the teamwork it inspired.

Other 3-D figures and sculptures can be created in simple or more complex fashion, depending on a child’s age and interests. We’ve created them here on paper plates so they’re easier to carry around, and they can later be glued down onto the paper if desired.

Whether you apply Foam Dough to paper, or shape it into a freestanding 3-D sculpture, it looks great and is always easy and fun to work with. And did I mention it doesn’t make a mess? Foam Dough is clean, soft, and mess-free, yet it’s also completely open ended so it brings out children’s natural creativity. Plus, it never dries out, even if you forget to bag up the leftovers. Experiment with it yourself, and you’ll find that IncredibleFoam® Dough holds lots of discoveries. It even floats! Imagine making little boats for your sand and water table, or combine it with collage elements like the Shining Star Rhinestones, Sparkle Stem Pipecleaners, and Colorations® Washable School Glue pictured below.

The IncredibleFoam® Dough Classroom Pack is my favorite, since the color cubes are a delight to look at and easy to distribute. But, you can also purchase IncredibleFoam® Dough in a larger Set of 7 Basic Colors or a smaller Sampler Pack. However you try it, you’re guaranteed a lot of active learning and pure sensory delight!

Multicultural Crafts from Russia

2010-07-28T17:50:00.000-07:00

I just returned from a family vacation in Russia and picked up some wonderful arts & crafts. Don't you love these fabric art pictures and this sweet 14-year-old Russian girl who made them? I met her in a small village outside Moscow and her two fabric pictures were so charming, I had to buy them both. After all, how often do you run across a 14-year-old entrepreneur whose work is this original?

They are made from such simple materials: fabric scraps, markers, and glue – amazing! I just love it when I find a new form of art, especially when it’s been created by a young person. And that's the beauty of foreign travels, they take you on adventures where you meet amazing people and discover creative new things about other cultures.

And how about this little wooden Russian Nesting Doll, which I decorated myself with watercolors and colored pencils at a cultural center for tourists. I had fun and felt right at home participating in local arts & crafts activities. They sell pre-painted nesting dolls all over Russia, but I never had to buy a set because I had the pleasure of painting my own. What an unforgettable souvenir!

If you are fortunate enough to take a vacation this summer, don’t forget to bring home local handicrafts to share with your classroom. Multicultural Crafts are one of the best ways children can share in and appreciate the everyday lives of other people from around the globe.

You’ll find plenty of multi-cultural arts & crafts projects in Discount School Supply’s section on multicultural crafts.

Or, try out my Smart Art Lesson “Native American Spirit Sticks” – attached here.

Have a great summer!

The Source of My Strength

2010-07-07T16:05:00.000-07:00

The following is adapted from a workshop that I did for Discount School Supply customer, A Window Between Worlds (AWBW). AWBW is a training & resource agency for battered women's shelters. AWBW serves women and children at shelters and this workshop helped their training for Program Coordinators from shelters throughout Southern California. For more information about AWBW and using art as a tool for heailng, check out http://www.awbw.org/.

Objective: This month's workshop is designed to engage teens in a creative exercise to identify the things about them that are strong. They will create symbols that help represent the source of their own personal strength, so that they will be able to more quickly and readily understand their strengths and access them when needed.

Materials:

Colorations® Smooth & Silky Art Sticks
BioColor Paint (4 colors plus silver and gold = 6 total colors)
Nancy Paint Bottles Twist Tops (optional)
Balloons - one per person
Small paper plates - one per person
White Cardboard Pencil Box - one per person
White heavy weight construction paper (for warm-up and handmade stencils)
Paper towels for cleanup
Colorations® Glitter Paint (optional)
Paint Brushes – one small & one large
Colorations® Glue
Cups with water

Prep: Pre-fill Nancy Bottles with BioColor, filling 4 bottles with standard BioColor and one each of gold and silver, for a total of 6 Nancy Bottles full of BioColor per small group of participants. Fill one Nancy Bottle with paint for every 4 people. Try out each warm-up application before the workshop. Make yourself a sample of the Source of Our Strength Box to familiarize yourself with each stage, and so you will be confident leading the session. Create your sample box from your own voice as a healer, someone who provides healing, compassion and positive solutions for children.

Setup:

1.) In the middle of the table place 4 standard and 2 metallic BioColors in Nancy Bottles, 1 Nancy Bottle of glitter paint, 1 set of Silky Sticks. Place an extra small stack of white construction paper for warm ups.
2.) In front of each seat, place 2 sheets construction paper, 1 balloon and one paper plate.

Demonstration:

Note: During the demo/warm-up, it is useful to first do a demonstration of each step and then give participants a turn.

Art Material Demo and Warm-up #1: Balloon Printing with BioColor

Step 1: Using 4 standard colors of BioColor, plus silver and gold, place quarter-sized dots of paint in center of plate.

Step 2: Blow up balloons, not too big, so they fit into your fist or grasp (2"- 3").

Step 3: Firmly press balloon straight down into paint palette, then "print" paint onto paper. Bounce/print balloon all over.

Step 4: Create stencil patterns. Using thick, white construction paper, tear stencils by folding the paper in half and tear out images as if you were making a snowflake. Position stencil and balloon print on top. Remove stencil to see pattern surface. Repeat. Overlap stencils and repeat with a variety of colors to create a pleasing design.

Art Material Warm Up #2: Intro to Silky Sticks

Step 1: Dry Application: Take a few different Silky Stick colors and make a simple doodle
to experience the materials, pressing hard to lay down bright pigments. Don't think about it too much, take this time to "loosen up" and leave your critical voice behind.

Step 2: Wet Application: Dip Silky Sticks into water before making another doodle. Experience the difference in wet and dry applications.

Step 3: Wet Application with Paintbrushes: Take your larger paintbrush and dip it into water. Apply your wet brush to your original dry doodle, creating a "flow-release" effect as it releases the colored pigment into a dilution of color, like a watercolor. Next take your smaller "detail" brush and dip it into water, making more detailed flow effects. You can also use your wet brush, or finger, directly on your Silky Stick as if it were a dry watercolor cake, and use your finger or brush directly onto your paper. Set aside all the warm up creations to make room for the activity.

Introduction & Relaxation:

Ask the participants to try to relax, put down their art materials, and if they wish, close their eyes for a few minutes while you guide them through a brief period of self-reflection.

Continue with this dialogue (or change the concept to your own voice):

Today's workshop is meant to to focus on our strengths, so that we can increase our sense of safety and well-being. We will remind ourselves today that we are each strong enough not only to survive, but to overcome and rise above what has happened to us in the past. Today is about living in the present moment of strength, community, healing and support. Our artwork will help us focus on what it is that makes us strong and keeps us strong. With that in mind, try to relax and reflect upon where it is that you find your own personal strength. In times of need, do you call upon your faith to give you strength? Or do you think of your mother, your brothers or sisters, your friends, or something else to makes you feel strong? When you ask for help, who listens? What is the source of your strength? (Give people a short quiet time to reflect on this question). Now, open your eyes and take your Silky Sticks and a fresh piece of paper, and DRAW A SYMBOL that represents the SOURCE OF MY STRENGTH. Your symbol can be made up of one image, or a combination of images. Just do what comes naturally. There is no right or wrong way to create a visual symbol. The easiest way is to simply get started and see what happens!

Creation:

Part 1: Inside of Box

Take your SOURCE OF MY STRENGTH drawing and re-create it on the inside of your pencil box, using the Silky Sticks. Consider your original warm-up sketch as a starting point, and re-create the image in a more finished form on the inside of your box, adding details and embellishing it however feels right. Don't over think it, just let it flow without being critical of how it looks or what it means. As you create your visual symbol of strength on the inside of your box, imagine you are creating this image from your source. Whatever comes of this experience will be the "right" image of strength for you today.

Part 2: Outside of Box

Now comes the time to decorate the outside of your box more playfully, by balloon printing the outside with BioColor and your own handmade paper stencils. Add glitter paint if you want to add sparkle. Create a design of your choice, so that when you place it on a shelf or dresser table where you live, you will be reminded of a pleasant time spent with creativity and community. No one but you will know that inside this box lay very important symbols, symbols that represent the source of your strength and the inner resources you call upon.

Closing:

Have participants share their boxes with a partner, or with the group. If they share with a partner reinforce the importance of being a good listener (i.e. paying attention and not interrupting). Encourage the participants to look inside their "Strong Box" whenever they need to be reminded of their personal strength.

Tips:

When selecting boxes to decorate, be sure to purchase ones that have an unfinished surface, like the ones from Discount School Supply. A slick, or glossy surface will not allow the paint to stick.

Handmade Gift Wrap

2010-06-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

As the school year drew to a recent close, my daughter bought little gifts for her teachers, which I was happy to support. To further encourage her generosity, I suggested she create handmade gift wrap paper for each of her presents. I know from being a teacher and a mom, that a child’s “personal touch” has great value. So with the goal of pleasing her teachers and encouraging her creativity, I joined my daughter on our front lawn to create our own original, hand painted wrapping paper. Check out the results, we were both pretty thrilled! In a very short time (thanks to the big trigger spray bottles we used) we completely covered a 4’ x 10’ piece of soft “Cooperative Mural Art” paper with pure, brilliant color using Colorations® Liquid Watercolor. We added sparkle at the end with swirls of Washable Glitter Paint, and created a dramatic painting in less than 20 minutes. That is some quick artwork! After it dried, we cut up the painting into smaller strips of paper to wrap our gifts. With great enthusiasm my daughter loaded up her presents to take to school this morning, feeling quite happy and proud of her creations.

Try this sometime you have a group of presents to wrap. At just $7.99 for a 4’ x 10’ piece of soft mural art material, you get 40 square feet of wrapping paper to decorate - pretty economical gift wrap, indeed!

This was a fun way to make practical use of a “Color Spray Mural,” one of the lesson plans from Smart Art. Find the Color Spray Mural PDF listed under Lesson Plans on this blog.

Father's Day: Make Dad a Gift He'll Keep Forever

2010-05-26T09:01:00.001-07:00

Father’s Day is around the corner and it’s time to help your children make a wonderful gift for Dad. These papier-mache boxes are colorful, creative and sure to please, plus they’re an economical gift at around $1 each. Arts & crafts like these plain white boxes make a nice surface for Colorations® Foam Paint which is brightly colored and dries right away. In these samples, we turned Papier Mache Banks into “Love Banks” for a great Father’s Day gift. For this effect, children first draw pictures on their box using a permanent fine line marker, then add crayons, then apply Foam Paint colors on top. The other paper boxes shown here are Window Boxes which are decorated the same way. To simplify for younger children simply use several colors of foam paint and eliminate marker and crayon. Window Boxes make a beautiful gift for Dad’s desk and are sure to be proudly displayed for many years to come. Add a literacy component to the project by filling any of these cute little boxes with a hand written “love note” to melt Dad’s heart.

Learn more on “How to Use Foam Paint” by viewing the short video clip below. See why Foam Paint not only looks beautiful, but is also super convenient to use.

Mother's Day: Fabric Art Zipper Totes

2010-04-26T10:19:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day is around the corner and it's time to plan ahead for that special day where every mother hopes to receive a charming, handmade gift. Here's a wonderful gift choice that's both creative and useful. Our little canvas pencil bags are great for open ended fabric art and make adorable carry-all bags for grown ups. Wouldn't you carry THIS in your purse? You could use it as a make-up bag, take it to the gym, or use it to organize all that stuff that falls to the bottom of your purse. Imagine the possibilities!

These samples use BioColor® Scraper Art and Easy Grip Stampers, but this project is open ended so children can paint their fabric bags any way they like. Be sure to use BioColor® Paint for vibrant colors that will stay permanent on the fabric after washing. Simply pre-mix the paint with BioColor® Fabric Medium first. This is a quick, easy and inexpensive process demonstrated in this BioColor® Fabric Art video.

In these samples, we've used Sea Life themed Easy Grip Stampers. Notice in the photo that you paint ONTO the stamper directly with a brush BEFORE stamping onto fabric. This gives you a nice, clean design. We've combined the stampers with Scraper Art techniques, where you simply sweep the paint across the fabric with a BioColor® Scraper, either in an organized fashion with dots of paint, or in a free-form fashion with random squiggles of paint, all scraped across the fabric in one sweeping motion. The special effect you see with the Scraper Art if one of the "magical" properties of BioColor® and it's so easy that even a young child can do it.

If you like the idea of Fabric Art but are not keen on the zipper totes, these same design ideas would also look great on Canvas Pillow Cases, or Canvas Duffel Bags. But my personal favorite is the little zipper tote because I know I would use it all the time. I hope these ideas give you a head start on your Mother's Day planning! And as you plan ahead, remember how long most mothers keep their mother's day presents, because nothing speaks of love like a young child's handmade gift.

Materials:
1) Canvas Pencil Bags
2) BioColor®, set of all 11 Original Colors
3) BioColor® Scraper
4) Easy Grip Stampers, Sea Life Theme

Optional:
5) Stubby Chubby Brushes
6) Nancy Bottles
7) Sharpie® Ultra Fine Line Markers

Again, be sure to check out this this BioColor® Fabric Art video for a more detailed view of fabric art techniques.

Blotter Art: Color, Balance & Symmetry

2010-04-02T16:19:00.000-07:00

Blotter art is one of the easiest ways to create colorful abstract art and is a good exercise in color, balance and symmetry. Look carefully and you'll see that each design includes a mirror image of itself from left to right and has been created along a fold in the paper. Imagine how dramatic each of these paintings would look in a frame or as a journal cover! You can also create these same designs on t-shirts by adding Fabric Medium to BioColor® ahead of time to make your paints permanent. Blotter art shows off the beauty and vibrancy of BioColor® and is a great time to incorporate BioColor® Gold, my personal favorite.

To make blotter art, fold heavy white construction paper in half and place "dime sized" dots of BioColor® along the fold. Then fold paper in half again and rub the paint out to the edges with your hands and fingers. Or add lines by pressing into the folded paper with a BioColor® scraper or craft stick to make the contrasting lines you see in these designs. Open up the folded paper to find a beautiful abstract painting inside. Keep it just the way it is, or add a little more paint and re-fold it to alter your picture. As long as you use heavy construction paper, you can work with your painting for quite a while until you are happy with your design. Keep going until you like it! That's the magic of art.

For more detailed instructions, find a complete lesson plan for Blotter Art, T-Shirt Blotter Art, and BioColor® Blotter Art Masks in Smart Art, and Smart Art 2, available through Discount School Supply.

Materials You'll Need:
BioColor®
BioColor® Gold
BioColor® Scraper
Twist Top Nancy Bottles
Heavy White Construction Paper
Paper towels

Optional:
Smart Art Ideas
Smart Art Ideas 2

Paper Towel Quilts - Teach Math!

2010-03-11T16:39:00.000-08:00

WOW, have you ever seen such brilliant color? Not since tie-dye t-shirts have colors stood out as brightly as they do with Colorations® Liquid Watercolor on paper towels. What an easy and inexpensive way to collaborate on a group art activity for classrooms, birthday parties, family reunions or any group event. There's nothing like a handmade quilt to convey the idea that each individual is an important and equal member of the group. This colorful quilt is done with 2-ply paper towels (use the more expensive brands, as thicker papers absorb more color.) Bounty brand paper towels are currently sold in squares (not rectangles) so they make particularly nice geometric design quilts.

Prepare for this project by pre-filling Colorations® Liquid Watercolor into "bingo bottles". Purchase plain white 2-ply paper towels, white glue, and backing material or something to mount your squares onto. I use "Cooperative Mural Art" material but you can also use white or black butcher paper. To create each quilt square, refer to the set up shown here. Take a paper towel and fold it 4 times to 1/4 it's original size. Paint each corner a different color, dabbing on paint from the pre-filed bingo bottles. Children as young as 3 can typically manage this, but older children and even adults love the process too. By painting each corner a different color, you automatically get a repeat pattern when you open up your square to it's original size. What a fun way to reinforce math concepts like shape, pattern, and symmetry. Allow to dry, then glue mount each colorful square onto Cooperative Mural Art or butcher paper. Hang in a prominent spot, and get ready for some admiration!

Materials You'll Need:
- Colorations Liquid Watercolor (Item #LW)
- Bingo Bottles (Item #BING)
- Cooperative Mural Art Material (Item #LSMAT)
- White glue for mounting
- Paper plates or art trays to work on

Have fun!

Spray Paint Outdoors with Liquid Color!

2010-02-22T09:38:00.000-08:00

These "Color Spray Murals" are being painted by 3 year olds at Pressman Academy in Los Angeles, where I asked children to join me on the playground in groups of two for a special art project.

The results were exciting and the children were immediately engaged. I hadn't tried Color Spray with children this young before, so I made sure to pre-pour liquid watercolor into large trigger spray bottles that were easy to pull and release. As a result, all of the children were able to manipulate the spray bottles using one or both hands. They seemed truly delighted with the challenge and jumped for joy when they saw the colorful results. I took plant cuttings from my garden to school that day to use as stencils. Each child got to select one plant cutting to use as their own stencil, then I showed them how to spray liquid watercolor over their plant cutting, then move the plant aside to see the pattern that it created underneath.

We used a 4 x 10 plastic backed paper called Liquid Watercolor Material that is much nicer to use for this application than white butcher paper (although butcher paper will do in a pinch). As children completed their color spray process, I offered them each a choice of silver or gold liquid watercolor to drizzle on top of their painted area. As new children came to the playground to take their turn, I guided them to create their painting on clear, white areas of the paper and little by little the mural began to fill with color. This project is popular with older children as well, and can be found as a Smart Art Lesson plan, which you can download here. For more colorful ideas using liquid watercolor, check out Smart Art and Smart Art 2.

Make Amazing Prints with Sunlight!

2010-01-20T10:49:00.000-08:00

I’ve always been curious about Sun Print Paper and began experimenting with it this Winter. It feels magical to work with because you use the sun to create blue and white photo-like prints. In these samples you see both Sunprint Paper and Sunprint Fabric Squares. You simply place leaves, ferns and other interesting objects on a sheet of Sunprint paper, expose it to the sun for a few minutes, immerse the paper in water, and watch as a permanent image appears. In these samples I used small wooden letters and small plastic letters to create names. The plastic letters let a little light shine through and created a more mysterious effect than the opaque wood. Lace and stencils add more imagery. Sun Print Paper and fabric squares react to sunlight, creating unique patterns that are always white on blue.

This is a perfect Winter activity that teaches science and illustrates the powerful and tangible effects of the sun. Both fabric and paper versions come with simple instructions and are suitable for children ages 6 and up, or small groups of younger children. I particularly enjoyed the fabric quilt kit and highly recommend it for beginners.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-07T12:16:00.000-08:00

Thanks for checking in and Happy New Year! Can you believe we are crossing the threshold of a new decade? I thought I'd open the new year with one of my favorite inspirational ideas, "There's no time like now...today is the day." I love inspirational sayings and over the holidays I painted and gave away small gift canvases like the below. Who knew simple paints could look so sophisticated when combined with inspirational sayings?

If you like the textured effect produced on the canvas shown here, simply layer BioColor® and Colorations® Liquid Watercolor over collugated cardboard shapes. Begin by selecting a base of stiff cardboard, foam core board, or small canvas. Then cut out or tear corrugated cardboard shapes and mount with glue onto your base. Once glue is dry, begin painting with BioColor®, using large brushes and foam rollers. Be sure to include Metallic Gold BioColor®, it has a wonderful sheen. In this sample, I also sprayed on the Liquid Watercolor but you'll find your own combination of brushing, rolling and spraying paint that gives you your own personal sense of fun and discovery. As with all open ended art, there's no right or wrong way to apply the paint. And there's no day like today to begin!

We all enjoy making and receiving handmade gifts, and these were easy and inexpensive to create. Thank you for checking in for a little creative inspiration, and please come back soon!

Workshops get Rave Reviews! Join us!

2009-11-02T09:56:00.000-08:00

Join us in Southern California! The 2009 Fall/Winter Workshop Series currently runs through December 10th, and takes place from 9:00am to 12:00 noon.

The current hands-on workshop series, Math, Science & Sensory Play, is getting rave reviews from early childhood professionals as they learn new skills and re-charge their batteries in experiential workshops led by Anna Reyner, Training Director for Discount School Supply. Check out these photos from the first two workshops!

Get a substitute for your classroom and gain three (3) Professional Development Hours, practical classroom ideas and a renewed energy for the important work you do with children.

Hope to see you at the next session! Register now!

Southern CA 2009 Fall/Winter Workshop Series

2009-09-21T14:42:00.000-07:00

2009 Fall/Winter Workshop Series
Math, Science & Sensory Play: Engaging Active Learners - Register now or Download the Brochure to learn more!

Make math and science an exciting part of your everyday curriculum! This workshop combines lecture, hands-on and small group activities in a creative and highly motivating atmosphere. Experience dozens of new math and science activities based on sensory play and "high-touch" learning for children ages 3-5. Participants will experiment with math and science activities as well as exchange ideas with other early childhood educators.

Learn more about the 2009 Workshop Series. Plus, find live action photos and comments from previous workshops below.

"Really creative ideas - I learned a lot and had a great time" - Corinna Castillo, Site Director, YMCA of Santa Maria Valley

"Informative, fun and easy to follow!" - Michelle Massen, Childcare Leader, Conejo Valley United School District

"WOW! My favorite work shop in ages!" - Pauline McCall, Director, The Learning Experience

"These are fantastic workshops! Thank you and keep them coming!" - Christina Cabrera, Assistant Executive Director, Camp Fire Boys & Girls Club

Fall Crafting Fun - Colored Glue Leaves

2009-09-16T14:35:00.000-07:00

Something fun to do with young children this time of year is explore the seasonal changes we see all around us. Whether you live in states where autumn colors abound or not, one commonality during the fall is falling leaves. In the yard, on the streets, at school-- it's easy to spot some leaves on the ground someplace. This Colored Glue Sun Catchers craft is a classic, but a favorite. It gives children the chance to explore light refraction and reflection and color blending, and each student can make a leaf as unique as they are. Here's how we make them:
1. Fill a 2oz. Nancy Bottle™ filled with clear glue and add a few drops of Colorations® Liquid Watercolor.
2. Stir with a craft stick to mix.
3. Apply the colored glue onto a sheet of acrylic in leaf shapes or use patterned rubbing plates and allow to dry flat for 24-48 hours.
4. When completely dry, peel off and make a small hole for hanging.
5. Try using different colors in a pattern for a unique effect.

BioColor® Flowers

2009-07-23T13:02:00.000-07:00

Summer flowers are in full bloom so it's time to be inspired by the brilliant colors of nature. Children love making these simple fold-over flowers using brilliant BioColor®.

Simply take white construction paper, fold it in half, and place dots of BioColor® along the middle of the fold. Re-fold the paper and press around the BioColor®. Open the fold and let the BioColor® dry thoroughly. Once dry, cut out your flower shape and attach a craft stick stem. Create leaves from additional construction paper or painted paper plates. Glue them together and enjoy as individual flowers. Or better yet, create an elaborate class mural and have everyone paint the background and then add their own flowers. You'll find lesson plans for both these ideas in Smart Art 2.

Enjoy your summer and keep those gardens blooming!

"Ocean in a Bottle" - Creative Outdoor Science

2009-07-07T11:27:00.000-07:00

It's summer again and the perfect time for outdoor activities. Ocean in a Bottle captivates children and leads the way to science discoveries. Simply add Colorations® Liquid Watercolor and BioColor Shimmer Powder to plain water in any clear plastic bottle. Cap tightly and shake it up vigorously. You'll immediately discover your bottle is full of swirling "oceans" of shimmery colored waves that stay in motion long after you've stopped shaking your bottle.

What's happening here? What principle of science does this exciting project illustrate? Water molecules, or H20, are invisible to the eye. If you shake up a water bottle, the water molecules begin swirling around quickly but you can't see them move because they're invisible to the eye. In this project you are "tagging" the water molecules with color and shimmer powder (a non-toxic micro glitter) which enables you to see the water and how it is set in motion as you shake it up. There is so much to the world around us that we cannot see without a microscope. Welcome to the fascinating world of earth science!

Complete directions are outlined in the Smart Art Lesson Plan attached. Instead of Colorations® Sticker Glue, use Self Adhesive Art Foam Shapes to decorate each bottle. Enjoy your summer!

Scraper Art, Arts & Crafts with BioColor - Video

2009-06-16T10:17:00.000-07:00

Child-Sized Art Gallery

2009-05-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

Don't forget to display children's art at their own eye level. This "gallery space" is a great example that uses black butcher paper and black constuction paper to create a dramatic background for preschool artwork. The gallery is further enhanced by combining 3-D art (coffee filter art) with 2-D art (paintings and yarn collage). Change out your art
displays as often as possible - and make sure everyone's art is represented.

This second photo shows what hangs overhead in this same room, a 3-D hanging display of CD covers painted with BioColor®. These simple but effective gallery display ideas are from the Hill n Dale Preschool in Santa Monica, CA.

Recycle a Tomato Trellis & Make a Wishing Tree

2009-04-27T09:44:00.000-07:00

Here's an artful way to put a tomato trellis to good use... turn it into a Wishing Tree! Simply take a metal tomato plant trellis, put it into a soil filled pot and have children design their own wish to attach it to the "tree".

These wishes were created on rice paper, but you could also use handpainted paper or construction paper with collage materials on top.

With summer coming up, you could even create this to decorate an outdoor vegetable garden.

This creative idea came from a volunteer at A Window Between Worlds, a shelter for battered women and their children in Venice, CA.

Blotter Art, Fun Arts & Crafts Activities with BioColor - Video

2009-04-01T09:05:00.000-07:00

Paper Towel Quilt

2009-03-12T08:38:00.000-07:00

I love watching simple paper towels come to life with Liquid Watercolor.
To create this "eye popping" paper quilt, we filled bingo bottles with Colorations® Liquid Watercolor and dabbed the color onto folded paper towel squares. These detailed patterns were created by school aged children, but younger children will create more free-form patterns with equally beautifully results. For best results use "2-ply" paper towels (better quality versions) since they soak up more color than "1-ply" paper towels and give your artwork a richer result.

In the paper quilt shown here we also created circular coffee filter art using the same materials and techniques. Find directions for these in the Smart Art Lesson for Coffee Filter Art shown here. Finished paper squares and circles were laid out onto a piece of white cooperative mural paper, ready to be mounted with simple white glue. This simple paper craft shows off the beautiful brilliance of color. Isn't it wonderful eye-candy?

Free Preschool Arts & Crafts, Stamping with BioColor - Video

2009-02-25T10:00:00.000-08:00

Quilt Finishing Tips

2009-02-11T12:33:00.000-08:00

If you liked the Button Up Fabric Quilt squares recently posted (see January 12th post below), you'll enjoy these tips I discovered while assemblying this Baby Naming Quilt.

1) Lay decorated fabric squares upside down on a flat table.

2) Button up all squares so they lay flat.

3) Place tiny dab of white glue on each button loop to secure button closure. Dry.

4) Hang from inexpensive drapery rod with drapery clip rings.

5) Optional: Tie bows between squares using narrow ribbon.

5) Enjoy your collaborative art!

Inauguration Day & Our Community Arts Celebration

2009-01-28T12:10:00.000-08:00

I hope you enjoyed the celebrations of hope and unity as much as we did at the neighborhood organized "Kids for Peace & Unity" event in Los Angeles, CA! Local parents and artisans led painting, beading, origami, storytelling and dance activities.

Thanks to a few community arts advocates who invited families into their homes for hands-on art, people came together to create, collaborate and have fun with art. Now that's Art with Heart!

Fabric Quilts - Button 'em Up!

2009-01-12T13:30:00.000-08:00

Have you discovered the easy way to create wall hangings with Button Up Quilt squares? These fabric squares make fabric quilts so quick and easy, you'll wonder how you ever did collaborative art without them! The photos here show a Baby Shower Quilt "in the making" but you'll find yourself adapting this concept to many different themes.

Find fabric quilt squares in three different versions: With photo inserts (shown here), with plain white canvas fabric, or with colored fabrics. Use any fabric paints, or try the combination of Colorations Liquid Watercolor, BioColor, and stamping sticks with Metallic Stamp Pads shown here. Have each participant create one fabric square, them button them all together to assemble. Each square comes with buttons and loops already pre-sewn onto each corner. Have fun and Have a Creative 2009!

Create a "Fun with Paint" Booth for YOUR Community Festivals

2008-12-01T09:37:00.000-08:00

Winter holidays often bring people together for school carnivals, winter festivals and community gatherings. A colorful hands-on arts & crafts booth is always a welcome component to any community event. This spirited "Fun with Paint" booth was created by fifth graders at Wonderland Avenue Elementary School in Los Angeles, and the concept became an integral part of the local "Affaire in the Garden" community arts festival. Try this same idea at any community event or large scale gathering, and you're sure to find a hands-on art experience that keeps everyone engaged and excited about getting their hands into paint!

To make this "Fun with Paint" banner, pour some Colorations® Liquid Watercolor into trigger spray bottles and spray on liberally in abstract swirls and drizzles. To create the words or "copy" for your banner, block out letters by using large letter stencils. I used Alphabet Collage Letters as stencils as they're large, inexpensive and re-usable. Here you can see a close up of that process with the word "Fun". For your own "Fun with Paint" banner, I recommend using either the Colorations® Liquid Watercolor Painting Mat, white sheets or an old white table cloth. Stock your "booth" with whatever "quick and easy" art projects you like best, and have older children "work" the booth from the inside by demonstrating how to approach each art project you decide to deliver. Keep your projects quick (about 5 minutes or so) and you won't need chairs. Be inventive, and you'll think of lots of fun ideas that are quick, creative and spark the imagination. For a few starters, check out "Lesson Plans" on the right hand side of this blog.

Back by Popular Demand - Paper Quilts with NEW WRITTEN Instructions!

2008-10-27T09:43:00.000-07:00

Hello to all who have enjoyed seeing the paper quilt on the Art & Creativity Blog. Thank you for your interest!

Please find the written lesson plan below.

All materials available through Discount School Supply.

Paper Quilt Materials:
• Colorations® Liquid Watercolors – at least 6 colors
• Bingo bottle applicators
• Spray bottle applicators
• Small Coffee Filters
• Cooperative Mural Art Mat – Qty: 2
• Colored markers for quilt square details
• Fine line Sharpie type marker for name identification

Assembly Materials:
• 2 dowels, one for top and one for bottom
• Glue or Low Temp Hot Glue Gun
• Cord for hanging
• Beads for hanging (optional)

Preparation:
1) Select coffee filters, one per child (8" is what I used)
2) Cut Mural Art Paper (LWMAT) into 8" squares, or to match coffee filter size. If you want to tuck under borders, add 1" all around for fold/tuck/mounting. Or, cut to 8” and glue down directly w/out worrying about having the border fold be so neat. To cut: unfold LWMAT a few times but do not open up completely. Create a template out of cardstock w/your measurement. Use your template along w/an exacto blade or large scissors to cut several layers of LWMAT at once. It rolls up at the edges, but don’t worry as once painted it will relax and lay flat. If it rolls up while kids are painting it, tack it on the corners w/a small piece of masking paint.

Day One / Lesson One: Coffee Filter Art
Coffee Filters – Follow Salt Crystal Filter lesson plan. Since coffee filters are so cheap, children can paint two or more coffee filters arts and select their favorite, or use them to make additional quilts. Each child uses thin Sharpie type permanent marker to add small name or initials.

Day Two / Lesson Two: Painted Squares
Quilt Squares, on LWMAT material.
Use bingo bottles to create a design, adding details w/colored markers. The quilt from the blog was made by 3rd graders and we had the class of 20 decide on a theme – the chose "Animals" for the squares. The animal theme unified this quilt and gave it character. (The coffee filters portions of the quilt had no theme, since they were abstract color designs).

Day Three / Lesson Three: Color Spray Mural
This third lesson you can do on your own or have the children join you with. I ran out of time, so I did this myself. But on other occasions I’ve had groups create Color Spray Murals and they are spectacular. What this part involves is making a background to mount the circles and squares. Not much of it will show, only the part in-between the circles and squares – so in some way it can be disappointing for children to create a Color Spray Mural and then have it mostly covered up. But this would at least get the accustomed to spraying Liquid Watercolor, and the next go round you could do Color Spray Murals and not mount anything on top.

Adult Homework: Quilt Assembly (allow at least 2 hours to assemble 2 paper quilts of the size you see in my photo. This is only an estimate and will vary depending on how quickly you work or if you have a helper)
1) First, lay out your Color Spray Mural and cut a section to size, trimming it at whatever size you want your finished quilt to hang. I used an exacto blade, steel ruler, and large cutting board which made it easy to measure off. Repeat to make more quilts…we made 4 quilts using 2 LWMAT’s. You have to count out your finished circles and squares and decide what dimensions you want, to determine how many quilts you’ll make.
2) Lay out your circles and squares evenly in a nice pattern on top of one color spray mural background. Leave 2-3 inches at top and bottom to fold over and place dowel. Heat a low temp glue gun, and then mount circles and squares in place. Lift up one at a time and glue down one at a time, to remember where placement goes for each piece. You can use tacky glue or white glue, or even spray mount. I found the low temp glue gun worked well and was quick. Repeat w/remaining materials to create more Paper Quilts.

Day Four: The Finishing Touches: Classroom Collaboration
I took the assembled paper quilts into the classroom to finish as a group. Some children painted the wooden dowels while others strung beads and cut cords. You’ll need to fold over and glue down the top and bottom of the quilt over the painted dowels. Once the glue is dry, hang the dowels from your beaded cords and hang to admire. Add painted touches of Colorations® Liquid Watercolor gold or silver metallic’s if you feel your quilt will benefit from a few final sparkling touches.

Our 3rd grade classrooms made 4 paper quilts, and we auctioned them at our school’s annual Fundraiser. We made a lot of money for our school and had a lot of fun in the process.

Ice Tunnels

2008-10-01T15:25:00.000-07:00

While the first days of autumn are still bringing us some warm sunshine, get out some ice and enjoy the final days of warm weather by combining Liquid Watercolor with blocks of ice and simple kitchen salt. This makes a wonderful blend of sensory play and science and is a fun way to capitalize on outdoor play.

Simply freeze blocks of ice in various plastic containers or paper cups, empty them out onto an art tray (or sand & water table), then pour on lots of table salt. Sprinkle on Liquid Watercolor and watch what happens over the next 30 minutes. The salt will corrode tunnels into the ice and allow the watercolor to seep into the crevices and tunnels, creating a sensory delight. Hold samples up to the light and peer through them. Is this the greatest sensory play, or what? And is it art? What do you think? What do you think this activity might have in common with light reflecting through glass in a stained glass window? Or a prism? Have fun and enjoy the final warm days of the year.

Gelatin Giggles

2008-09-03T15:43:00.000-07:00

There's nothing like group art experiences to bring children together and create a sense of collaboration and cohesion at the beginning of a new school year. Gelatin Giggles is a perfect way to introduce sensory art while the weather is still warm enough for outdoor play and the sun can provide a brilliant light source to enhance experiments with light and color.

To create Gelatin Giggles, purchase unflavored gelatin (Knox makes one and others are generally sold next to the flavored gelatins at the grocery store). Use less water than called for to make your "giggles" a bit more solid than usual. Pour into individual paper cups or into pre-oiled plastic food containers. Allow to "set" in the refrigerator overnight. Wait for a sunny day and unmold your gelatin onto art trays or a sand and water table. Next, inject Colorations® Liquid Watercolor into the gelatin using pipettes or eye droppers. Watch the colors ooze down into the gelatin layers and create secondary colors. Then get your hands right into the gelatin, breaking it apart into chunks and holding it up to the light to watch what happens when the sunlight reflects on the giggling chunks of color. Is this art? Is this science? Is this fun? I say yes, to all of the above. Find this and other experiences in Smart Art books.

Collaborative Paper Quilts

2008-08-07T10:02:00.000-07:00

Many teachers are busily preparing for the new school year. Here's a great art project for those first days of school when group art activities help children feel comfortable with each other and facilitate cooperative play. Not only is this activity good for social emotional development, it also introduces shape and pattern recogntion, which are both important for math and literacy development.

This simple but creative Collaborative Paper Quilt is made of inexpensive materials that most teachers have on hand: paper, yarn and crayons.

Simply follow these easy steps:
1) Create a basic square quilt design using a ruler and compass. You can copy the design shown here or invent your own simple, geometric design.
2) Xerox a copy of your design for each student.
3) Provide crayons or markers for each child to color their design. Talk about shapes and pattern recognition as you introduce the activity .
4) Glue finished designs onto Colored Butcher Paper.
5) Glue yarn between the paper quilt squares to simulate a traditional hand sewn quilt.

The Paper Quilt pictured here is from the Children's Art Display at this year's So Cal Kinder Conference. Does it make you smile? It certainly caught my eye. I hope it provides another idea to enhance your back to school classroom.

Summer Festival Fun

2008-07-08T12:11:00.000-07:00

Summer is the time for outdoor festivals & street fairs, not to mention large picnics and family get togethers. What a perfect time to set up an arts & crafts table for hands-on fun. Here’s an idea that’s open ended and creative, but affordable and easy to manage for a big crowd. Plus it’s easy to carry, and makes absolutely no mess, which makes it perfect for a group art experience, no matter how large your crowd. I took these photos at a Universal Preschool Transition Fair in Los Angeles, where four year olds and their families were invited to celebrate transition into Kindergarten. This art project was perfect for young hands and minds to exercise their writing skills and imaginations.

To make scratch art shapes like these, purchase Scratch Design Shapes and Scratch Designs Jumbo Wooden Art Sticks from Discount School Supply. The pack includes bears, butterflies, cars, and other cute designs. First let children select their favorite shape, then hand them wooden dowels and ask them to scratch a design onto their shape and include their name “big and bold”. If they can’t write yet, they can still “doodle a design” which engages their fine motor skills in good pre-writing practice. As children scratch designs onto black plastic shapes, rainbow colors pop out from underneath. What fun! You’ll see lots of smiles and satisfaction. When children finish their design, punch a hole in the top and make it into a necklace using lanyard. That way when children walk around the festival or fair, they won’t lose their art projects and they’ll be proudly displaying them. Enjoy your summer, and look for more outdoor art ideas on this blog as our warm months continue.

3-D Art

2008-06-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

Long Beach Day Nursery has many creative art ideas for early childhood classrooms that I could hardly decide which one to share with you first.

This 3-D Art Display was my favorite because it takes an important developmental skill (special relations development) and makes it easy, affordable, and fun for children of all ages and ability levels to exercise visual thinking skills. Plus the end results look great!

Simply take strips of colored construction paper and apply Tacky Glue with craft sticks to each end, then press down on both ends to create dimension. This idea makes a unique bulletin board for classrooms and hallways, as the colored paper loops "pop out" to draw in curious viewers.

Thanks to Amy Bigelow, Program Director at Long Beach Day Nursery in Long Beach, California, for sharing many creative ideas from her talented teachers. More to come, soon!

Sensory Play with Foam Dough

2008-05-08T15:55:00.000-07:00

Have you tried Incredible Foam Dough? It’s the latest “craze” in modeling materials for children and it’s easy, affordable and fun for ages 3 and up.

This wonderful example of foam dough art was made by a teacher from Long Beach Day Nursery who applied foam dough to her desktop, making this delightful 3-D image.

Foam Dough is soft to touch, and makes a great substitute for traditional play dough and clay. Unlike other clays and dough, it’s virtually mess-free and can be re-used again and again. And the fact that it never dries out is enough to make teachers say “WOW, REALLY?”. But trust me, it’s true, you can even leave it out on the counter for a days and days and its consistency will not alter one little bit. Moreover, foam dough is the perfect sensory play material and exercises important cognitive skills as well as eye-hand-brain coordination. Sensory stimulation is so important in early childhood education, and this is one new sensory play product that you’re sure to love.

Purchase Colorations® IncredibleFoam™ Dough from Discount School Supply in a variety of colors and quantities. Foam dough affords children the ability to make decisions, solve problems and perfect for open ended, self directed play.

Amazing! It’s true, you can actually leave it out of the plastic bag and it stays the same moisture. If you like what you make and want to keep it, Incredible Foam is designed to be used again and again. Take it out of its container, mold, it mash it, play with it. If you like what you make and want to keep it. When you mix colors together, you get new colors!

Foam Paint is Back!

2008-04-28T10:09:00.000-07:00

After several months of not having Foam Paint available, you can now order it again! Sorry for the delay while the aerosol containers were being improved. You'll find it on the Discount School Supply website, under item #8WWBFP and coming again in the next catalog.

Meanwhile, here are a few beautiful Foam Paint samples to remind you of how beautiful this paint is. You can download and print an article on Foam Paint applications called "Messy Art and the Power of Paint" in the articles section at right.

Have fun - and Happy Spring!
Anna

Another Gallery Wall Idea

2008-04-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

From the Southern California Kindergarten Conference comes this wonderful display concept that makes children's artwork a real standout. First mount artwork onto black construction paper, then onto colored butcher paper. This style of mounting will not only bring out your students artwork with big bright colors, it can also be a group project. And the clean up is easy!

Art Gallery Activity

2008-03-31T11:16:00.000-07:00

Inexpensive photo frames make a colorful Wall Gallery and allow you to easily change out artwork. These were purchased from Ikea for six dollars each, but Target, the 99cents store, and other value oriented retailers carry similar bargains. Make the project even better by decorating your own frames using simple and affordable beads, pipe cleaners and lace.

It's important to display artwork tastefully to show off its value. Mounting or framing the simplest artwork brings out its aesthetic appeal. You may even know a woodworker or retired hobbyist who could handcraft simple wooden frames for your Gallery Wall. Don't forget when you display art to make sure everyone’s artwork is included.

Personalized Placemats

2008-03-11T10:44:00.000-07:00

I stopped in my tracks when I saw these super adorable placemats at the Hollywood Los Feliz JCC. They gave me such a smile! What is it about these clever placemats that draws you in to take a closer look? Is it the playful expression on the children's faces? Or the colorful freestyle painting behind each photo? Or is it the solid construction paper background that frames it all and makes it pop out from the page? I think it's "all of the above"! By using a laminator or clear contact paper to cover each picture, you can use your placemats for the whole year.

Try this sometime and you'll discover a clever new way to identify each child's place setting for lunchtime or snacks. A big thank you to the creative preschool staff of Hollywood Los Feliz Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles.

Alphabet Bulletin Board

2008-02-29T11:04:00.000-08:00

Here's an easy and creative approach to an alphabet bulletin board, thanks to Maimonedes Academy in Beverly Hills, California. Using large cardboard letters, children first paint each letter a separate color, then search for magazine images that begin with each letter and glue them on. This is a nice language building activity that combines creativity with decision making and fine motor development. Lots of cognitive development takes place as children search through magazines and decide which images start with various letters and which images will fit on their letter (some will be way too big!). In most classrooms, you will be able to assign one letter per child.

Have fun, and please send me YOUR ideas on building literacy skills through art. I'd love to hear from and post your ideas for others to see.
Email me!

Reading Rocks! Easy Accordian Books

2008-02-11T08:36:00.000-08:00

Kedren Head Start of Los Angeles recently hosted a successful literacy fair called "Reading Rocks". The literacy fair included story-tellers, workshops and hand-on activities for 4 year old emergent readers, all intended to reinforce the joy and value of reading. Finding a hands-on bookmaking activity that was developmentally appropriate and affordable for so many children was a challenge. To solve this challenge we used simple sentence strips, cut them in half, then folded them into accordion books. Each child used colored markers and animal foam shapes to create a story narrative in their book. These four year olds had a great time working with their materials, and especially enjoyed the challenge of pulling the backs off the "peel and stick" animal shapes. While we were tempted to provide paints, this particular setting didn’t allow for fluid materials. Children had fun just the same, developed fine motor and problem solving skills, and each went home with a handmade book. Enjoy this same activity with any group of young children when you want to provide a creative, problem solving activity that promotes literacy.

Paint Outside, Jackson Pollock Style!

2008-01-31T08:52:00.000-08:00

Can't find a place to paint inside? Afraid of staining your carpets and floors? Go outside, and leave your worries behind.! Most parents are afraid to bring paint, clay, and fluid art materials into their homes for fear of creating a mess. But paints and other fluid art materials provide tremedous growth and learning opportunities, beside being lots of fun. Let's face it, there's nothing more enchanting to a child than fresh paint, and lots of it. Paints are wet and colorful, they move, mix and blend together quickly, and they plunge you into a sensory experience. No wonder they're so much fun!

Check out this handy art area I created for my own children along the side of my home. They spent hours here, and while it must have felt like a "real art studio," it was really just the fenced in driveway outside our kitchen. Often I would spread out rolls of fabric or paper and give them BioColor to squirt on "Jackson Pollock" style. The colors were always brilliant. Sometimes we would drag small tree branches through the BioColor or sprinkle on glitter and various odds and ends before the paint dried. There was nothing they liked more, and I could see the freedom and joy they felt with this "free-style" painting. By putting the BioColor in Nancy Bottles, I was able to provide some small control over the quantities of paint they used, which gave me a wee bit of comfort. Living in the city of Los Angeles, we have a small yard and not much space. But take my word for it... if anyone can create a home art area while living in LA, you can do it anywhere! Be inspired.

Collage Self Portraits

2008-01-16T14:43:00.000-08:00

Clear out your supply closet and make collage self portraits! Cut body shapes out of the desired color of tagboard, or use precut body shapes as pictured here. Every supply closet has odds and ends that you never quite know what to do with.

Combine all your leftovers on collage trays and provide scissors and glue. If you don't have pre-printed collage papers like those pictured here, make your own collage paper with paint, scrapers and other texture tools. Children will enjoy this project while practicing decision making, problem solving and stretching their imaginations. This particular sample was made by a teacher in San Diego who enjoyed it too!

Collage: ABC's of Good Living

2008-01-03T09:56:00.000-08:00

This bright tissue paper collage is made all the more appealing by inspirational word phrases which are glued onto the colored surface. First cut out a shape from white cardboard or use a precut white tagboard surface. Next, water down white glue in a small container (start with 1/3 glue, 2/3 water and test). Then, take a brush and cover your cardboard shape with the glue/water mix. Add torn or cut tissue paper on top, and build up layers of tissue, adding more glue/water mix as you go. Note: The example here uses Colorations® Designer Patterns tissue, but any colored tissue paper will do. Then, add glitter paint for sparkle. Last, but certainly not least, cut out the ABC's of Good Living and glue your favorite phrases on top. Makes a lovely, inspirational gift and can be created on any paper size or shape, even a paper plate.

Winter Holiday Arts n' Crafts

2007-12-26T11:37:00.000-08:00

This time of year we often think of ways to decorate our homes and classrooms for the winter holidays. We also think of making handmade gifts. Shrink Art can fulfill both these valuable goals. Children can make shrink art ornaments as decorations and since it is made from children’s drawings, symbols and colors from any culture or holiday can easily be created.

Just what is Shrink Art? Shrink Art is an inexpensive plastic sheet, the size of standard notebook paper. To make Shrink Art, a child draws onto the plastic sheet with fine-line markers, fills in the drawing with colored pencils, and then an adult bakes it briefly in an oven. The baking process shrinks the plastic to a quarter of it’s original size and converts the drawing into miniature size. The charm of these "miniatures" always brings a smile. Turn your children’s art into lasting treasures this winter. Learn more about Shrink Art Charms.

Share the Light

2007-12-13T07:45:00.000-08:00

Share the glow of the holidays with children across cultures and generations. This beautiful sharing of light photo shows a young girl from California teaching a Honduran child how to experience the warmth of a Chanukah menorah on her small hands. The young child was fascinated, and will undoubtedly remember the experience for many years.

As we strive in today's diverse culture to teach tolerance and multi-cultural understanding, there's no better time than the holidays to share the beauty of all our world cultures and rituals. Take time to share the light, sing songs and be merry.

Stages of Scribble

2007-11-27T11:33:00.000-08:00

What a great way to display developmental stages of art - made by children from the Alpert Jewish Community Center in Long Beach! Directors at this innovative early childhood program asked staff to collect children’s art from a variety of ages. They compiled results as pictured here and framed their display in the Early Childhood Office for parents to admire and learn.

Generally scribbling stages help children realize that that there is a connection between motions and marks being made. This discovery leads to control over marks being made, encouraging children to think in imaginative terms and eventually viewing scribbles as a method of communication.

For more information on the developmental stages of art, search "Stages of Scribble" on the internet, or refer to books written by Rhoda Kellogg or Victor Lowenfeld.

BioColor® Sticker Art - Video

2007-11-12T11:49:00.000-08:00

Make a Tambourine!

2007-10-22T12:26:00.000-07:00

Make tambourines the easy and colorful way using Colorations® Washable Glitter Paint and tissue paper directly onto some pre-shaped paper mache tambourines.

These lively teachers attended a PACE Regional Workshop in Petaluma, California and learned about art in child development while making their own tambourines and experimenting with glitter paints, patterned tissue papers and a new stubby brushes, all shown in the photos above.

Cooperative Fabric Murals

2007-10-11T09:05:00.000-07:00

Using a combination of BioColor® and Colorations® Liquid Watercolor, the staff from Stephen S. Wise Preschool in Los Angeles had a great time... Jackson Pollock style.

Working together, they created large canvas welcome banners to hang in their school and welcome new students. To help create the look, the educators, in addition to paintbrushes, used the One-Grip Paint Brush and the BioColor® Paint Scraper to spread the paint and watercolor over the canvas - mixing the colors and creating a colorful base.

These banners were created on light canvas, but you could also use old white sheets, remnant fabric or even the Cooper- ative Mural Art paper panels.

Open-Ended Art, Part 2 - Video

2007-09-25T12:20:00.000-07:00

Name Doodles with Foam Paint and Crayons

2007-09-13T16:18:00.000-07:00

The staff from Stone Soup Afterschool Program in Los Angeles learned new painting techniques as they geared up for a new school year this week. Try this "Name Doodle" idea as a warm-up introduction during the first few days of your program. Using plain white contruction paper, each person draws their name in block letters and doodles symbols about themselves onto the remaining paper. Cover your entire paper with Colorations® Foam Paint and wipe off the excess paint with a clean paper towel. Easy, colorful and it's dry right away!

Paper Towel Art

2007-09-05T13:53:00.000-07:00

Have you noticed how beautiful "clean up rags" can be once they are saturated with colorful paints? This is particularly true with Liquid Watercolor(tm), which has the added benefit of being completely 100% washable. These beaufiul colored rags are paper towels that have been soaked with Colorations® Liquid Watercolor using eye droppers or "pipettes". Use them in collage, mixed media pictures or to mount by themselves onto black construction paper.

Open-Ended Art, Part 1 - Video

2007-08-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

Spray Liquid Watercolor

2007-08-14T15:02:00.000-07:00

Do you like to spray paint? Debbie Glicksman of Los Angeles created a beautiful challah cover (left). Isn't it lovely? The cover began with me spraying her hands with watercolor as she held them over her fabric. You can adapt the same process easily with children.

First, gather white fabric scraps or yardage, stretch over rolled up newpapers and secure with pushpins to create a smooth working surface, then get out Liquid Watercolor(tm) in spray bottles and begin to play. Use your hands as stencils and add other stencils you make yourself by cutting shapes out of file folders. Finish by adding details with puffy paint or permanent markers. When you paint with Liquid Watercolor(tm) remember that it's a completely washable paint, so think fabric wall hangings and process oriented art. This is a great project for outdoor art while the weather is warm.

Coco-Nutty Creations

2007-08-02T10:41:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the ultimate recycled artform! I found these creative creatures scattered on a park lawn near the beach and had to snap a photo of this guy in particular. Isn't he charming? Some creative soul made great use of the coconut husks that had fallen from nearby palm trees.

Why not look around YOUR environment and use this as an inspiration. Take a nature walk with your children and see what you can create from rocks, pinecones, driftwood, and your own particular natural resources.

Blotter Art - Video

2007-07-24T10:02:00.000-07:00

More Paper Quilts!

2007-07-11T14:41:00.000-07:00

Here's a great application of the Paper Quilt idea, posted previously on May 14th. Kimberly Elliott and Beth Hart adapted this idea for an afterschool conference in Northern California Here's their note along with photos:

"First, I want to say thanks for the coffee filter quilt idea - we used it at our after school conference with huge success! We ended making two beautiful cloth quilts (5'x 5' each), which we raffled off to the participants for their after school sites. And we also raffled off two quilt making kits with all the supplies needed. We used bingo bottle markers for the Liquid Watercolor(tm) application - easy and organized!"

Any questions about these colorful collaborations? Contact Kimberly Elliott, MLA at elliottcoaching@sbcglobal.net

Poetry Paintings

2007-06-28T10:27:00.000-07:00

Make beautiful abstract color spray paintings using Liquid Watercolor on fabric and then add a poem on top. This fabric was sprayed, drizzled and also dripped with Colorations® Liquid Watercolor using trigger spray bottles and eye droppers. Let it dry, then add a second layer of details such as the hearts shapes you see here. (This last step is optional and can be eliminated with younger groups). Lastly, select a poem from a poetry book, or write your own poem, and use permanent markers or puffy paint to write a poem on top. Stretch around cardboard to mount, or hang from a dowel.

BioPutty! - Video

2007-06-11T14:33:00.000-07:00

Beaded Beach Buddies

2007-05-29T09:52:00.001-07:00

Look at the cute "beach buddies" that Tanya Estrada of South Bay Union School District in San Diego, CA, created at the Afterschool Leadership Conference in Palm Springs this weekend.

This is a great school age project and can be completely open ended. Simply leave out bags of soft bead sculpture wire (TWIST), People Wood Beads (FACEBEAD) and mixed wooden beads (WOODBEAD).

Paper Quilt Bulletin Board

2007-05-14T15:13:00.000-07:00

Isn't this a great idea for an easy paper quilt? I was so impressed when I saw this colorful display at the Lennox School District in Los Angeles. You could adapt it to a preschool classroom quilt, an afterschool club quilt, a mommy and me group or use this same concept for any group at all.

Simply cut out paper squares, outline the diagonal quilt square lines with a pencil, have participants design their square using markers, oil pastels, or colored pencils. The little white ribbon bows makes it look like a real quilt, since fabric quilts traditionally included little bows like these. Mount on black paper with staples.

Many thanks to the staff at Lennox School District for their inspiration.

Balloon Stamping with BioColor® - Video

2007-04-23T10:41:00.000-07:00

Shrink Art

2007-04-06T10:13:00.000-07:00

Shrink Art, often referred to as "shrinkies," or "shrinky dinks," are wonderful and charming miniature works of art created on shrinkable plastic. The little finished products can be used for jewelry, keychains and small charms.

They are very inexpensive to make and are enjoyed by children of all ages who enjoy drawing and working on small scale projects. Lillie and Victoria, both 7 years old here, developed a streetfair business called "Happy Charms" where they sold their original shrink art designs for fun and profit. Download the lesson plan for Shrink Art Charms here.

ART SHARE - How do YOU get paint out of clothing?

2007-03-22T11:14:00.000-07:00

One of the questions I most often get about paint is, "Is it washable?"

Parents often get annoyed when children come home with paint on their clothes, so teachers have to concern themselves with this. Sometimes the most beautiful paints are "mostly washable" but not completely. And even with "washable" paints, the reds and other colors don’t always come out completely. I find that Zout brand laundry stain remover works best in getting out paint stains.

What are YOUR tricks for getting paint out of clothes? Please share your comments.

Marbleizing with BioColor® - Video

2007-02-26T12:52:00.000-08:00

Paper Plate ART SHARE- Share YOUR ideas!

2007-02-23T11:49:00.000-08:00

Try this whimsical paper plate mask:

1) Cut face holes in plate

2) Paint with BioColor® or another bright paint

3) Collage with tissue paper on top

Valentine's Day Art at Para Los Ninos

2007-02-15T15:32:00.000-08:00

Not only kids make art on special occasions, grown-ups do too!

Here's what happened when site directors from Para Los Ninos, a large childcare agency in Los Angeles, got together for staff development February 14th - we made valentines!

Site Directors experimented with new paints they had recently purchased, so they could show their staff how to use them. Even Maria, who claimed, "I’m terrible at art!" had a great time once she got her hands into the paint. Everyone agreed that many people are intimidated by art if they can’t draw – so "abstract art" is the way to go!

Smash Painting

2007-01-22T09:51:00.000-08:00

Try a new technique that kids and adults both have fun with - it's called "smash painting." Smash painting releases lots of energy and let's active children have fun making dots of splashing color. When you use a completely washable paint like Liquid Watercolor™, there's no worry about making a mess.

How to begin? First get yourself some sponge tip plastic bottles (called bingo bottles) and a variety of liquid watercolors. Fill each bottle with a different color. You'll need white construction paper, and if you want to make a portrait like the one pictured here, you'll need markers for the details in the portrait itself. Smash painting is used for the background in the example shown.

Next, practice smash painting and develop some skill with it by experimenting on a piece of scratch paper. Simply turn your bingo bottle upside down and bang it lightly onto your paper, creating a dot with splash marks coming out from the sides. Try banging the bingo bottle lightly, then harder, and watch how your result changes. Switch colors and overlap splash marks, creating a pattern. Now try making lines and shapes with your bingo bottle and experiment with different effects you can achieve by simply dragging your bingo bottle slowly across the page. Once you've practiced and gotten a feel for your materials, you're ready for your final picture.

The picture or portrait shown here combines watercolor markers in the more controlled figure drawing, with smash painting in the background. The contrast of these two techniques makes an interesting self portrait. To create a portrait like this, first present your class with markers and have them create a central drawing of their choice - in this case, a portrait of themselves. Then demonstrate the smash painting technique and suggest they use this technique for their background. First spend practice time with smash painting. The have children return to their self portrait and smash painting the background. The painting shown here was done with a group of first grade students during one 45 minute art session.

Fun With Paint! A Festival Fundraiser, By Kids... For Kids.

2006-12-15T12:43:00.000-08:00

Have you ever helped raise funds for a school or charity and wanted to get kids more directly involved? Here's a "make and take" art booth run by families and offered at a small fee for children to participate in.

It's not hard to organize, raises funds easily and provides a good time for all. To organize a booth like this, first select a festival time when lots of kids and families will be present. Then organize what art art activities you'll offer for your "make and take" art booth. Purchase your art materials, knowing you'll need to recouperate your cost and then make a fundraising profit. Select four to sixdifferent activities, knowing you'll let participants choose two or three activities for a certain dollar amount. Make sure they know these funds are going towards a good cause. On the day of the event, set up a pop-up tent if you have one, or find a way to display your colorful Fun with Paint banners around large portable tables. Put up signs and make your display colorful. The Color Spray Murals shown in these photos make wonderful display banners (find instructions here).

These booths were created by children from Wonderland Avenue Magnet School in Los Angeles, California. Two 5th grade classes ran the booths at a community arts festival for two days, with children and their families signing up for two hour "shifts" in the booth. The projects were selected from BioColor® and Liquid Watercolor™, and were chosen for being economical, fun, unusual and having a fast drying time. Most art projects were geared for children ages 3-10. To receive a list of tried and true art projects for this type of fundraiser, write to Anna Reyner, areyner@discountschoolsupply.com.

Often times fundraisers leave kids with dull jobs to do, such as stuffing bags or cleaning up. This creative fundraiser puts kids in charge and provides them the satisfaction of working with other children, teaching arts and crafts, and developing a sense of enterprise while having fun.

Tambourines! Shake, Shake, Shake!

2006-11-30T16:12:00.000-08:00

Make your own musical instrument and have fun combining art, music and rhythm! Sound out syllables and rhymes! Have fun, get off your feet and shake, shake, shake to the rhythm of the music. Tambourines are one of the world's most ancient instruments and are easy to make and enjoy. They are great for active play and get children (and adults) interacting in group movement.

Make homemade tambourines using thick paper plates, or purchase the simple paper mache tamborine kits shown in the photos below. Both are inexpensive choices that can be easily painted, decorated and personalized. To make your own tamborines purchase thick paper plates, a hole punch, cord for stringing and large dried beans.

To assemble each tamborine, place two plates facing each other with a cavity or space between the two plates. Hole punch the rims of both plates and weave together the two plates using an "in and out" stitch with pipecleaners or tipped yarn. Staples will do the same job for older groups.

Decorate with colorful paints and collage material - the more colorful and lively, the better. After all, tambourines are about music and movement and celebration - so be creative with the paints and collage materials you provide.

Attach bells along the rim if you have some, or string ribbons from the edge. Decorate and shake, shake, shake!

Tambourines often inspire even quiet, shy folks to get "into the beat." So find some good rhythmic recordings, vary the beat and see how these colorful tambourines provide creativity, pleasure and movement.

The tambourine kit shown here is sold by Discount School Supply, Item #JINGLEKIT, set of 12 for $8.95.

Fun with Paint!

2006-10-27T10:17:00.000-07:00

Kids are never too old to have fun with paint. These three teenagers were volunteering at a Family Festival and showing younger children how to create colored snow! This particular snow is made from a polymer product that puffs up into "pretend snow". But in cold climates, one might actually use real snow and color it with biodegradable paints - such as liquid watercolor. If that gets too cold, stick with the snow polymers!

Paper Quilts – Easy Collaborative Art

2006-10-12T10:04:00.000-07:00

Quilts are fun to make and share, and paper quilts are easy to make and piece together. They make a nice experience in collaboration, since everyone has their unique artwork represented in a larger group project. Quilt making demonstrates to children that they are important as individuals, and also important as members of a group.

Paper quilts are much quicker than fabric quilts and don’t require an experienced seamstress to stitch them together. Of course, they are not as long-lasting as fabric quilts, nor can they be used as a bedcover, but they make beautiful wall hangings and do last many years.

The quilt pictured here was made by one classroom of 3rd graders. It was one of three quilts created for the school’s silent auction, the annual fundraiser that allowed the school to offer a variety of enrichment classes. The quilts were the most popular item at the silent auction and several enthusiastic parents paid over $200 to take one home. Imagine how proud these nine year olds were to find their art so highly valued!

If you’d like details on now to make this particular paper quilt, feel free to e-mail me for details, but I’ll give you a little background here. We worked on this project for 3 class sessions, and finished with 3 paper quilts. We used simple and inexpensive materials: coffee filters, watercolor, and a large paper dropcloth pre-cut into individual squares. Each child created one square and one circle design and all their artwork was used. After the final session, I took all the dry art home and used a hot glue gun to piece the parts together. This took me a couple of hours for all 3 quilts, which I considered a reasonable investment of time, considering the dozens of hours required to sew a traditional fabric quilt together.

I love knowing that collaborate projects promote both the strength of the individual and the strength of the group. Quilts are a great reminder that our strength as a community lies in our diversity. We are each unique individuals, but when we express ourselves independently, then place those self expressions into one collaborative piece, a magnificent new whole is created. There is much satisfaction, beauty, and comfort in this process.

You can download the instructions to this activity by clicking here.

Messy Art: Tickle Your Senses!

2006-09-19T09:41:00.000-07:00

Messy Art is fun and provides a delightful way to learn about the world and it's physical properties. Most children love to get their hands into paint and other gooey materials that "tickle their senses." Messy art lets children discover the emotional pleasures of sensory and tactile play while they learn important lessons of cause and effect and the material properties of matter. What’s more, messy art develops important cognitive, social-emotional and multi-sensory skills. Self directed learning with fluid, sensory and tactile art materials is especially important in early childhood and continues to have benefits for older children as well.

What exactly is "messy art" – is it simply fingerpainting? A lot more, actually. Messy Art is a friendly description for art experiences that involve paint and other fluid materials that change with ease as you manipulate them. These fluid "sensory art" experiences provide children with exciting physical contacts that motivate exploration. The fluid nature of paint provides for dynamic and rapidly changing explorations of color, shape and textures on paper. Children often feel very powerful when painting, because the cause and effect of their actions becomes apparent very quickly. Painting allows children to make decisions rapidly, and to operate more independently than they are usually accustomed to. Paints continuously move and blend, creating new combinations and secondary colors. With just a few swift brushstrokes, an entire painting can change and transform into a new creation. Painting is indeed, a powerful process!

Messy Art activities are one of the best ways to promote early childhood learning. Preschool and Kindergarten provide an especially important opportunity for hands-on, self-directed learning. As children grow and advance through elementary school, art continues to provide opportunities for mastery and learning. Art teaches critical thinking, self-expression, problem solving, individuality, creativity and self-esteem.

Messy Art experiences, those that rely on fluid and tactile art materials, provide children with great reward for their efforts. Not only do children often find it exciting to have the freedom to "get messy," but child development theory teaches us time and time again that tactile and sensory experiences are one of the best ways children learn. So designate an area of your room to messy art, cover tables and floors with newspaper if necessary, and find time to tickle your senses!

What is Child Art?

2006-09-08T17:34:00.000-07:00

Children love art because it's fun and provides them with authentic self expression: the freedom of choice, thought and feeling. How important is art in a child’s human development? What does a picture tell us about the child who created it?

Children’s art is many things to many people. To a parent, art is a display of their child's imagination. To an educator, it's a teaching tool. To a psychologist, art is a way to understand a child's mind. To a grandparent, it's a way to feel connected. To a librarian, it's a way to enhance book knowledge. To a child, art is a way to have fun, make decisions, and express choices.

Picasso wrote "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." Is children's art an act of genius? Are children more creative than adults? Perhaps Picasso was simply impressed by the spontaneity of children's art. Child art, like most child behavior, is direct and uncensored. A young child doesn't critique his work – he paints freely and with pleasure, enjoying the fine and gross motor experience of moving paint over paper and watching lines, shapes and colors come to life. Art puts a child in the "driver's seat" and provides freedom: the freedom of choice, thought and feeling.

Art is a Language
Do you remember seeing a photograph that communicated a whole world of feeling? Perhaps it was a famous photograph or simply a family snapshot that captured the richness of a special moment. A picture is often worth a thousand words. Visual images communicate emotions and complexities that words cannot. The ability to communicate non-verbally is particularly important for children. Art is a powerful tool that gives children the ability to express their thoughts and emotions long before they can fully express themselves with words.

Once you acknowledge that art is a language, the importance of respecting a child's artwork becomes obvious. Yet too often adults praise art before really looking at it, offering routine comments like "What a pretty picture!" Comments like these can actually be damaging to a child's self esteem, causing him to feel misunderstood. Pictures sometimes communicate sad or angry feelings that are not "pretty" at all. It's far better to view a child's art slowly and with quiet interest before making any comments. Over time, with authentic and respectful support from adults, children will use art as way to draw out real feelings.

What Art is Not
Art is not coloring books or mimeo sheets. Art is not copying or coloring between the lines. Art is not restrictive. To be art, a work has to demonstrate individuality. I like to distinguish between "fine art and applied art" – another way of saying "arts and crafts." Both fine and applied arts can demonstrate individuality. If a child's painting or Treasure Box looks like everyone else's, then there’s no creativity or imagination involved. What's the quickest way to tell if it's art? If a child can’t recognize which project is his at the end of the day, it's not art!

Encouraging Creativity
· Take time with a child’s art
· Show respect for the art and the artist's process
· Comment on lines, shapes and colors: "I see you used three colors."
· Show curiosity: "How did you get this effect here?"
· Comment on changes: "You're drawings look bigger these days."
· Ask open ended questions: "Will you tell me about your picture?"
· Provide fuel for creativity: "What other materials do you need?"
· Collect recycled boxes, tubes, lumber scraps. Make 3-D creations
· Provide a variety of drawing, painting and clay materials
· Avoid coloring books

Parent Involvement
How can parents nurture children's creativity at home? Research shows that parent involvement in their child’s education is positively related to learning and achievement. Art can be a wonderful family activity. Parents who understand the value of art are more likely to keep art supplies at home, designate a household area for "messy art," and become involved in art themselves. Parents and teachers working together to nurture creativity – imagine the possibilities!

Art is Communication ~ Art is Self Expression ~ Art is Creative Energy ~ Art is Seeing

Art and Creativity Introduction

2006-08-18T15:16:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the community of Art & Creativity, where you can learn about and join discussions on the creative process in child development. We’ll be updating this site with new, stimulating ideas several times each month. Themes and topics will include the significance of art as nourishment for child development, cross-curricular projects, art therapy, and ways to help celebrate the artist in each of us.

This site also includes an archive of ideas and articles, as well as lesson plans from the award-winning books Smart Art and Smart Art 2. Feel free to print out and use any of these lesson plans for staff development and/or educational purposes.

It’s exciting to introduce this new way of sharing ideas about something so important! Who would have thought, just 10 years ago, that we could be exchanging ideas about art and creativity over the Internet? Join us as we explore ideas about art and creativity in early childhood education. Together we’ll explore the world of color and imagination and embark on a path that has no road map. I hope you’ll check in often and share your own ideas.

Please send me your suggestions for themes and topics by e-mailing me at areyner@discountschoolsupply.com