4.29.2011

Art Outdoors {2}

When the weather gets warm I like to move our easel outside
There's just something about
 the fresh air and the sun, the birds chirping, the bees buzzing, lawns being mowed, flowers waiting to be picked, cool breezes, rustling leaves...
I could go on for days about the lovely outdoors
it seems to crack creative minds wide open


Trying to paint a dandelion to the paper

Portrait of Mommy with "two red Mommy ears and a red Mommy mouth"

I think the most creative stuff comes from the unplanned events
I brought out the paint, brushes and paper so that the girls could paint on the paper with the brushes.
They of course thought otherwise


 After painting the table C went inside the house to wash her hands but instead came out with a toy coffee pot filled with water to water the flowers (and the weeds)

After making a nice watery muddy mess she asked if I could bring out the sidewalk chalk
Perfect opportunity to make sidewalk chalk paint I thought!
Instead what I got was all the chalk dumped into bowls of water
which turned out to be awesome!

I think drawing with wet chalk is the equivalent of drawing with melty crayons
it's smoother, bolder, blends together and layers up for great texture
the only con
the chalk ends up being used a lot quicker than normal






 We had so much fun with the wet chalk
I can't wait for the girls to do some more
Afterwards,
when I was cleaning up the yard I found the dandelion dried to the easel
a picture perfect sight before heading back inside
:)

This post has been linked to:

It's Playtime!
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The Imagination Tree     Messy Kids     Quirky Momma     hands on : as we grow   Let the Children Play  

Child Centered Art Party
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Art For Little Hands

4.28.2011

Body Tracing

This little bobble head creation is the result of needing to distinguish C's bedroom door from the rest of the doors in our hall.

I taped a few large sheets of paper together to make one sheet large enough for Miss C (who was 2 at the time) to fit on.

I traced around her in pencil and then darkened the lines with marker .

She thought it was a riot to be standing on herself...

I set out the markers and crayons and let her have a free-for-all.


Having a nice snack...I don't want her to really be a "starving artist"

At around 2, she was going through a phase of just coloring in certain areas: 
face
hands
feet
the end.

As soon as those areas were colored in she was ready to quit so in order to keep her interested in continuing I set out some paint.
I don't know about you but I love using egg cartons as palettes!



As soon as this beautiful work was dry I cut it out and taped it to her bedroom door.
I wasn't really pleased with the way the head turned out 
(since I traced around her quite lopsided) 
so I printed out a picture of her face and taped it onto the body.

This didn't stay on the door very long after A learned how to cruise, she ripped it right down.
That's alright though because I can see C's door from my bed and that little person kept scaring me!
I always thought it was C standing at her door.
Now the girls share a room so maybe we can make two new ones to adorn the door
:)

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High Paw
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4.26.2011

Easter Grass Pom Poms

Easter Grass Pom Pom Alien!

Every Easter we end up with the basket grass everywhere
I despise it!
This year I decided to do something with it
(I'm still finding maverick strands every once and awhile all over the carpet) 
This could be my stock Easter photo, this happens EVERY YEAR!
I knew that I wanted something puffy that hangs because I love hanging things from the ceiling
so I brought out some pieces of yarn and ribbon and decided to try making a pom pom

I just added all the yarn and ribbon I wanted into a big rounded pile 
then I used a pipe cleaner tied around the middle to keep it all together
the grass is so fluffy that you can't even see the pipe cleaner

I tied fishing line to the pipe cleaner
added an eye
 stuck in some feathers 
and now I have a cute little green Easter grass alien hanging in the art studio!
I love him!!!
Wonder what I should name him?
I thought making a little alien would be really exciting to C but it wasn't
so
since I had some Easter grass left over I decided to make her and A
Easter Grass Pom Pom Wands!
Miss C is big time into princesses right now so I knew she'd love having a wand
A is into whatever C is so I knew she'd love having a wand as well

I just brought two sticks in from the yard
dowel rods would be nice though

To make the pom poms I just used two pipe cleaners crossed around the middle to make sure that I caught all the stray pieces of grass

I slipped the stick in under the pipe cleaners and used another pipe cleaner wrapped around the stick and the ends of the two pom pom pipe cleaners

Then I wrapped ribbon around the ends of the pipe cleaners to cover any sharp ends

Miss C has been having a lot of fun running around
"dinging"
people on the head
and since it's a fluffy pom pom it doesn't hurt!

AND
All the Easter grass is used up!!!

What do you do with your Easter grass?

4.25.2011

No Mess Color Mixing

We used paint and contact paper to make a mess free color mixing activity

Just squeeze some paint onto the sticky side of a sheet of contact paper
(I used tempera but I bet finger paint would create a nice translucent look)

Place another sheet of contact paper over the paint
I found that mixing the colors was a lot easier with less air between the sheets

She had to punch the paint

and poke the paint


 Putting the paint on the contact paper different ways affected the mixing too
In my opinion we saw the best mixing with two parallel lines of color


C really enjoyed drawing letters in the paint
 This is a great activity for seeing how primary colors mix to make secondary colors
plus it leaves little tracks when you use fingertips for drawing
then you can just use the palm of your hand to "erase" the tracks and start all over again
and best of all
NO MESS!!!
and another bonus
since the paint is trapped in the contact paper it doesn't dry
(at least it hasn't yet!)

This post has been linked to:
We Play
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Childhood 101

It's Playtime!
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hands on : as we grow     The Imagination Tree     Messy Kids     Quirky Momma     let the children play

Show and Tell
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ABC and 123

Child Centered Art Party
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Art For Little Hands

Play Academy
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NutureStore