Yarn Art

Posted in Art, Letters, Projects, Sight Words by teachingeveryday

The girls decided it would be a fun game to cut up yarn. I’m not sure how the came up with idea or how they stayed interested in it for so long. It kept them occupied and it was great cutting practice for my three-year-old, so I was happy. I was slightly less enthusiastic when my living room was covered in bits of yarn. Hmmm… What to do? Well for starters we played my fun game of “Who can pick up the most yarn in her baggie?” Then we made some art.

Big Sis used some steady hands to make lines and shapes with the Elmer’s glue. Then she carefully found pieces of yarn to place on her glue lines.

Little Sis also had a great time plopping glue on a paper and then sticking yarn on. She wasn’t as concerned about getting it on the lines….

We also practiced some sight words. First I wrote the word with glue and Big Sis placed the yarn on the lines. Then we switched and she got to write with glue. You could do the same with letters, numbers, or shapes.

28Apr2014

Painted Glass Vases

Posted in Art by teachingeveryday

Last year for Mother’s Day we made these kid-painted vases for the grandmothers and great-grandmothers. I was happy to find a use for the plethora of glass vases that take up residence in my kitchen cabinet. I swear, even though I rarely buy flowers, they just seem to multiply up there! Maybe it has something to do with the microwave beneath them. Hmmm… Where were we? Oh yeah. My girls are big fans of painting, so they loved it. Big Sis liked picking out “the perfect vase” for each grandmother and great-grandmother. And even if the painting looks like a mess (ahem, Little Sis’s small vase in front), it will still be a cherished modern art masterpiece by any grandma.

16Apr2014

Paper Towel Art

Posted in Art, Free by teachingeveryday

Paper towel art is a super easy. First, draw with markers on a paper towel. Then, drop water on it with an eye dropper. That’s it. Markers alone are enough to get my daughters excited about a project. Then the water really upped the “wow” factor! So just give your kids a paper towel, markers, and water and you are free to make dinner without anyone hanging on your legs.* And for clean-up, you’ve already got a paper towel handy. 🙂

My daughters might have inherited their marker love from me. I had make some paper towel art of my own:

*Results may vary. I’m not responsible for any burnt dinners or kids that get stepped on.

25Feb2014

Printmaking with Fingerpaint

Posted in Art, Colors, Free, Letters by teachingeveryday

During our recent packing paper fingerpainting extravaganza, we also made prints. There was so much paint from the color mixing that Big Sis started making designs with her finger. I gently pressed white paper over it and… ta da!

Multiple prints can be made from the same design (depending on how much paint you use and how hard you press). We made our design on packing paper, but I’m sure it would also work on tin foil, wax paper, a cookie sheet, or the table itself. It would be fun to experiment with writing letters or numbers and see how they come out backwards! Let me know if you try it and how it works!

24Feb2014

Four Ways to Make Art with Packing Paper

Posted in Art, Colors, Free by teachingeveryday

Packing paper is big, easy to clean up, and free. Perfect material for kid art. Now what can you do with it?

1. Cover the table. Put packing paper over a table (it completely covered our kid table) and let them finger paint all over it. Give them some primary colors and let them mix it by hand to make secondary colors. The best way to learn is by doing, so let them get messy. Not feeling the paint? Give them crayons and markers and let them draw on the table while you make dinner.

2. Hang it on the wall. Tape up the packing paper to a long wall and let them create a mural.

3. Lay it out on the floor. The floor is the perfect place for sitting babies that haven’t mastered walking. Plop them in the middle of the packing paper and let them go to town. Have older kids lay down on the paper and trace around them. Then they can color themselves and design an outfit with paint, markers, or chalk.

4. Take it outside. On a nice day, put packing paper down on the driveway, deck, or sidewalk. Take off those shoes and make paint footprints!

5Feb2014

Learning with Snow Paint

Posted in Colors, Letters, Numbers, Outside, Shapes by teachingeveryday

We saw snow paint on Pinterest and had to try it out. It is just water with food coloring in a squirt bottle or spray bottle. We found the squirt bottle works best for little hands. Although you have more control with the spray bottle (with jet option).

Some ideas to try with snow paint:

Let the kids see how colors are made by squirting in a couple drops of yellow and red food coloring to make orange
Practice writing numbers or letters
See if they can guess the word you write
Make a pattern of shapes and ask them to do the next one
Practice making different kinds of lines- straight, curvy, dotted, etc.
Take turns making a design and then the other person has to recreate it
Experiment with different body movements. Run while painting. Skip. Hop.
Free draw!

4Feb2014

Art Museum Scavenger Hunt

Posted in Art, Colors, Field Trip, Free, Reading, Shapes by teachingeveryday

What can you on a cold day? Go to a museum! Hopefully you have a free museum in your area. If you don’t, try local galleries, college campuses (especially the art department), or even local art displays in malls. You don’t need to go to a museum for your kids to see some art.

WARNING: Taking toddlers to a museum is not for the faint of heart. I’ve found museum outings work best with babies in carriers, toddlers in strollers, or preschoolers and older kids with good self-control. If they don’t have good self-control….it’s a great opportunity to PRACTICE! On our last outing I took my two-year-old, who was too big for the stroller (in her opinion) but a little too young to understand museum etiquette (in my opinion). But we managed. You can, too. Just go over a few basic museum rules before you get there. No touching or running. Keep it simple. And then leave if they can’t follow the rules. Don’t worry. You’ll be able to stay longer next time.

While my goal with Little Sis (the two-year-old) was just keeping her from licking sculptures, I aimed a little higher with Big Sis (my four-year-old). We made a museum scavenger hunt before we set off on our adventure. Some museums have their own pre-made scavenger hunts for kids and you can also find some online printable worksheets on Pinterest. I liked our DIY version because we could make it up together and tailor it to her age-level. I came up with categories (shapes, colors, materials, feelings), and she brainstormed the ideas. She also colored in the color boxes….

and made a little mistake. Notice the yellow and green boxes. No problem. It was good opportunity to do some problem solving to fix it.

While we walked around the museum, she marked off boxes on her paper. TIP: Use a pencil to mark off boxes since pens/markers aren’t allowed in most museums. The scavenger hunt helped her focus on one piece of art long enough to really look at it. We talked about how we could check off several boxes with one painting.

We chose a few different categories, but you could also focus on only one. Here are some ideas to make your own museum scavenger hunt:

colors
shapes
types of lines
textures
materials
letters
numbers
feelings you get when looking at the artwork
particular works of art that are in the museum (look up names/pictures before you go)
subject of the artwork- people, animals, houses, etc.

And a few ideas for older elementary kids: