July 31, 2010  by

Liquid Watercolor and Whipped Cream

We began this week with liquid watercolors, a new medium for many of the kids! Starting off with a simple painting experience, each child was first given watercolor paper, cups of paint, and brushes. Soon they began to ask for cars or other familiar tools as well.
Many of the children began to pour the watercolor- which is usually what toddlers want to do with a cup of liquid! Sometimes they would pour the paint into different cups, but mostly they poured it onto their paper (after the first class I realized it was a good idea to use trays!)
After a little while, I offered the children coffee filters to paint on in addition to their paper. Coffee filters soak up the watercolor in a different way and are fun to experiment with.





Eye droppers are great tools to use with the liquid watercolor. They’re unique and fun for the kids, but they’re also excellent for developing fine motor skills (specifically the pincer grasp, used for writing).
After a lot of painting and pouring, I moved the paper to dry and brought out whipped cream! With the aluminum foil on the table, I gave each child a scoop of whipped cream and encouraged them to use it in their exploration. Some kids immediately wanted to rub their hands in it, while others used tools to move it around. Painting the liquid watercolor on the whipped cream offers a unique sensory experience and a new way of seeing the vibrant colors.










The easels were set up with jars of liquid watercolors to continue the watercolor experience.


I recently replaced some of the containers on the shelf to entice the children to visit it more often. I think it’s working.
Finally, I brought out the watercolor spray bottles to use on the easels and at the table. I can never go wrong with the spray bottles!



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July 24, 2010  by

Salt Dough and Colored Glue

This week we started off making salt dough. Salt dough is similar to playdough, but it is meant to be baked and decorated like clay. If you’re interested in trying this at home, click here for a simple recipe (or here, for a gluten-free recipe) To make the dough each child was given a bowl and spoon for mixing and a cup to scoop out the dry ingredients. After mixing the flour and salt, I offered them a squeeze bottle of water (with only a little water) to add to the bowl. We added more flour and water when needed, then mixed and mixed until the dough was just right!


Once the dough was the right consistency, the kids dumped it out onto their mats to begin their work. They used cookie cutters, pizza cutters, plastic knives, and clay tools to mold their dough. I also brought out some spray bottles and more flour to keep the dough moist and pliable.








Sometimes the dough was too sticky so we had to add more flour!

After a while of working with the dough, the children began to check out the shelves for new materials and tools.

For the children who were ready to move on, I put their dough creations on the shelf to dry and brought out some paper, colored glue, and plastic lids.
The children then squeezed the glue into the plastic lid, which is used as a mold. Once the glue dries, you can pop it out of the lid to create a transparent window hanging (this fun idea came from a great blog called Darling Clementine- check it out here).
But of course the best part of this activity is the squeezing!





Where there is glue, there is almost always glitter and collage materials!


This week instead of the usual paint, I put markers at the easels. Some kids really enjoyed the change!

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July 19, 2010  by

New Session- Finger/Texture Painting

It’s a new session with some new faces, so I decided to revisit the basics… toddler painting 101. We started off scooping paint with a spoon and using our hands to smear it around the paper. Then I brought out a variety of tools and objects to paint with- such as toy cars, necklaces, and combs. This is a great way to introduce tempera paint (the texture, colors, and movement) as well as the concept of process-oriented art. The kids learn that the studio is a place for messy exploration and creative fun!

After a while, the children began collecting different materials from the shelf. Interesting brushes, rollers, and glitter made their way back to the table- along with our new squeeze paint bottles.

The children eventually wandered over to the easels which were set up with brushes, whisks, and scrubbers.

After lots of messy work, each class moved outside to continue their exploration of squeezing, scooping and pouring.

See you next week!

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July 13, 2010  by

Finger Painting with Grandma!

Over the weekend, I held a special art class for tots and their grandmothers. Karuna’s Grandma (my mom) organized this class with some of her friends so they could enjoy a messy art experience with their grandchildren.
Here, Karuna and Grandma wait outside for the others to arrive.As an introduction to the studio, I started the kids off with finger painting as I do with all new students.
Eero was a little reluctant at first to get his fingers in there.
Ofelio, on the other hand, just dove right in!

After a little experimentation with our fingers, I brought out some toy cars, necklaces, and brushes to use with the paint.

Pretty soon, the kids discovered the easels and began to move around the studio.

Beatrice learned how to make a monoprint of her painting on the acrylic easel.
Anna got exited about printmaking too!


Clean-up time becomes a whole new activity when you add squirt bottles and cups!

We ended the morning with yummy snacks under the shade…
and of course a little more playing around the yard.
Bye-Bye!

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July 5, 2010  by

Leaf Prints in Clay

I wasn’t planning on doing clay this week, but of course being open to an emergent curriculum means tossing my plan out the window if necessary. Last week I had many requests for working with clay again and I wanted to honor those requests and let the kids continue to explore clay in different ways. This time I offered them a red firing clay (as opposed to the white modeling clay), which is much softer and a little grainy. I first gave them some time to get to know this clay with familiar tools.



After a bit of exploration, I brought out a variety of leaves and demonstrated how to make a leaf print (explaining that it is similar to making a print with paper and paint- which they are experts in!)





The leaf printing was very exciting for about 5 minutes! Then the kids began to gather paint, glue and other materials to use with their clay.




Eventually, the easels were visited as the kids moved around the studio.




Some of the kids brought scissors to their clay work and learned how to cut the clay!

After working with the clay, the older class decided to work with markers on the floor. When some of them began to draw faces, I offered them hand mirrors to see the details of their own faces like we did with our self-portraits.


Sometimes when we wash up outside, the kids request the spray bottles…

Some of the finished clay work

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June 16, 2010  by

Clay and Monoprint Cards

We began our first summer session working with clay. I gave each child a slab of clay and plenty of tools to explore and manipulate this cold, pliable material.





After working for a little while with the tools, I offered the children cups of water and sponges to moisten their clay. I showed them how the clay can easily dry out and how a little water can soften it right up again.

Of course everyone wanted much more than just a little water, so I offered them squeeze bottles to fill the cups themselves.
The slippery feeling of water on clay captured their attention for quite a while!
Because Father’s Day is coming up, I thought it would be fun to make gifts out of our clay work for all the dads. After much exploration, it was time to decorate the work- so I brought out some decorating items that dads might appreciate… screws (with flat ends for safety), nuts, washers, buttons, and shells. The kids had fun sticking these materials into the clay for their dads.
And some children even brought out paint to add to their creations.
Taking a break from their clay work, some of the kids worked on paintings at the easels.



To make Father’s Day cards, I brought out materials for making monoprints- just like we did here for Valentines Day. The children rolled out paint on acrylic boxes, drew a design with a cotton swab, then pressed a folded piece of paper down onto the design to make a print.
A sneak peek at the final results!

Happy Fathers Day!

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April 29, 2010  by

Cake-Making with Clay

After last week, when our paper mache project quickly turned into an afternoon of cake-making, I realized that this was the perfect opportunity to explore the use of an emergent curriculum in my art classes. For this group, I reflected on the children’s interest in cake-making and decided to steer the curriculum in that direction for the following week.
So rather than making suncatchers, as the other groups did, I chose to offer this group a clay medium to expand on the idea of cake-making.
I gave each child a lump of clay (and a few smaller pieces that were easier to work with) and set out a tray of various clay tools on the table. I also offered each child a bowl of water and a sponge to use for moistening their clay. We initially talked about their previous cakes that they made and how that inspired me to collect new cake-making items for this class. I showed the kids a few techniques, but they mostly experimented on their own, learning about the tools and the different properties of the clay.


After I gave the kids a chance to get to know the clay, I brought out some more cake-making items: paper baking cups, glue, glitter, sand, and little “treasures” (rhinestones, buttons and sequins).




Towards the end of class the kids began to move around the studio, working on some new easel projects. For this easel, I cut up a variety of colored tape and placed them onto the tray under a piece of paper to make a tape collage.
Another sticky collage, this easel is set up with clear contact paper and collage materials. Just press and stick- A fun way to end the day!

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April 19, 2010  by

Squeeze Painting

Have you ever done a gluing project with toddlers and wondered why they continue to squeeze glue from the bottle until they’ve just about emptied it out? Young children need to squeeze! Squeezing is an important fine motor skill that is also very entertaining. One way to offer this activity to kids is through squeeze painting.
I purchased empty squeeze bottles at an art supply store, but you can also use empty bottles from glue, soap, ketchup, etc.
To make the paint, I mixed flour, water, salt, and a little tempera paint to get a consistency like thick batter. I covered the table with cardboard so they could use the entire surface to squeeze out their design.


I realized that this paste would work great for paper mache- so for the older class, I offered them bowls and newspaper and showed them how they could cover the bowls with the strips of paper to make a sculpture.
My original squeeze bottles were a little tough for the children to use, so I brought out various glue bottles to add to the squeeze painting.
Jacob tries to squeeze the glitter glue into the larger bottle.

Rogan offers Liam the glitter glue.
By the third class, I had found some squeeze bottles from the Container Store that were much easier to use. Richie squeezes the paint onto the truck wheel to see what kind of tracks it makes.
Lucia begins to work on making a cupcake.
As the older kids work on their paper mache sculptures, Jason decides to squeeze all of his paint into the bowl to make a cake.
Of course, the other children realize that making a cake sounds much more fun than a paper mache sculpture!
After a while of squeezing, I offered the children bowls of colored sand to sprinkle on their paintings. Kirsten decides to squeeze the glue into the bowl of sand.
The children loved scooping the sand onto the table and mixing it around.


Anna, Jordan, and Jessica add the sand to their cakes.
Jason uses glitter glue to make a cake decoration.
Eventually, everything made it to the table- paper strips, paints, brushes, cars, horses…
As the children began to move around the studio, they explored various activities. Kirsten makes a print on the acrylic easel.
Kate creates a crayon drawing.
Rogan checks out the materials on the shelf.
Our new student, Mariana, discovers the easel.
Richie and Lucia found the toddler scissors (which cut only paper) and practiced their scissor skills.
Mariana decided to glue a collage, so I brought out the bin of collage materials- which was exciting for everyone!
The mound of materials in front of Lucia is her finished cupcake :)
Jason, Michael, and Karuna gather more materials for their cakes.
At the end of class, the cakes were finished… just in time for Jessica’s Birthday. Happy Birthday Jessica!

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April 6, 2010  by

Finger Painting

We began the new session with finger and object painting- a fun activity for a rainy afternoon! I offered each child a bowl of paint and a spoon to get started. Some were eager to get their hands messy, while others first used the spoon to begin their paintings. I slowly added tools for the children to paint with- such as interesting brushes, combs, and necklaces.




Eventually, the toy cars came out- as always, they were a hit with everyone!


As the paintings progressed, the children got more into the sensory experience of the paint.

Jason uses his paint-covered hands to make prints at the easel.
Jordan focuses on her brush painting at the easel.
Jessica and Karuna came up with the idea of painting the wall and then washing it off with a wet towel- It seemed that cleaning the wall was just as fun as painting it!
Anna continues to work at the table with the necklaces and paint.
Karuna showed Jason how to make a monoprint on the acrylic easel by rubbing a piece of paper onto the paint and then peeling it up.
Jessica was soon making monoprints as well.
Collaborative painting and making new friends!

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April 6, 2010  by

Painting 101

We started off our spring session with Painting 101… painting with fingers, spoons, toy cars, necklaces, and other fun objects. This is an exciting way to introduce our new student, Lucia, to the painting process.Richie immediately gravitates to the cars, while Karuna is all about the finger painting!.

The various brushes and objects available create interesting lines in the paint.

After a little while, the children began to move around the studio, trading places at the table and working on the easels.

The addition of glitter to the table brought them back to work more on their paintings. Glitter sure has a way of getting children’s attention!

After class we cleaned up at the water table outside, which provided more interesting exploration!


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