November 14, 2010  by

Colored Glue Collage and Sand!

This week in the 1s class we worked on colored glue collages. Electra and Aly worked hard trying to squeeze the glue out of the bottle- which is great for fine motor development! I also offered them a tray of small collage materials like foam shapes, beads, and jewels.The children first experimented with swirling the glue around their paper and mixing the colors, then began to chose items from the tray to stick into their glue.
After a little while, I brought out bowls of colored sand to the table. The kids scooped the sand onto their glue and rubbed it around with their hands, feeling the grainy sand mix with the sticky glue.
Because young toddlers love to scoop, I always keep a large bin of collage materials like dried pasta and beans to use with glue. The kids use small cups to scoop out the materials and dump them onto their paper.
Aly moved around the studio and was excited to use the markers set out on the easels.
Electra was happy to stay at her seat and explore all the interesting items that she collected onto her paper.

Towards the end of class, we brought some materials outside to try out the splat paintings that we did in the older classes. The girls enjoyed squeezing the water onto the plate of paint and pom-poms and then throwing the pom-poms at the easel!I then set up the tray on top of the water table and brought out the colored sand, colored water, plate of paint, and other fun mixing tools… so much fun!




See you next time!

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November 9, 2010  by

Tissue Paper Sculptures and Various Painting Projects

As daylight begins to shorten this time of year, I thought about offering projects that can incorporate the darkness of winter. This week I decided to focus on tissue paper collage sculptures that are fun to play with in the dark! (thanks to The Artful Parent for this great idea) First I created a circlular frame out of wire, then placed it on a sheet of clear contact paper (sticky side up). The children were offered bits of colored tissue paper to create a collage.




The children also decided to add glitter and sequins to their collage!


When the collages were finished, I helped the kids fold over the sides of the contact paper to seal it up, then showed them how they can bend and sculpt the wire into various shapes. I happen to have a flashlight handy in one class, so I showed the kids how to illuminate the sculpture by shining the flashlight through- which is especially fun in the dark!
For the rest of class, the children re-visited their scrap sculptures from the previous week to add paint and more details.









As the children finished up their sculptures, they worked on various projects around the studio.





We even took advantage of the warm weather to finish up class outside.


While we were outside, I introduced “splat paintings.” First we soaked pom-poms in watered down paint on a tray…
then we threw them at the easel to create a “splat!”

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November 7, 2010  by

Veggie Prints and Collage

This week the 1s class experimented with veggie print making. I cut a variety of vegetables (and an apple) in half to create a flat surface. The children were each given a plate of paint and a large paper to stamp out their veggie prints. The veggies were an interesting addition to tempera painting for the kids, but they were soon looking for something else to work with. I decided to try out the colored glue to give them a chance at squeezing. This proved to be very exciting, especially when I added bits of collage materials to the table!

Mia’s older sister, Sasha, joined us for class and worked on her sculpture project from the 3s class.
Electra and Mia worked with the glue and collage materials for a while. Scooping the small collage bits out of the large bin was very exciting.
Towards the end of class I brought out some trays and golf balls to paint with. The kids each smothered a golf ball in paint, scooped it into their tray, then rolled it around by moving the tray side to side.

The kids are really starting to collaborate more, sharing materials and working together!

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October 25, 2010  by

Halloween Monoprints and More!

We began this week finishing up our paper mache pumpkins. I offered the children orange, red, yellow, green and white paint. We looked at a real pumpkin and talked about the colors, but I encouraged the kids to paint their pumpkins any way they liked… which of course meant adding plenty of glitter!



A few more of the finished pumpkins after I sealed them with Modge Podge.
This week we also worked on a variety of monoprints. We started by rolling paint onto acrylic boxes to cover the surface.

Then I offered each child a cotton swab to draw a design into their paint.
When the design was ready, the children pressed a piece of paper onto the box (we began with folded pieces of paper to use as Halloween cards).
Finally the children peeled up the paper to discover their print!


Next we experimented with bubble wrap monoprinting. The children rolled their paint onto the bubble wrap and then pressed paper onto it in the same way as the previous printing project. We talked about how the orange circles looked liked little pumpkins!

To continue the printmaking theme, the kids used the acrylic easel and whiteboard to make even larger prints. They covered the boards with orange paint and said that they were making a pumpkin patch! Then they drew pumpkins into the paint and used paper to make a print.

Some of the other classes expanded on our ball rolling project from last week, this time using marbles.

After a bit of rolling the marbles around, the children decided to add water. This led them to scoop, stir, and pour the marbles- so exciting!
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After all this talk about Halloween, the kids began waving their painted hands around saying, “spooky!”

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October 20, 2010  by

Clay and Halloween Ball Paintings

This week the new 2s class and the 1s class both experimented with clay. Each child was first given a slab of moist red clay and a few simple tools (a rolling pin and a pizza cutter). After the initial introduction, I began to slowly bring out a variety of new modeling tools and familiar items to use with the clay. The children cut, poked, and squished their clay, enjoying the cool sensory experience on these hot days.




When the children began moving to the easels to paint, I encouraged them to bring the paints back to the table to use on their clay. The unexpected mix of paint and wet clay was exciting! The kids then began going to the shelf to choose new materials to work with as well (such as sticks, necklaces, and glitter).



The 1s class especially enjoyed squeezing water onto their clay.

After working with the clay for a while, I brought out a new golf ball painting project for the 2s class. In the spirit of Halloween, I gave them black paper and orange paint to use with their golf ball and tray. They then shook the tray around to create interesting lines on the paper.

This soon turned into mixing and scooping the balls and using them with the other materials.
For the 1s class, I placed a bucket of warm soapy water in the corner of the room in case they needed to wash the clay off of their hands before going outside. This was much more exciting than I had anticipated! They hung out here for a while, dumping items into the water, giggling, and using wet chalk to draw on the chalk wall.

At the end of both classes, we moved outside and experimented with a larger version of the golf ball painting… another Halloween inspired piece!
But of course pouring water is the most fun of all!

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October 19, 2010  by

Halloween Inspired Art

In honor of Halloween and pumpkin season, I decided to try an ambitious project with the 2s and 3s this week… paper mache pumpkins! I used small balloons as a base for the paper mache, ripped newsprint strips, and a simple paste mixed with orange paint to make it a little more interesting. I also had to create a stand out of tagboard (similar to poster board) and masking tape to hold the balloons in place. I knew this was a difficult undertaking, so I asked the parents if they would help their children with this project (for the 2s class only). I usually encourage children to explore on their own, but this collaboration proved to be necessary to get the balloons fully covered- putting such an emphasis on the finished product is not something I do often, but I think the kids still really enjoyed the idea of making a pumpkin!
Some kids meticulously used paint brushes to apply the paste, while others were happy to dunk their hands in!
The 3s class was really into this project and managed to cover their balloons without much help.



I knew this project was a stretch for my 2.5 year old class, but was curious to see how my class of young 2s responded to paper mache… It turned out that they were not interested in it at all! First they were thrown off by the balloon being taped to the tray and immediately wanted to get it off so they could play with it. They also were not into the idea of painting gooey paste on their beautiful, clean balloons.
Luckily, I knew this aversion to paper mache was a possibility so I had a back-up plan!
I brought out a large bin, some black and orange paint, and a variety of balls to create a rolling ball painting. The kids mixed the balls in the paint, put them into the bin, then rocked the bin side to side to create rolled lines on the paper. I even convinced them to put the balloons in as well.
When the children moved back to the table I offered them collage materials, glue, and paint. This was much more their style!


Once the paper mache pumpkins were finished in the other classes, the children found various painting projects to work on.


For the final activity of the day, I brought the kids outside to try out the rolling ball painting that we did in the young 2s class. This project is of course exciting to kids because it involves paint and rolling balls, but it’s also a great collaborative experience. In order to move the balls around, the children need to work together and communicate with each other.



Some of the finished paintings… very web-like and fun for Halloween decorations.
In the young 2s class, we ended with a painting dance party and jumped around to a Kidz Bop version of “Can’t Buy Me Love”- at their request!

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October 14, 2010  by

1s Paint, Sand, and Water

This week the 1s class continued to explore the tempera paint with their hands and various tools. In addition to the paint, I offered each child a bowl of colored sand (play sand mixed with powdered tempera paint) as an added textural experience. The children were fascinated as they mixed, scooped, and rubbed the sand onto their paints.

Electra was very interested in water and wanted to be at the sink, so I brought out some extra bowls, squeeze bottles of water, and liquid water color.

Aly and Electra share a sweet moment of connection!

Mia spent some time at the easel, working with a brush and roller.
More water please…

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October 10, 2010  by

New 2s class and Fingerpainting

I’m excited to have added a new 2s class this session! We began last week with sensory-based finger and texture painting as I do with all of my classes. For this project we started with glossy fingerpaint paper, bowls of tempera paint, and spoons. The children scooped the paint onto their paper and began their painting process. Some children dunked their fingers right in, and others preferred to use the spoon to initially move the paint around.
After a few minutes of finger and spoon painting, I offered the children a variety of tools. Before introducing brushes, I like to offer household items such as combs, necklaces, or toy cars. For young children, this is a more intrinsic way to begin paint exploration and it also creates interesting textures and marks on the paper.



Eventually I brought out glitter for the children to shake on their paintings. Colorful sparkles are always exciting!
As the children got more comfortable in the studio, they began to move around, checking out the easels and materials on the shelf.



After lots of messy exploration, we moved outside to wash up in the water table.
Thanks for a great start to a new class!

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October 7, 2010  by

1s Continued Paint Exploration

For the 1s class, we are continuing to explore tempera finger and texture painting. The children are still getting comfortable in the studio and it’s important that they are offered multiple learning experiences with a familiar material. To add an extra sensory experience, I taped bubble wrap to the table and dripped soap, water, and a little paint on top. The children were able to slide their hands around the soapy paint and feel the bumps underneath. Even the mamas got into this one!
Electra and Aly moved around a bit more this week and found new items on the shelf to bring back to the table.



Outside we washed up in our water bucket and scooped soil from the older groups mud-pie makings.
See you next time!

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September 27, 2010  by

1’s Introduction to Painting

This session I have a new 1’s class, with a group of kids who are just under 1.5 yrs old. I’m starting this group off with a very basic finger painting experience to introduce them to the texture and qualities of tempera paint. I’ve found that many children are at first reluctant to get their fingers messy, so I offer them interesting items to use with the paint. Household item such as a cooking whisk, plastic animals, Mardi Gras beads, and toy cars are always a hit. The children can work with the paint for a bit before their hands get messy, giving them some time to warm up.Although some children will dive right in!

After a while of painting at the table, Mia and Aly moved around the studio and discovered the the easel paints.

Electra opted to stay at her seat and explore the paints a little more.
We ended class with some outside water play and clean-up.


What sweet girls! I’m excited to be a part of this creative journey!

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