Rainbow Collage + freestyle clouds

I got this idea from The Imagination Tree. Great blog with tons of inspiring posts. I love how she emphasizes the importance of play in her blog, and her kids are beyond adorable! You should check out her posts about Discovery Boxes and Treasure Baskets, those are my favorites.

Moving on, I got the idea to do a Rainbow Collage from their, and I wanted to share my results.

Remember this messy looking rainbow painting from my post The Sad Life of a Poor College Student.

Well there WAS  purpose for that sad looking thing, and it was this rainbow collage! It's a pretty self-explanatory project; basically I painted it - cut it out - spread some glue out on one color at a time - gave my kids a variety of objects of that color to place on the rainbow. I did this over 4 days, 2 colors of the rainbow each day + one more day for the clouds. I skipped indigo...eekk! 

You can see a few misplaced colors, not a big deal, I am actually surprised it came out as correct as it is! This is all due to Talen. During her turn if she noticed any misplaced colors from one of the other children she had to fix it! Haha it made me laugh, and I was very proud of her color recognition. I used foam stickers [their favorite] sparkle balls, paint chips, feathers, & pipe cleaners. Lots of texture and fun in this project.

We also made clouds to go underneath our rainbow. I was going to have a coffee filter covered in cotton balls with a little glitter sprinkled over for this project. Sounds pretty right? Well my plans changed the night before when I read this post about Art Placement at Art 4 Little Hands. Another great blog, and inspiring post. Unfortunately letting go of control is not my strong point! You're supposed to leave some art supplies out when kids aren't paying attention and let them come to it on their own time, and do with it whatsoever they chose. Well I cheated a little bit. I had my kids sit at the table and handed them these art supplies.

Some gluey coffee filters

And a coffee filter with a few cotton balls, white pipe cleaners, and silver glitter.

Sensing a theme? AHH I'm a terrible art teacher, this is hardly giving them free reign over their creation process. It was a baby step though, a very small first step, but progress from my usual reign of control. I also gave them paintbrushes so they could have something else to utilize if they wanted. Here is what I got...

 Bre dipped her paintbrush in the glue and painted her hand with it, not how I had intended BUT this was not about my wants, but hers and a gluey hand is what she wanted =] 

Then dipped her hand in the glitter. This is Bre's final product. It sure looks pretty.

 After decorating her hand, she decided to add a couple cotton balls and pipe cleaner to her coffee filter.

This might have been with the help of Talen though...

Here is Talen's work in progress. She went at it like she was a cloud making professional!

Here is her finished product. She finished before everyone else, so decided to lend her cloud making talents to help her friends. No kidding, I guess she thought because I wasn't taking control, she should. She went around the table 'helping' them put their clouds together.

I saw alot of smearing the glue around with the paintbrush before adding anything, I guess they learned that technique from me.

 I LOVED Emery's idea to dip her brush in the glitter, then put it on the paper.

 Unfortunately this process is time consuming and after a while when she saw her friends finishing, she decided the dump method would suffice.

Pretty, no? 

Linking up to...

Raindrops

...keep falling on my head, but that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turnin' red. Cryin's not for me 'cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complainin' because I'm free nothin's worryin' me.


I did this real simple project with my kids at work to demonstrate raindrops. We used a medicine dropper to drip watered down blue paint onto white paper. Boring I know, but I was really interested in introducing them to the dropper and teaching them how to operate it. We always use brushes or sponge stamps to do painting, but you can paint with tons of items: trucks, q-tips, nature, feet, etc. I wanted my kids to experience making art with a non-traditional art supply. They wanted to dip the dropper in the paint, then rub it onto the paper like a brush, but after a couple of times of helping them squeeze water in then squeeze it out over the paper they got the hang of it. Well, most of them got it... I was surprised my two oldest were determined to 'paint' with the droppers, even after showing them the dripping method, while my younger kids picked it up quickly. Oh well, it was a fun new experience for them, easy to prepare, and interesting to see their reactions. Plus I thought it was great fine motor practice for pinching, and releasing. Here are some pictures I took =]

 

 

 Linking up to some AMAZING linky parties this week, starting with...

Birds Nests

I saw this idea on someones blog, and though I thought I saved it, I can't find it now =/
You just need yarn, lots of Elmer's glue, and some sort of bowl that you can use to create the shape of the birds nest, and for best results, use a ceramic, plastic, or glass bowl, something that the glue will not stick to.


-First step is to cut strips of yarn [i cut them about my arms length], and then soak them in glue. 

 I thought I would use only a bottle or so of glue for this much yarn [5 nests] but used over 2 bottles! thank goodness my classroom has lots of that stuff. Also, I was thinking that if you have an older child with better fine motor skills, or just want to experiment making a pretty nests on your own, I bet embroidery floss would, and look real cool!

-Next drape the glue soaked yarn over an upside down bowl so they dry in a nest shape.

I have alot to say about this step! 

*As you see I used paper bowls. BAD choice. It takes a couple of days to dry, and I didn't want to bring and leave my bowls at school, so I made the wrong decision to just use the paper ones at school.

* I gave my kids one piece of yarn at  a time to work with and let them play with them. The glue soaked yarn is a fun new experience and you can't just give a kid something like that, make them put it on the bowl and not let them keep touching and manipulating it. So this step takes alot of time with younger kids.Oh ya and just handing them the bowls took a little because they wanted to turn them, slide them, wear them on their heads... lots of time + patience.

*You can see in the picture one smashed bowl and a few sad pieces of yarn on top. This is the product of the youngest in my class room, Bri. She was so interested in experimenting with the yarn that I couldn't get her to leave it on the bowl. I eventually gave up and just let her play with her two pieces which included tasting, dropping, putting on her head... it took a little scrubbing to get the dried glue off her later, but she was so happy I didn't mind. The smashed bowl is because at one point she wanted to see what would happen if she stomped on it, and well you can see the results to that experiment. 

*The two oldest in the class had fun playing with it too, but figured out to arrange the yarn on top of their bowls.Unfortunately when I announced that their art project was all done, one of them decided that meant to dump all the yarn off their bowl...she was able to rearrange it again quickly. I guess I need to be more clear with my instructions.

*The two middle kids [about 20-22months] needed help putting the yarn on the bowl, and not in one small clump, or spread out half across the table. 

After all those adventures, here are the results of 5 little hands!

 I told myself I wouldn't go behind them and rearrange their projects...but it had to be done.

 I tried to keep them as close to how the kids had actually left them [except bri's her's was done again from scratch] but I also wanted them to be able to hold things inside. Does that make me a bad art teacher?

-After you let them dry for at least 2 days, maybe a little more because some of the thicker spots were still a little wet, remove them from the bowl.

 

 Because I had made the mistake of using paper bowls, the yarn had stuck to the bowl. I was able after much effort seperate the yarn nests from the bowls, but it took it's toll on some of the nests. So I took them home and hot glued the yarn that had been misshapen from my tugging and ripping.

-I tied another piece of yarn with a label of the kid's name strung on around the edges of the nest and stapled them to one of our display boards. I think they look just grand hanging there. I placed Easter eggs inside and the Thursday before Good Friday, I'll send each kid home with their nest, and some candy and a peep inside! 

This project might have gone smoother had I worked with one child at a time, and sacrificed my ceramic bowls for a couple of days. Despite that, they had fun with the gooey yarn, and they love looking at their finished project. I can't wait to see their reactions when they leave with it and discover the peep inside =]


Linking up to:

Birds

Since I started exploring the blogging community, my mind has been filled to the brim with inspiration. Images of rainbow collages, and rosette headbands dance through my head! It has definitely encouraged me to break through my neat and tidy comfort zone with my kids at work. I know art is a great learning tool for young children, by letting them experience various textures, learning how to hold crayons - which later translates into holding pencils and pens - learning properties of glue, paint, etc... BUT even knowing this I was still intimidated giving my 6 kids a messy art project.I did simple activities with them, but I have been slowly working my courage up to more involved projects. It isn't the easiest, with a classroom of 6 kids ranging from 18 to 24 months; there are different levels of motor skills, attention spans, energy, and language abilities. However I decided to stop making excuses not to do more art, and just accept that it would get a little messy, and a little glue might get swallowed, but that is why Elmer's is non-toxic!

This unit has been about how God gave us Springtime [I work at a faith based facility] and all the things that come with it such as flowers, ducks, butterflies. This project was actually impromptu because the morning teacher and I failed to coordinate what our art projects were going to be. I was planning on doing a paint+butterfly wings project, but when I came in one day the morning teacher had done a very similar project with butterflies. Opps. Because I didn't want to have the kids do basically the same project twice, and have 50 butterflies hanging around the room [now that I say it like that it sounds kinda pretty..] I wanted to come up with a new idea. We had this big bag full of colorful feathers just begging to be used so I decided to make birds instead!

 I drew an outline of a bird on a piece of construction paper, and since I was just eyeballing it it wasn't perfect. I trimmed it out to be more symmetrical then retraced it and fixed it until I was happy with the results. This waste a couple pieces of construction paper, but I'm sure if you prepare in advance you can find a stencil or pattern to use.

Then I added glue to the wings and tails, because this is where I wanted the concentration of feathers to be.

 After using a paintbrush to spread the glue out nicely, I let the kids at them and the feathers. They instinctively knew what to do with very little instruction from me.

 Look at that fine motor skill in action! I was pleasantly surprised that they pinched one feather on at a time, and did not try to throw handfuls on and around. I hate when I underestimate my kids =/

 I had to add a little more glue so they could layer more feathers, they loved it so much!
A little messy, but not that bad. I just swept the floor AND table with a broom afterward to get the feathers, and dried glue isn't hard to clean up.

 As I set them out to try, I couldn't help but notice that the shape of the bird was completely overwhelmed by overlapping feathers running off the sides. After a small debate with myself, I decided it would not compromise the kids work if I just trimmed the feathers a little along the edges. Just enough to make the wing and tail shapes clear.

 Here is the final result!!! I'm so happy with them, and how simple it turned out to be.

 Above is Bri's bird. She is the newest kid in my class, and just had a ball layering all the pretty feathers on top of each other. Although in my head I had wanted the feathers to only be on the wings and tail, her creativity took over mine, and I think it looks great!

 This one is Talen's, my oldest kid, almost 2 years and leaving my class soon =(. I had noticed she was being a little particular with the feathers she choose, and wouldn't just take any feather I handed to her, but shifted through the piles. I did not notice until after wards, however, that she choose green, blue, and white colors mostly [a couple of warmer colors snuck on there] and I'm amazed at her discrepancy in specifically choosing what she thought looked pretty.

 I think they all turned at wonderful, and look great against the window!

   

I learned arts and crafts don't have to be nightmarish just because you're working with young children. I just have to let them be creative, have fun, and not be afraid of a little mess! I really had to remember this when we made birds nests...

Until next time! =]

UPDATE: For the first time since entering blogland... I am linking up to my first linky party!!! WOO-HOO
I always check out Delicate Construction's Made by Little Hands Monday for inspiration, and finally I am contributing. I hope this inspires some people out there =]

The sad life of a poor college student.

I thought my paint editing was clever, until I uploaded it and realized the picture would be too small to read, so you have to enlarge the picture to enjoy my cleverness.

You see, I am a poor college student, living in a small apartment with 3 other girls, so I don't have much space for hobbies. Life is not that sad, but I like being a little melodramatic. Is that an oxymoron, being a LITTLE melodramatic? I found that those thick Elmers Glue boards - can't think of the word for them right now - are an excellent, portable, easily storeable solution to a lack of craft desk/space. Unfortunately that is not what I was thinking of when I bought the Elmers Glue board. It is actually one of the art projects I'm prepping for my class next week. So though it has served me well, I have to say good bye to it soon, and since I'm such an utterly poor college student, I do not know if I'll be able to afford another one for a couple of weeks. One of the hardest things about living away from home is my complete lack of crafting supplies! I took for granted having paint brushes, stencils, and glitter at my disposal. Now I have to be frugal in my spending, forcing me to be more creative with how I come up with art supplies. Hence the old sponge becoming my paint brush!

It'll make a pretty crafting area for the next few days at least. You can see where I had to experiment a little with the cool texture of the sponge and paint before I started the rainbow. Stay tuned to see what that messy looking rainbow turns into!

Changes cont...

So the my last post was about changes I made to my blog, but this one is about some life changes. When you... make the transition from being engaged to being single [I don't want to say the B word] it inevitable changes, well your life. Because my previous future plans were around the idea of being married to someone, I now must form new plans. So this post is about some of the changes I've made for me!

Some of the smaller changes I am making are superficial, and just to get me over the hump of the...relationship paradigm shift that just occurred. One of them being, I'm dyeing my my hair blond! yay I've always wanted to try it, and blonds have more fun, right???? I'm going to do it gradually, lighten my hair, then lighten it a little more, throw in some highlights... etc till I get to the shade I want. I will also be lightening my eyebrows because they are pretty much black and I don't want it to be obvious from a mile away that I am not a natural blond. Second is my diet. I'm hopping on this vegan movement. good-bye animal bi-products, and hello tofu and yest =] Ok maybe not the yeast, BUT I have been studying up alot on the health benefits of veganism, and really think I could adjust to that lifestyle. When I was engaged, I really had no hope of being vegan with carnivorous fiancee, but now it is attainable, and I'm super excited! Hardest part will be cows milk, but I love soy milk and almond milk, and when I consider how hard on the digestive system cows milk is, it makes the choice a little easier [only a little]. and the final superficial change I am making is...underwear, as in I'm no longer going to be wearing it. Sports bras, yes. push-up, under wire, demi, etc... NO WAY. and as for panties...well it is awful freeing not to wear them so we'll see how that goes.

On to the more serious ones. I was planning on living in Tallahassee with my dear for a couple of more years while we finished school, but now everywhere I go is contaminated with memories. Thus I have concluded I need to move - more on that later. as for nursing school. I have not heard back from FSU yet, but regaurdless that is no longer the career path I wish to take. I am going to take flight lessons, and become a pilot instead. I always planned on doing that at some point in my life, but why not now? why not make it my first career? I eventually want to be a bush pilot, but I'll start out commercial. Friends, family, free tickets anyone? I know the reaction I'm getting from some of you, but this is not as sudden as it my seem. It has always been a dream of mine and well my other dreams have currently been pushed to the back burner, so now is the time to put these upfront. Now to where I am going to move. With my aspirations to become a bush pilot, the best place to train and get an impressive flight log to build up my resume is... Alaska! Yes, you read that correctly. I am moving to Alaska, the exact opposite part of this country. Yes it is cold and snowy, and I've always said I was a Florida girl, but I think I have just been scared of change. Well not now, and Alaska is the place for me right now in my life. I know this is a lot, but I am sure you noticed by now ---and if you haven't you're in for another shocker--- that this is April 1st. So if I had you going even for a second reading this blog, the joke is on you! I'm sure most noticed once I got to the sillier changes that this was a fool's day prank. Well I hope I elicited a few giggles, and happy pranking.

Until next time.