Materials:

paper squares (preferably colourful)

scissors

paper punch with a small hole

hole maker (for centre of the squares)

thin wire and something to cut it with

pony beads (three per pinwheel)

1/4″ wooden dowels

drill and very small drill bit (but large enough for two pieces of wire to fit through)

crayons or markers

Preparation:

Cut the paper along the diagonals about 3/4 of the way toward the centre. For a 21 cm (8 1/2″) square, cut the diagonals from each corner toward the centre. make each cut about 12.5cm (5″) long and leaving about 2.5 cm (1″) from the cut to the centre.

Punch holes in the paper: one in the centre and one at each point about 1.5 cm from the corner and .5 cm from the side.

Drill a small hole in each dowel about 1.5 mm (1/2″) from the end.

Cut the wire into 12 cm (about 5″). Sting a bead onto the centre of the wire and fold the wire over it. Slide another bead onto both ends of the wire.

Steps:

Artists decorate each side of the paper. Try to do completely different decorations on each side of the paper.

Poke the two ends of the wire through the four hole and then through the centre hole of the paper. Add the third bead. Poke the wire ends through the hole drilled in the

The three to five year old artists created beautiful painted scarves for their Mothers. Here is how they did it.

Materials

• silky white fabric (100% polyester)
• acrylic craft paints
• water
• wax paper
• paint brush
• cups (some for different paints and some for water)
• drop cloths
• water mister or spray bottle
• salt (optional)
• permanent marker
• masking tape (optional)
• scissors and tape for wrapping (the second session)
• for preparation and finishing: washing machine, serger or sewing machine, glue

Preparation (by instructor or parent)

Please note that this project has quite a bit of preparation involved for the instructor.

Wash and dry the fabric.

Rip the fabric into 11″ by width of fabric pieces. My wax paper is 12″ wide and the scarf should be narrower than the wax paper. If you have wider wax paper or you use more that one sheet of wax paper, you can make wider scarves.

Finish the edges of each scarf. I serged the long ripped edges to finish them, but left the selvedge edges (this gives a perfect spot for writing names and date). After finishing the edges of 19 1/2 of the 20 scarves I made, I ran out of thread on one of my loopers. Don’t forget this step. Clearly, it is very important as it is one step that I invariably include just inches before the end of any project. So the substeps include: turn off serger, drive to store, purchase thread, drive home, rethread, cuss, try rethreading again, turn the serger back on, continue sewing.

Seal the corners of the sewing with a dab of glue and let dry.

Print the artist’s name and the year on each scarf with a permanent marker (if the artists are old enough to write their own names, they can do this step).

Rip wax paper strips just a bit longer than the width of the fabric.

Wet and wring out the scarves just before working with the young artists.

Optional, you can staple the scarves onto the waxed paper to secure them. After drying, remove carefully with a staple remover.

Prepare the paints by diluting the craft paint approximtely 1:1 with water in painting cups.

Put out drop cloths on the painting surface. I did this project on the floor with my group so that there would be enough room.

Steps (with the young artists)

Lay out drop cloths.

Centre each scarf onto a piece of wax paper.

Paint the scarves with the watered down paint. For very young artists, I limit the colour palette to two colours. Where these colours meet, a third colour is created. More than two colours can create muddy effects which seem inappropriate for spring time. If you use the paint straight out of the bottle, it will be too thick and you will not get the lovely blending of colours that makes this project so marvelous. Make sure to cover the whole scarf right to the edges so that no white is showing. Spray water to dampen the cloth if it begins to dry out. You want the cloth to be quite damp, but not so much that it would drip if turned sideways.

You will notice that the paint colours run into one another. The wetness may warp the wax paper and cause it to create more patterns and interesting effects. This is all good.

Optional: Sprinkle salt over the scarf to create more interesting effects. I did not do it with this group as we had space and time restrictions and there were two crafts going on at the same time with this group.

Try to let the scarves dry before stacking the scarves (with the wax paper still on them) and set aside. It is best to let them dry flat as hanging them may cause the colours on the scarves may run and drip into other areas of the scarf.

I stacked the scarves, rolled them and placed them into a kitty litter tray (unused of course) to took them home with me. If the scarves are wet and you stack them, some of the colours may bleed through the wax paper. Unfortunately, I know this from experience.

Finishing (by the instructor)

Dry the scarves thoroughly. I unrolled mine at home and spread them out on the grass. Alternatively, you could hang them on a clothes line with the waxed paper still attached.

When the scarves are completely dry, label the wax paper with the artist’s name. Peal the scarves away from the waxed paper (set it aside). Heat set the scarves in the dryer at the highest heat setting that is appropriate for your fabric. Then, wash and dry with a bit of detergent and fabric softener. I use the hand wash cycle. Some of the colour will fade, but most of the colour will stay. I recommend to parents to hand wash the scarves in the future.

Bring the dried wax paper back to class along with the scarves and use the wax paper as wrapping paper for the scarves.

nests. These bird’s nests would make a beautiful centrepiece for a spring table.

Materials:

• paper lunch bags with squared bottoms (one per artist)
• very thin twigs, pieces of dried grass, pine needles, spanish moss, etc.
• glue squeeze bottles

Steps:

Today we are preparing for spring (or Easter) celebrations by creating our own “eggplants” — not the purple plant that tastes so delicious roasted, but a plant of painted eggs.  Eggs have always been a symbol of the renewal of life that occurs at this time of year.

Materials

▪               salt dough (flour, salt and water — recipe below)

▪               small flower pots (plastic, peat or ceramic)

▪               grass

▪               bamboo skewers cut approximately in half (3 half pieces per artist)

▪               small foam eggs (three per artist)

▪               acrylic paint

▪               paint brushes

▪               palette

▪               water cup

▪               cloth

▪               plastic flower pots with hold in the bottom (optional)

Preparation

Make the salt dough:

▪               4 cups flour

▪               1 cup fine salt

▪               1 1/2 to 2 cups warm water

Combine the flour and the salt. Stream in the water. Mix until a ball forms. Knead for 5 to 15 minutes. I use my KitchenAid mixer to make and knead this dough.

The dough should be soft and smooth. It will keep in the refrigerator for a few days if tightly sealed in plastic.

Cut the skewers in half. For this group we only have one hour in class, so I also painted the skewers so they would be ready to use.

Optional: If you feel uncomfortable with the artists doing it themselves, poke a hole in the bottom of each egg with a pointy end of a skewer and glue the painted skewers into each egg shape.

Steps

Paint the eggs in decorative ways. You can paint a base coat of one colour on each egg and set it into the holes of an upturned plastic flower pot to dry. Then base coat the other two eggs. Try to use thin layers of paint to assure that the egg will dry enough to start decorating it.  Really young artists generally apply the paint thickly and most of these artists only had one layer. With the application of more than one colour however, some of the eggs were breathtaking in their combination of marbled colours.

Paint the flower pot: both the outside and top part of the inside. Set aside to dry.

(Optional) Return to the base coated eggs and start adding dots, stripes, or what ever you want to your eggs to decorate them. To do stripes around the egg, hold the paintbrush to the egg and use the skewer to twirl the egg around slowly, painting as you go. Do not move your painting hand, just slowly rotate the skewer.

Take a small chunk of salt dough and form it into a rough ball shape. Drop it into the flower pot and pat it down.

Pull a small quantity of grass from the package, again shape it into a rough ball shape and lay it over the salt dough.  Pat it into place.

Once your eggs are dry, push them into the salt dough through the grass. Holding the skewer, twist each “eggplant” and use a drilling action to push through the grass and into the salt dough. The salt dough will help the stems of your “eggplants” stand up. After a few days, the salt dough will dry and harden, really supporting those stems. Until then, try not to touch the stems too much to prevent the stems from moving around too much.

After seeing images of Matisse’s paintings and his collages, students were shown a piece of canvas board (10″ by 12″ or 25 cm by 30 cm). They were asked to use pieces of coloured paper to “draw with scissors” and then those pieces would be arranged on the canvas board. The canvas boards were displayed in the room, but students did not get the opportunity to work directly on or near the canvas.

Working in pairs, each student took on the role of artist and of assistant in turns. The artist instructed the assistant as to how and where to place the shapes that they cut. The artist was only allowed to speak and gesture to help the assistant to place the shapes. After one artist’s work was arranged, the roles were reversed.

Students found this exercise to be interesting, but also frustrating. They were able to sympathize with Matisse as to how difficult it must be to create when having to direct someone else as opposed to doing it yourself. Several times, I heard students express that it would be easier to do if they did it themselves. Students seemed to get a lot out of the exercise and they created some wonderful collages.

Further, students discovered that some of the negative shapes left after cutting out the shape they intended, created interesting elements that they could add to their collages.

Henri Matisse (December 31, 1869 –November 3, 1954)

Examples of his works:

This site has many examples of his work.

The Red Madras Headress

Snow Flowers

L’escargot

Great information on Matisse and some of his works is available at the Centre Pompidou website.

Spool knitting is an old craft that can be used to create cords that are almost identical to i-cord. In recent times it has resurfaced in a larger form and is called loom knitting. You can get loom knitting kits at most yarn and knitting stores, craft stores and major department stores (with a craft section). I made spools for all the students in my class. The older students spent two classes learning about spool knitting, knitting lovely cord and eventually making a beautiful beaded bracelet.

The spool knitters are made from common household items. I am confident you have everything you need to make one at home right now.  The directions to make the spool knitters are contained in this PDF document  How_to_make_a_spool_knitter_PDF.

If you have any comments or questions, just leave a comment below.

This delightful project makes a beautiful trivet as a gift and you get the bonus of a matching card with almost no additional work! These tiles are decorated by masking parts of the tile and then sponge painting over the whole thing. Once the masks are removed, you get lovely tile coloured shapes with clean edges.  The masks are then used to decorate a coordinating card.

Materials

Blank greeting card (or folded card stock)

Tile (4” square makes a nice coaster, 6” square or larger makes a nice trivet)

Rubbing alcohol and cloth

Sketchbook or drawing paper, pencil, eraser, tracing paper

Adhesive shelf liner (Contact® is one brand name)

Scissors

Tape

Acrylic paint in at least three similar colours

Palette

Small pieces of sponge

Pin

Spray on acrylic sealer

Steps

With a pencil, write your name on the back of the tile.

Trace the tile into your sketchbook (or paper) one or more times.

Clean the tile with the rubbing alcohol. Be careful not to touch the surface with your fingers so that you do not transfer oils to the tile after cleaning. Let the tile dry.

Meanwhile, come up with some designs for your tile in the traced outlines. Make sure that your design has fairly simple closed shapes. Remember that you will have to cut the shapes out with your scissors. Note that the shapes will be the colour of the tile and the area outside the shapes will be the colour of your paints.

Choose the design you like the best (try for about three shapes). Trace the shapes onto tracing paper.

Roughly cut out these shapes, not on the lines, but outside the lines to leave room for more precise cutting latter.  Tape the rough cut shapes to a piece of shelf liner. Cutout on the lines through all layers.

Separate the layers. To get the backing off the shelf liner, roll the shape edge back and forth. That usually loosens the two layers. Slide a pin in between the layers, separate the layers with your finger and start peeling the layers apart. With and thin shapes, hold the shelf liner near where you are peeling the backing off so that it does not tear.

Place the sticky part of the shelf liner onto the tile. Again, be careful not to touch the tile itself. Once all the pieces are on the tile, cover with a piece of paper and lightly burnish.

Squeeze out tiny amounts of paint onto a palette. Dip a slightly damp (squeeze as much water out of it as you can) piece of sponge into one of the paint colours. Dab off most of the paint on the palette and then start to dab the paint onto the tile. Apply the colour in more in some areas than in others. Replenish the paint on the sponge as needed, removing excess paint of before going to the tile. You only want a thin layer of paint. You want to have lots of tile still showing after the first colour. Let dry. Waving a stiff piece of paper or your sketchbook above the tile helps the drying process.

Use the next colour and go over the tile, dabbing in some of the areas left white and overlapping some of the other areas. Let dry.

Repeat with a third colour. Let dry

Using three similar colours adds a great deal of depth to this project.  It is much more rich looking than using only one colour.

You can check for dryness by making sure that there are no shiny spots on the paint. However, if you are using a shiny tile, the shine from the tile showing through sometimes makes it look like the paint is still wet when it is really just the tile. Keep this in mind when watching to see if the paint is dry.

While the paint dries, decorate the inside of your card.  Write a message or draw.  The front of the card (if it is the same colour as the tile) will have the coloured hearts that are making the tile on them.

Remove the shelf liner. Find the edge of the shelf liner and slip a pin under the edge to lift It. Peel the shelf liner off the tile and carefully position it on the front of the card.  Repeat for all the pieces.

If you are making multiple tiles, you can adhere the dried shapes to another prepared tile instead of a card.

Repeat the process and make a card at the very end.

Take the tile outside and spray with acrylic sealer (preferably outdoor sealer). Normally,  I avoid spray sealers like I avoid the plague. However, for this project, I found that using a brush on sealer (I tried two different kinds), removes the paint as you brush it on.  While this can be viewed as a distressed look, unless that is the look you are specifically going for, it could be very disappointing.

Optional: Glue felt or cork to the underside of the tile.

Scrunched Paper Sculptures

This art piece can be quiet dramatic with black and brights. In other colour combinations, different effects can be achieved.

Materials:

• one 30 cm by 30 cm (12″ by 12″) piece of black paper
• nine pieces of brightly coloured paper about 10 cm by 10 cm to 15 cm by 15 cm (4″ by 4″ to 6″ by 6″ )
• white glue

Preparation: Fold each black paper in three the long way and in three the short way to create nine squares. I scored mine using my Score-It® tool at 4″ from each edge. Cut the small pieces of paper.

Steps:

1. Each student choose nine pieces of coloured paper and one black sheet.
2. At their seats, students scrunch or fold the coloured paper into sculpture shapes to fit within the squares of the grid.
3. The scrunched, three dimensional paper sculptures are glued to the black paper and left to dry. Encourage students to randomly apply the paper sculptures to the black paper background.

Sponge Monoprinting

Monoprinting is a wonderful art technique where paint or ink is spread on a non-porous surface. Designs are painted or scraped away and then a piece of paper or fabric is placed on the non-porous surface and the design is transferred onto the paper or fabric. You can find great examples of monoprints by doing a quick Google search. Click here to see.

For my young (3 to 5 year olds) students, I adapted this technique with often requires quite a bit of control over the amount of paint or ink used. Here students painted their design on a sponge and then the design was transferred to paper.

Materials:

• flat sponge
• water
• paint
• paint palette (I use plastic plates)
• paintbrush
• paper to print on

Preparation:

Dampen the sponges and wring out excess water.

Steps:

1. Students paint colours onto their damp sponge. Encourage the use of several colours to create a design (not necessarily a picture).
2. The students flip the sponge and press it down onto the paper. Left off carefully and repeat on another part of the same paper.
3. When the impressions start getting too light, add more paint.

A follow up or extension activity for these two would be

Scrunched Paper Printing

Students take the scrunching from the first activity and print with it and then apply the scrunched and paint covered sculptures to the grid from the first activity.

In order to this, students need to set aside three or four of the brightly coloured pieces from the first activity for this activity. They also need to leave the appropriate number of squares empty, preferably in a random looking arrangement.

Materials:

• paper to print on
• three scrunched paper sculptures from the Scrunched Paper Sculpture activity (have extras on hand)
• the partially filled black paper grid from the first activity
• glue
• paints
• paint palette (I use plastic plates)
• paint brush
• sponges from the previous activity

Preparation:

Steps:

1. Each student adds more paint to their sponge if necessary.
2. They take each sculpture and dip it onto the painted sponge and then use that to print onto a piece of paper. Again, print several times with each piece of paper.
3. When the paint begins to get too faint, put the sculpture aside and repeat with another paper sculpture.
4. When the students have used up all their extra paper sculptures, have them glue the paint covered sculptures onto the black grid from the Scrunched Paper Sculpture activity.

Any time that was left was used to paint pages from discarded paperbacks in preparation for future activites.

Steps:

1. Students draw a picture of a tree with no instruction other than “draw a tree”. I did need to specify that the trees should be deciduous, but gave not other instructions.
2. We viewed a slideshow of photos of real trees. We discussed how trees really look and some ways of approaching drawing a tree. Some questions for discussion: How do the trunk and branches look? How do the leaves look, especially in relation to the shape of the trunk and branches? How do trees look different during the various seasons? What are some ways that we can draw trees to go with this new information?
3. Draw another tree using the information we discussed.  Things to think about: Which tree is more realistic? Which tree is more interesting?
4. Show a slideshow of some examples of trees in art.  How do some of these trees differ from real trees? How can you tell that some of these “trees” are trees at all?
5. Draw a trees using what you have observed and discussed regarding trees in art.

Click here for a variety of examples of tree photos. The link will open in a new window. Alternatively, do a search for “tree”, choose images and then choose photos.

Click here for a variety of paintings and other artistic renderings of trees. Again, the link will open in another window.

Here are links to some specific art works:

Vincent Van Gogh Blossoming Almond Tree

Vincent Van Gogh Trees and Undergrowth

Vincent Van Gogh The Mulberry Tree

Piet Mondrian Trees

Piet Mondrian Gray Tree, Red Tree, Tree and Composition 8 which was created after viewing the cubist work of Braque and Picasso.

We did view other contemporary artworks as well.

The students’ work was amazing. All the pieces were really interesting. Great work everyone!