Ending November With A Bang Of Bright Color!

Watercolors

This month has been really nice. Me and the kids have been working on so many different projects and I've grown really close with them. I can tell that their learning and having fun. I teach 3 classes a day, ages 3-7 and you really cant tell what age did which work. Their work is so amazing!! These kids are really talented and sweet.

 Making Prints With Watercolor

- Liquid Watercolors (or Reg Watercolors) & Masking Tape

We have been working on everything that has to do with fall, lot's of turkeys and what makes this month special. I wanted to end it with bright colors and just have some fun since it was my last class in November.

I had the children decorate their paper with masking tape. Some made trees, stars, snowflakes and abstract shapes. After they filled in the white spaces with paint and I carefully peeled the tape away. It left a really pretty print and the paints were bright and uplifting. A really fun and easy project. And we even had enough time to create a second.

The older children had a third process they made designs in their white spaces.

I loved this one

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !

GOBBLE GOBBLE

Clay and Nature

Introducing Clay

I really wanted to do a project in November about nature and at the same time introduce the kids to clay. My daughter is always a huge help because she's full of new ideas and always working on things at school. At school she saw a program called "Dinosaur Rock" and brought home some fossils and rocks. I thought it would be a great idea to mix clay with nature.

Nature Fossil

- Crayola Air Dry Clay, Rollers (Clay Tools), Leaves, Twigs, Pepples, Grass etc.

I first spoke to the children about Dinosaurs and showed them some of fossils that my daughter had brought home. I had them pass it around and examine the fossils. We spoke about bones, prints and about things that are left behind that help us remember the way things were.

I had them play with the clay and showed them different ways to work with it. How to roll it, smash it, pinch it and cut it. Our job was to make it as flat like a pancake so it would be our platform to stage out twigs and things. After I had the kids press in all the different things found in my garden. They had a great time and were in a rush to take them home.

More Turkeys!!

Just a few pictures of some the turkeys me and the older kids worked on. There really excited about Thanksgiving. Really easy project. We cut the body out of brown construction paper, one circle and one peanut shaped. And added feathers, eyes, feet and a beak. I let the kids go wild and get creative. I put tissue paper, yarn and markers on each table. And let them turkey around!

Girl Scouts

Girls Love Glitter!

This is my daughter's first year in Girl Scouts and I volunteered to teach a small art class. The theme was Thanksgiving. And I had been working with contact paper during the week with my preschoolers in school. Previously that week we were making suncatchers and I thought it would be a great idea to make a Turkey suncatcher.

Turkey Suncatcher
-Contact paper, Turkey Cutouts, Construction paper, Googly eyes, Tissue paper( or feathers) felt and glitter.

I precut contact paper in rectangles and tape them down in place ( sticky side up). A made Turkey cutouts out of construction paper and had the girls place them in the center. What's great about the project is that there's really no need for glue, since the contact paper is sticky. But you may want to put a pea size amount on the goggly eye to keep in in place. They were free to decorate with tissue paper and they cut the turkey legs  out of orange felt. And at last they glittered away! I thought a small splash but these girls went glitter crazy. After a while these turkeys were looking very Glitterific!
It was alot of fun and I placed another contact over to seal the work. I had alot of fun!

The Preschoolers Loved It Too

Being Thankful

What I'm Thankful For

It's November and it's time to gear up for the winter, get organized and get cozy. I love the fall it's all about family and around this time of year I do alot of daydreaming. I'm thankful everyday but I think I do reflect more at this time. I'm so lucky to have found a job this year and not just any job but what I really enjoyed doing the most. It's so important to enjoy your work and to be inspired and inspire. I think the word "Inspire" is such a great word! It keeps you motivated, thinking positively and helps you to grow.

I'm thankful for all the people in my life who are always helping me and true friends. My little dogs to snuggle with, my home, nature, health, life and love. The seasons are changing and so are we. Always growing and learning.

And I'm so thankful to be a mom!

November is for Inspiring Things

Things That MaKe Us Feel Good

Little Blue and Little Yellow

Inspired by the book

"Little Blue and Little Yellow" by Leo Lionni

I thought this book was really sweet. It was about two friends who are different, who become the same and at the end are loved for who they are. That's why I love children's books. They warm your heart and send a positive message.

-Blue and Yellow Paint, Tissue Paper

I read the book to the kids and had them paint with Blue and Yellow. They used their imagination and played with Blue and Yellow in their painting.

I thought this one was really cute! I asked her what was Blue doing? And she said, "The Daddy Blue stay's home with the kids.

Haha Aww so cute!

Being Bold!

- Construction paper, Scissors and Hands!

I taught the older kids a little bit about artist Henri Matisse a French painter who became very famous for using extraordinarily bold colors.

I had them choose two colors, make hand prints and decorate. A simple project but I wanted them to work with bold colors and learn about shape and design. Simple but fun.

It's Ok To Be Different

Inspired by the book "ELMER" by David Mckee

- Elephant cutouts, Tissue paper, Glue and Googly eyes

I love ELMER the elephant! He is fun, patient and different from the others. The world is always changing around us it's great to celebrate that we all our different.

 We read all about ELMER and his adventures and just had fun creating our own little elephants.

Modern Art

-Plastic Cups, Tempera paint and Brushes

We dipped our plastic cups in black paint and just painted inside of circles to make abstract paintings. I was really impressed they looked Great!

Up and Down and Round and Round

Building 3-D Collages

-Heavy stock Paper, Scissors and glue.

The kids cut strips of paper and built up.They had to choose two colors to work with and bend and shape their paper in different ways to make a sculpture. I shared some different ideas and ways to shape their scuplture. But they had some really good ideas of their own! This project could have easily stretched a week. A for awesome!

He insisted I take a picture of his cool 3-D Bird