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

October Fun

Orange and Green And All Of Those Things!

Pollack Inspired Pumpkins

-Paper cutouts of pumpkins, Paint and Aluminum foil

I think aluminum foil is so cool it's inexpensive and great to use for shinny backgrounds. I had the kids splatter paint on their pumpkins and popped foil in the back. And Viola' spooky, shinny pumpkins!

Watercolor Resist

-Oil Pastles, Watercolors and Paper

This was a free drawing class. I had the kids draw Halloween pictures and they painted over them with watercolors. Some of the pictures were pretty spooky and silly.

Pumpkin Men Cutouts

-Stock paper, Crayons, Felt, Yarn, Fruit Loops ( Optional: glitter, buttons, tissue paper.)

I wanted to make a border for my bulletin board and thought oh Gingerbread Men! So I made gingerbread men but with pumpkin heads. Added fruit loops for eyes, yarn for the mouth and had kids color in. We added a bit of organge glitter for sparkle.

Leafy Cardinals

- Cardinal cutouts, Crayons/Markers, Hole Puncher, Glue and real leaves.

I had the kids decorate birds with caryons and markers. Then glue a real leaf for the wing.

Inspired by Artist Joan Miro

Their never too young to look, listen and learn! I introduced the children to artist Joan Miro. Miro was a Spanish painter who created colorful and abstract paintings with shapes of colors and lines. His works are often referred to as surreal. But to young eyes, Miro knew about colors and shapes! Surrealist paintings are based on dreams or fantasy.

I taught the children all about the artist Joan Miro. And I asked these questions:

Ms. Sarah: What makes this art?

Preschoolers Response: It has color, shapes, it's on paper ( it is pretty!)

Ms. Sarah: If you were an artist what would you name this painting?

Preschoolers Response: Yellow and Blue, The Blob, Happy Face and Star Dream.

Ms. Sarah: What kinds of things do you dream about?

Preschoolers Response: My family, The sun, toys and rainbows

I asked the class to draw a picture of a dream they have had, to make a motion painting. To cut out shapes, make symbols and use color to express how they felt.

My Bulletin Board

-Inspired By Miro

Fantasy Trees

-Newpaper strips, card stock, decorative paper, scissors and glue

This was in the same week that we discussed the artist Miro. The children made recyclable trees out of newpaper.Then cut and pasted lots of circles and ovals.

Tissue Paper Suncatchers

-Contact paper,Tissue paper, Felt and Yarn

I really liked this project. It was really cute watching the kids work with small materials and stick on pieces. I guess what they learned was that sometimes when creating art you have to be gentle.

Watch Out MoMa! We have some future Picassa's

Good News

I brought a new Camera today! I really love it. I cant wait to show you all the beautiful work the kids are creating. I'll be sure not to loose this one. Haha

Love & Light

Ms. Sarah

Very Sad About My Camera

I'm very sad to say but I lost my camera in October when I did an art exhibit in the city. So I lost all my pictures of the October projects. Tomorrow when I return to school I will take some new photos of what was created in October and some recent in November. The quality might not be so great because I may have to take them from my camera phone or buy a disposable. I may have to wait till Christmas for Santa to buy me a new one. But promise to update this week. Hope anyone who is checkin in is enjoying what pictures are up now. Till then.

Ms. Sarah

More In September

Green Paintings
Inspired by Green. We used any green colored materials to make a collage of green
Green paint, yarn, ribbon, glitter and glue( we painted with feathers)

Pointillism

Learning about Van Gough

Creating paintings with dots of color - Children drew pictures with chalk then filled in with dots of color. Chalk, Q-tips, Paint and Paper

Scarecrows

Paper cutouts, Yafi, Buttons, Crayons, Googly Eyes, Glue and Colored Felt.

Our Town Murals

In this class we spoke about where we live and what's around us everyday. And created a very colorful mural. Butcher paper, markers, crayons, scraps, magazines any mix media. Great group project!

My Bulletin Board

Fall Into Art. I was nervous this was my first bulletin in my new school and wanted to inspire and impress. I used the scarecrows my kids created and had a great idea to press real leaves on contact paper.

Owls

Woo Woo - Paper Towel Rolls, Egg Cartons, Feathers and Paint

This project was so much fun. I was wondering what to do with all my left over egg cartons and paper towel rolls. I found out that if you cut them they make great owl eyes.

I cut out the body of the owl out of paper bags almost the same shape a snowman. I had the kids paint the body yellow, orange or brown. Glue on or paint eyes and added feathers. * You can also use a real branch and glue it to the bottom to perch your owl on.

Fall Trees- Blow Art

Straws

The children cut out trees, pasted on paper then dropped a small amount of paint on the paper and used straws to blow the paint around. Just be careful for kids blowing to hard and getting dizzy remind them to be gentle.

Tissue Paper Leaves

Great project for fine motor skills. Children cut out leaves, used tissue paper and yarn to decorate.

Pipe Cleaner Sculpture

This project will have the teachers talking! I had a nice crowd watching this project. Usually the kids are little chatter boxes when working. But I was amazed at the silence in the room. They were so into and involved in this project. I brought styrofoam and cut it in squares for the base, pipe cleaners, pasta noodles, beads and cherrios. They created wired sculptures and loved this project so much they didn't want to leave. What was really great was that I asked each of them what their sculpture was and some answered, " A park in Brooklyn, my family, tinkerbell, ballet, trees and my house." So much fun!