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

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