Recently, while perusing the dollar section at Target, the boys and I came across some cute seasonal felt place mats.
The place mats came in two packs, in both pink and light blue.
The pink place mats featured floral cut outs. The light blue place mats featured Easter egg cut outs.
We bought two of the light blue place mats.
These mats are not only decorative for Easter but they make the concept of positive and negative space very concrete, as well as the concept of patterns.
Plus, we figured that they would be fun to paint!
So, we took them home and discussed the designs on the place mats.
We discussed the pattern on the place mat and discussed how we thought that the place mats had been made: most likely, they were done using a die cut tool, as the egg shapes were identical on both of the place mats.
We got into the concept of positive and negative space.
After briefly discussing, it was then left up to them to explore their mediums: the felt, the paints, and the paper...
Both Big Bro and Little Bro placed their mats onto their art trays and carried the trays outside.
They both chose to place card stock paper under the felt place mats.
Big Bro and Little Bro then discussed if they were to paint only on the surface of the felt, that they would be painting on the positive space of the place mats. They then discussed if they painted in between the die cut outs, they would be painting in the negative space of the felt.
The boys enjoyed exploring patterns, colors, and positive and negative space during this project.
They were very deliberate in their paint choices and really took their time on this art project. Big Bro took two days to complete his art work.
Little Bro is still working diligently on his...he has already spent two days, but has more to go...
The process of getting to explore the concepts of pattern, color, texture, and positive and negative space has been really interesting to observe.
They both have seemed to get quite a bit out of doing this project.
Here are some pictures of their work in progress:
Big Bro went back and forth painting the positive and negative spaces...
Little Bro painted all of his positive space first. Then, he went back to do the negative space...
Big Bro's art work...note how he has painted both the positive and negative space as he has worked on this...
Big Bro, day 2, working on his art project...
Little Bro, day 2, working on his art project.
Close up shot of Little Bro's art in progress...he focused on painting all of the positive space first...
Here is Big Bro with his painted felt place mat...he is still debating whether he wants to use it as a place mat or if he wants to affix it onto tag board...
Big Bro's finished art from painting all of the cut outs on the felt mat...the negative space becomes the positive space on the card stock paper!
Have you done some Easter or Spring themed projects that you would like to share?
Have you created art projects that drive home math concepts?
Would love to have you link up and share your ideas in the comments section so that I can come see you art projects and so that I can pin them to my Pinterest boards.
For anyone who aspires to be a naturalist, you have to check out her work! In addition to her art, Paula has compiled an amazing list of art books for children. Had pinned her art books list to my Pinterest board.
Recently, Paula left two nice comments for me on Pinterest…
The first comment was "Repin and copy the list with (art) books to your own blog..." So, with that being said, at the bottom of this post, there is a list taken directly from Paula’s list of art books suggestions. Am so excited that she is willing to share this list with my readers! Thanks a million, Paula! Really respect and admire her not only for her art work, but also for her artist’s eye and keen insight as to what would make good resources for teaching art to children, so to be able to share this list of her suggestions directly on my blog is pretty awesome!
Her second comment was "Colleen, what a wonderful pins you have. May I post your Pinterest address in a Dutch Home Education discussion group? Your pins are a wealth of information. Well done."
Thanks for the compliment, Paula. Hope that you and other homeschool families will find my boards to be helpful. Am happy that you view my Pinterest boards as a wealth of information for your Dutch home education group, as my goal for pinning is to dream - plan - organize - create - make a reality…for my family, as well as for others…
Essentially, I hope that by creating, organizing, pinning, and repining to be able to highlight loads of wonderful, family friendly ideas related to living, loving, and learning. By pinning arts & crafts, ideas for outdoor learning, family travel, educational research / theory / materials, and such, Pinterest is a tool for my family to try to give our sons a better understanding of the world and its people.
Have tried very hard to be good about giving credit where credit is due, as there is still some gray area when it comes to Pinterest. Tried to read different discussions related to Pinterest and the issue of Copyright and so that is why on the description section of my boards, I have included a statement such as the following: To comply with the US Copyright Office, section 107, all of my Pinterest boards and pins are for "criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research" as well as for “nonprofit, educational purposes"... I am not a lawyer, but tried to make sense of this: http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html
It gets a little complicated when you repin from someone else, as far as where things originate, but as I have learned more about how repining is supposed to work, have done my very best to try to be an appreciative, conscientious pinner. Excited that Pinterest is starting to make some tweaks to their format so that all individuals, namely artisans, as well as companies will view Pinterest as a wonderful tool that people can use to help promote their work, not a way for someone to work the creators of the idea, image, art, or concept out of getting recognition for their talents and abilities.
Sincerely hope that if I ever inadvertently or accidentally pin something without giving the appropriate credit for the pin, that the artisan, photographer, or company would kindly let me know and I will gladly fix the pin immediately.
Well, hope that all of you enjoy Pinterest as much as I have been enjoying it!
It has been such a huge help for me to create boards and to pin and repin while dealing with my medical issues over the last few months. Pinterest has given me a way to be able to stay positive and strong through some of the darker moments of testing, blood work, and the general anxiety of waiting to have surgery and to get test results back each week. To be able to visualize something that made me feel happy, calm, confident, and optimistic has truly been a Godsend!
Well, here is the list of art book suggestions directly copied from Paula’s Mindful Drawing blog:
Please note: This art books list is taken directly, with express written permission from Paula Kuitenbrouwer.
The only thing that I have added to her list are links within the post so that you can see the book covers and find out about ordering information.
Please contact Paula directly if you have comments or want to re-post her list for yourself or your own readers.
This list is verbatim, other than the addition of links to be able to review more info. about the books, from Paula's blog, Mindful Drawing, with Paula's permission...
For home schooling my daughter and teaching art-class to children and young students, I work with the following books…..(see list below)……
I’ve listed my books age/grade-wise but your child or student may function better in another age/grade group. Some children understand art with an amazing and wonderful spontaneity but are shocked by -for instance- Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ or Baroque paintings of biblical scene’s. Please understand that art-loving and eager children can be smart about art but are very sensitive to cruelty. For young students art is mainly about enchantment and enriching their lives with dreams and colours.
We can't wait to check out the various art books that Paula has recommended!
Here at Sunrise Learning Lab, we have used some of the books that she has listed, most notably Discovering Great Artists, Hands On activities for Children in the Styles of the Great Masters, by MaryAnn F. Kohl. (We just love MaryAnn! We also have used some of her other titles, including Preschool Art and Science Art) but now, we look forward to exploring the other books Paula has suggested.
Here is the list of the books we have used here at Sunrise Learning Lab. Since Big Bro and Little Bro are younger than Paula's daughter, the books we have used are geared more for preschool through about third grade...
Well, for starters, we love, love, love Colleen Carroll's How Artists See series!
Math Masterpieces: The Art of Problem Solvingby Greg Paprocki.
This book is great for those who like the concepts behind Living Math.
You can explore both the art and math concepts while reading this book...fun!
I Spy: An Alphabet in Art Devised and Selected by Lucy Micklethwait
This picture book is so nice, in that it lends itself well to all ages for them to make their own art alphabet books. Can be a more advanced task, as older children could choose to create art alphabet books for different time periods. They could find art pictures from the Internet and then, they could try to create their own work inspired by each of the pieces of art they have featured in their art alphabet books. For younger children who wish to make an art alphabet book, the adult could have pre-printed copies of art for each letter of the alphabet or the children could potentially work collaboratively on a group book where every child would work on a particular letter for the book...
Do you have additional resources that you use for art with children?
Please be sure to share your links here in the comments section of this post.
Would love to hear from my readers as far as the resources that they use for art books.
As you know, I love Pinterest! Have found, pinned, and re-pinned so many neat ideas related mostly to homeschooling.
Well, one of the things I had seen and had pinned was about making bouncy balls and learning about polymers.
Today, we decided to do just that...
We went over the steps in the Scientific Method.
We decided that we would make polymers and compare and contrast how our homemade polymer bouncy balls stacked up with store bought bouncy balls.
First, we observed the store bought balls.
The boys noted that the bouncy balls appear to have been made into halves and then, joined at a seam in the middle to make spheres.
We noted that they felt heavy, a little slippery, almost greasy.
We noted that the colors were uneven on each side of the ball.
Some parts of the ball appeared to be more solid / translucent while other parts appeared to be more transparent.
We noticed how heavy they felt.
The storebought bouncy balls were mostly smooth, but there were some slight ridges near the seams of the balls. The slightly rough ridges did not seem to impace the bouncy balls' performance.
All of the balls had similar results with respect to the height of each bounce.
We then followed the recipe for making the polymers.
The recipe called for using Elmer's glue, but did not specify which type of Elmer's to use.
We used one bottle of Elmer's Glue-All and one bottle of Elmer's School Glue.
For the first trial, Big Bro used the Elmer's Glue-All.
It had been mentioned in the comments section of the post that some suggested that Elmer's Glue-All works best, although that is not specified in the actual recipe.
We found that on the contrary, the Elmer's Glue-All did not work but that the Elmer's School Glue did work...interesting.
He chose to use blue food coloring gel to color his bouncy ball.
Little Bro used Elmer's School Glue. He used green food coloring gel to color his bouncy ball.
Both boys used warm water, although Big Bro's water appeared to be slightly warmer than Little Bro's water.
When the boys started to stir the mixture until it became hard for them to stir, at that point, the ball mixtures felt similar.
However, once Big Bro managed to get his initially into a ball shape, he decided to bounce it. The directions did not specify that you have to wait until the balls are entirely dry, but perhaps, that should be added in, as when Big Bro tried to bounce his ball, it split and then, would not roll back into a bouncy ball again. We even tried to put it back into the cup and we went back and tried to re-roll it, but without any success.
As Little Bro switched his mixture out from the cup, it began to form nicely into a fairly solid little ball.
The only thing was that as he would let his bouncy ball sit, it would flatten out a bit and become a little lopsided.
We decided that the store bought balls that were obviously made and kept in half moon shaped dies made them keep their shapes better.
If Little Bro could have had his bouncy ball in a mold, am pretty sure that it would have been a near perfect sphere.
Little Bro's bouncy ball did work reasonably well at bouncing when compared to the store bought bouncy ball.
So then, we decided to go back and re-visit the steps and the variables. Big Bro used slightly cooler warm water than he had before...he also switched to a combination of Elmer's and glitter glue.
Little Bro made a new batch of his polymer and this time, he also added some glitter glue to his bouncy ball concoction.
Both of the bouncy balls formed nicely. They felt considerably cooler to the touch and looked neat, as they were sparkly from all of the glitter glue that was used.
The balls look like perfect spheres when you roll them and knead them, but then, when you allow the bouncy balls to rest on the table, they kind of flatten out just a bit.
We discussed how sometimes things like this end up being a new product.
We brainstormed when there would be a need to have a bouncy surface but yet, not necessarily a perfectly spherical surface.
We discussed how tennis shoe bottoms would be an example of something like this...you want the surface to give and to be bouncy, but not especially round and solid, more flexible and ever changing as the person takes each step.
After cleaning up a bit from this study of polymers, we then talked about what is and what is not a polymer.
To contrast, we then made a batch of a version of dough that has been given the name cloud dough.
Again, we compared and contrasted two types of doughs with this...the one was made with the left over corn starch from the bouncy ball experiment. The other was made with traditional white flour.
Both used baby oil in their recipes.
The ratio of either cornstarch or flour to baby oil is supposed to be 8:1, so we did four cups of corn starch to 1/2 cup of baby oil and then, 4 cups of white flour to 1/2 cup of baby oil.
Big Bro did what the recipe calls for, the four cups of flour with the 1/2 cup of the baby oil.
Little Bro did the corn flour and baby oil mixture.
We felt the two and they felt very similar, although the corn starch mixture was lighter, airy feeling while the white flour cloud dough almost had a bit of a yellowish tinge to it.
Both of the boys then decided to combine their respective batches of cloud dough into one big plastic bin. The kitchen smelled just like that familiar baby powder fragrance from back in the day when they used to bathe in something that smelled similar...
After they both added their mixtures, they then thoroughly mixed them and then, they each took half of the new cloud dough, now our version of cloud dough.
They then decided that they wanted to add food coloring to their batches of cloud dough. Little Bro made yellow and red (which ended up looking like pink) and Big Bro decided to add both blue and green to his (ended up looking medium green).
All of the dough color of dough took on a speckled, robin's egg-ish sort of appearance, which looked really neat!
They had a great time with the cloud dough!
We talked about how this dough is different from a polymer in how the ingredients have combined.
The cells have not changed in the same fashion as how they did when they turned into a polymer with the bouncy ball recipe.
Big Bro is going to write up our findings in a science report, but right now, we are just cleaning up the mess in the kitchen!
Great fun, but if we do this again, would do it on the lanai or outside.
Wonderful, multi-sensory day for learning and exploring here!!!
Doesn't this cool photo by Jonathon Dunckley inspire you to wanna make bouncy balls and to learn about polymers too???
Thanks to Polymers Study: Random but Cool: How to Make Bouncy Balls...by Capreek on Curbly.com, with photo by Jonathon Dunckley, and toAnne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D., from Ask.com, for inspiring us!
This is what inspired us to make the cloud dough with the remaining corn starch, plus flour, baby oil, and some food coloring. Thanks to I Can Teach My Childfor the inspiration!
Here are some photos we took today (Big Bro helped take these!)
Would love to see what you are up to in your home or classroom! Please feel free to leave a link if you have something fun and educational that you would like to share.
Update: We had a blast working with polymers! We did additional experiments so will do another polymer post soon...one thing to note: the bouncy balls we made worked well the day that we made them, although they were a little floppy, not perfect spheres, they still bounced.
But as they sat longer, they began to flatten. We then thought that perhaps if we let them sit out and air dry, that they would be perfect the nexct day. Well, not so...they got hard on the outside, and looked more like truffles, with a little flat part on the bottom.
They did not work well as bouncy balls the next day.
We still learned so much about polymers, so we will share more photos and info. about what else we did with polymers soon.
While at the park today, the boys found some nice pine cones.
Had seen some crafty ideas for the pine cones so I suggested that if they would want to do so, they could make some items for the holidays.
Had pinned some pine cone ideas onto my Pinterest boards so it was easy to pull the pins up to show the boys...
Here are some of the images I had pinned:
Aren't these projects darling?
See how easy it is to be inspired by Pinterest???
Thanks to The Wool Acorn, The Christmas Geek, Cottage Home, and Make It Do for their pine cone craft inspiration today!!!
There was one other pin featuring pine cone ornaments was originally from Etsy, and was then featured on the 4Ya Blog, but the artist who made these creations did not have them for sale anymore.
UPDATE: The Wool Acorn has both a free tutorial and a kit that you can buy to make the felted wool Pinecone Christmas decorations that she has created! These are so lovely!!! Her felted pinecones were featured in the Holiday Crafts Magazine. If you and your family like to needle felt, you will want to check out this kit, along with the other great needle felt kits that she sells. I just love her blog and her store!!!
Showing the boys these cute crafty images gave them an immediate visual reference for what they might possibly want to do with their pine cones.
Well, the both ended up making an elf, a tree, and some scenery.
They both constructed their elves and trees.
For the elves, they got to use a glue gun.
This is a tool that they do not use often, but that can be a great way to teach a child to work responsibly.
They both were very careful with using the glue gun.
Was there supervising, but they both did a super job without me having to interfere or to assist with using one.
The glue gun held the elves together much better than regular school type glue.
To make the elves, in addition to the glue gun and the replacement glue sticks, you will need:
small pine cones (we only have large ones near us, so for the small ones, we used some that were in a pine cone collection from Target), pipe cleaners, an elf head, some tiny craft pom poms, and some misc. decorations.
For the elf head, you can make it by using a wooden bead and markers, but we had some little elf heads from IKEA.
To make the pine cone trees, you need a rather large pine cone, some school type liquid glue, and some tiny pom poms.
For the table display decoration, you can use an old plastic plate or platter, or else a paper one, along with some cotton batting, some glue, some glitter glue, some pom poms and sequins. My boys also decided to add some pipe cleaner wrapped wooden pieces to their plates. They were super easy to do.
Here are some photos of the boys and their art project:
Have you made some holiday crafts with pine cones?
Have you made some Christmas crafts with mixed elements, both natural materials and artistic ones?
Do you let your children use real tools such as glue guns?
Would love to hear your feedback on this.
Please feel free to leave a link to your blog post if it ties in with making pine cone or other crafts for the holidays.
This post is linked up with Sunday Showcase co-hosted at Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas and Classified Mom.
Be sure to pop by Bern's and Aimee's lovely linky party to see all of the other neat child centered projects and ideas for the holidays!
Recently, we purchased a super fun art activity pack called Art & Literature by Deep Space Sparkle's Patty Palmer.
In this pdf packet, there are some amazing art lessons that tie in with some amazing kids' books.
In an attempt to get things organized for our art lesson that tie in with this unit, we went in search of all of the books* in this unit. *Will discuss the other excellent books in this pdf when we get to them...
One of the books is Splat, the Cat by Rob Scotton.
When we got to the bookstore, Little Bro was very taken by all of the Splat the Cat books, so we ended up buying several and boy, are we glad that we did!
Not only does Little Bro love them, Big Bro enjoys reading them to Little Bro.
The illustrations are darling, the stories are great, full of humor and good fun!
Everything about Splat the Cat really appeals to a child.
Since it is nearing Christmas, we started with Merry Christmas, Splat.
For today's project, Big Bro read Merry Christmas, Splat to Little Bro.
What a great book for the holidays!
So funny! Splat certainly tries like crazy to be a helper in hopes of garnering enough helpful deeds to put him onto Santa's Nice List.
Since Splat tries hard to be helpful in an attempt to win Santa over in the book, we discussed the concept of being helpful.
Little Bro did a letter for Splat about what he does around our home to be helpful.
Next, he designed a present for Splat and then, he wrote about what he thought was in the package...
Little Bro had a blast drawing and coloring Splat, making Splat's present, and then, writing about what Splat got as his present.
Seeing how much fun Little Bro was having with his work, Big Bro decided to wrap up his work and then, he also made Splat with his present.
What a fun time!
If you wish to do the How I am Helpful Letter to Splat, you will need the following:
Computer paper
Computer access with Microsoft Word or something similar
A pen or pencil
Optional:
Crayons, markers, colored pencils, and Splat stickers
(Splat stickers come in the Splat the Cat Treasure Box)
Directions:
Read story aloud.
Discuss how Splat tries to be helpful.
Optional: Here are some discussion points for older or gifted child:
Discuss the concept of altruism.
Then, have the child decide if Splat's actions were altruistic or self serving.
Discuss the concept of good intentions.
Debate if Splat's helpfulness was well-intentioned or ill-intentioned.
Discuss anthropomorphism. What human qualities are exhibited in this picture book?
Encourage your child to create their own anthropomorphic character.
After discussing, have your child or children either write what they do to be helpful around their home.
Create a letter based on this shared idea of helping around the home.
Older children can write out their entire letter on their own and then, they can decorate.
Another writing option for an older or gifted child is to suggest that perhaps they may wish to write an original story or poem about altruism or intentions.
For a younger child, you can have them dictate what they do to be helpful. Then, their dictation can be turned into a checklist for you to read together and for the child to check off as part of the letter.
Then, have them sign and decorate the letter.
For the What Did Splat Get as His Present? project, you will need the following: Merry Christmas, Splat by Rob Scotton
White paper
Green construction paper
Blue construction paper
Red construction paper
Glue stick
Green crayon or colored pencil
Pink crayon or colored pencil
Black crayon or colored pencil
Black marker
Scissors
Directions:
Have child cover a piece of white computer paper with "wrapping paper", construction paper in red, green, and blue.** **We added blue for contrast but if you are in the classroom and happen to have students who will be celebrating Hanukkah, you will want to add blue. If you would happen to have a student who celebrates Kwanzaa, you could use black, red, and green for the colors of Kwanzaa.
The child should then take two pieces of computer paper and glue them together to form a larger space to work on for their project.
Then, the child should glue their present onto the bottom portion of their paper so that it is like a "lift the flap" page.
Then, child should create a their own Splat the Cat on a separate sheet of paper.
Generally, it is nice to have a child work from their imaginations to create their art, but since they will want their cat to resemble the storybook character, you can have the child put a picture of Splat on a light table to trace around the shape of Splat or else, they may choose to draw it free hand, but should have access to the book to draw Splat.
Since we purchased the Splat the Cat Treasure Box, the boys took the black and white poster from the kit and a piece of computer paper and taped both to our sliding glass door so that the sun could shine through the paper. They both traced around the general shape of Splat.
The Poster's illustration of Splat is the perfect size for this project.
After drawing the outline of Splat, the child should color Splat with as much detail from looking at the artwork in the book.
Some details to suggest are the green pupils, the little scraggly hairs that stick up on his fur, and the pink insides of his ears.
You may also want to discuss what type of expression Splat would have had on his face when he actually saw his present.
Splat then needs to be cut out and glued onto the top of the present so that he looks as if he is holding the present.
Next, your child should share what Splat got as his present.
Each child should come up with his or her own ideas.
For this step, Little Bro used crayon and drew his idea.
Big Bro created a construction paper collage for his work.
Then, both wrote their ideas as to what Splat got for a gift.
It is so refreshing to find a book that works on different levels, as it truly is a gem of a book!
We just love Splat!
We are also so excited to continue to do fun Splat projects over the course of the next few days. Splat the Cat author and illustrator, Rob Scotton, has a great website.
There is a nice biography about Rob, some information about his various books and characters from his books, and what inspired him for his stories.
Since Rob did a book tour of the USA a few years ago, you can encourage a child to map out the tour route. You might want to encourage your child to consider creating a brochure about your city and you could invite Rob Scotton to come visit you in your hometown.
Big Bro is going to do this as his work tomorrow.
We would have done the Splat art lesson today, but we realized that we are out of both black tempera and black chalk pastels! So we will pick both of these art supplies up soon, hopefully tomorrow.
When we do the art lesson from Deep Space Sparkle, I will add it to the Splat the Cat Pinterest Board that I am in the process of creating.
Would love it if you would check out this board I have created, as well as my other Pinterest boards.
Thanks to Rob Scotton for creating such a fun cat like Splat!
We look forward to reading more of your Splat books, as well as your other picture books.
And in case you (Mr. Rob Scotton) ever wanna come for a book tour to our local Barnes & Noble,
Big Bro will be mailing you a letter telling you all about our hometown in the Sunshine State.
Here are some great links if you wish to do more Splat the Cat activities with your children:
Please share about your favorite Splat book, as well as any & all Splat projects you have created.
If you share a link to your blog post, I will visit and will add a link to this post about your project. Will also add a pin to your blog post on my Splat the Cat board I am making on Pinterest.
This post has been linked up with Sunday Showcase at Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas
Be sure to pop over & check out all of the great child-centered Sunday Showcase ideas for the holidays!
Also, in the side bar, am adding a Splat the Cat Amazon Widget, in case any of you want to get some neat Splat books for the holidays. Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Target carry Rob Scotton's Splat the Cat books.
Hello! Hope that you will pop over to see our new Figgy & Friends Blog! It is all about Giving! Giving of your time, talents, money, and networks. It is geared to families with young children and their friends.
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