An Asian Inspired Art Project for Summer - Noodle Art

Just wrapped up doing an awesome Continents Swap with some wonderful people!

Was so much fun! For my part of the swap, I made items to go with the continent of Asia.

As part of the swap, my sons did an art project...not a traditional Asian art project, but something that Came up with as it seemed like it would be a fun way to explore textures, color mixing, and to tie in Asia.

So what did the boys do?

Asian noodle art prints!

To Do This Project, You Need the Following:
A variety of uncooked Asian noodles
(We used thin rice noodles, soba noodles, and lo mein noodles, along with some string, as Big Bro wanted to have something that would "look like wet noodles"
Plastic baggies
Paint in different colors and thicknesses (boys used a variety: poster paints, finger paints)
Big sheets of paper
Trays to carry materials (in lieu of trays, we used round, non stick cake pans***)
Protective cover for painting surface
Paint smocks

Directions:
Line up materials for your children to choose from, as far as a variety of paints, noodles, and string.
Have each child make their own concoction of paint bags...mine chose from the paints we had out and squeezed two colors per paint bag...
Then, have your child choose from the noodles.
You may want to encourage them to try a variety of the noodles to see the difference in the types of prints they will get from the different noodles...
One your child has chosen their noodles and paints and has put their globs of paint into plastic bags, all items should be placed either on a tray...
***For our trays, we used metal non stick, round cake pans, as I figured that they are smaller and would rinse off well after the project...
Have each child carry their supplies to a spot outside or else on a porch or lanai...
Big Bro and Little Bro did their painting on our lanai.

Have your child place their paper on a covered, protected surface on the floor...

Then, they should go to it and get creative!

This was a very fun, interesting, educational sort of art project.

The boys saw that some paints were more translucent and some were more opaque...


Also, some of the noodles performed differently, and some noodles were easier to use than others.

Some of the noodles started to stick to the paper, so then, it became interesting, as the boys learned that they had to quickly remove the paint dipped noodles from their art work so as to not have to have the noodles become part of their art work.

Well, hope that your children will enjoy this easy, Asian inspired art project.





 Please be sure to check out the other Montessori posts this week at One Hook Wonder.

Some New Work - Open and Closed Figures and Texture and Shape Scavenger Hunts

Big Bro seems to be in a Sensitive Period for exploring shapes and writing.

He also is very curious about Egypt and China and wants to explore more about the Pyramids, hieroglyphics, The Great Wall of China, and the Terra Cotta Army...so we will be getting more into that over the next few months when we return from our vacation.
Did an "open and closed figures" presentation to Big Bro.
Big Bro did shelf work using wax sticks to make open and closed figures.
He enjoyed this and was excited because he thought that many of the figures he made resembled hieroglyphics.

Little Bro seems to be in a Sensitive Period for exploring textures.
Little Bro's interest may have been piqued in his art co-op class, as they have been doing a variety of texture work in class.

So, since the boys are into shapes and textures at the moment, and since our weather here in the Sunshine State is beautiful, we combined the two and went on a scavenger hunt...
Big Bro was in search of open and closed shapes, as well as 3D and 2D shapes...
Little Bro worked at finding different textures.
Scavenger hunts are just such an awesome way to make concepts real to children. Not only do they make concepts real, but you get to be outside taking in fresh air and sunshine! They also are a great way to differentiate learning, because you can have children search for things that are very specific to their interests and abilities.
You literally follow the child when you do scavenger hunts.
If you have not tried using scavenger hunts as a great learning tool with your children, I encourage you to get out there and do it. Scavenger hunts really are as much fun for children as for the adults accompanying them.

A Happy Homeschooling Day

Great day for Little Bro! Went to co-op art class and painted another beautiful painting... worked on color mixing and using a variety of textures...sand, glitter, confetti are all in the paint mixture.

Daddy got home fairly early, so he helped Little Bro with his last work of the day, a new puzzle.

Little Bro finishing a sea life puzzle with Daddy.

Little Bro loved doing a little wooden color game.
Little Bro enjoyed feeding the sharks (adding beads to shark's mouth with spoon).
Little Bro also liked doing the knobless cylinders work.
As usual, Little Bro got right to it and started out doing his morning work in his pajamas.
This is the work he had chosen for himself the night before...also, one of his favorites, another stackable tower.
This one has numbers and items to count as you stack.

Selecting "first morning work" the night before REALLY works well for us!

If you are homeschooling and using the Montessori Method and Montessori inspired materials in your home, I encourage you to give this a try...makes a huge difference in setting the tone for the day.