“What insane person invented glitter play-dough?”
- Me
My older daughter was an angel for Halloween when she was five. Like most little girls, she couldn't wait to try on the glitter speckled nylon mesh wings as soon as they arrived in the mail. How cute. How sweet. How maddening when that glitter started cloning itself all over the house. From that point on, glitter was officially banned in our home. Even Christmas cards we received took a quick trip to the trash can if they were glitter laden. So you can imagine how thrilled I was when she received glitter play-dough as a birthday gift. (If you can't figure it out, check out the above quote.)
Commercial Play-dough possesses enough annoying qualities of its own without adding glitter to it. Besides the fact that its smell triggers my gag reflex, I also have a sneaking suspicion that it shares the clone ability DNA with glitter. But unlike glitter, play-dough was never banned because it has redeeming creative qualities. How cool are those fun factories? And how about discovering very interesting abstract art structures on the bottom of your shoe?
Here is a lovely home-made play-dough recipe you can make with your child. It has no smell and it doesn't seem to dry out when playing with it, leaving all those little chunks all over the place. Let your child help you mix it up. That's half the fun. Mix together 1 cup of flour, 1/3 cup of salt, 1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil, 2 teaspoons of white vinegar and 1/3 cup of water. For color in your dough, add about 1 tablespoon of food color to the water before you add the water to the other ingredients. You can add more water if needed. Then knead it.(pun intended) Store the dough in an airtight container. You can add more water later if the dough dries out.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Fun Art 101: An Introduction
“You never know when you're making a memory.”
- Rickie Lee Jones
Have you ever stopped in the middle of what you're doing to ask yourself, “What kind of memory is this creating?” Except on a birthday or a holiday, I know I never did. That's why this quote hit me like a ton of bricks when I saw it on a postcard, back when my children were still rather young.
Think about it, every time you are in the presence of a child, you are creating a memory, either good or bad. Pretty daunting.
One of the joys I receive from implementing my toddler arts enrichment classes is knowing that I am able to create a special time for the child and parent to step out of the “have to'” of the day into a fun, memorable moment. The classes are actually structured as a “mommy and me” (or daddy and me) format. I learned during these classes that many parents, while enjoying the art activities with their child, did not do a lot of them at home, mostly from a lack of inspiration or information. In the coming blogs labeled “Fun Art 101”, I will be providing very basic instruction and ideas to give parents or child care givers a way to get started in assisting their little artists in the creative process.
- Rickie Lee Jones
Have you ever stopped in the middle of what you're doing to ask yourself, “What kind of memory is this creating?” Except on a birthday or a holiday, I know I never did. That's why this quote hit me like a ton of bricks when I saw it on a postcard, back when my children were still rather young.
Think about it, every time you are in the presence of a child, you are creating a memory, either good or bad. Pretty daunting.
One of the joys I receive from implementing my toddler arts enrichment classes is knowing that I am able to create a special time for the child and parent to step out of the “have to'” of the day into a fun, memorable moment. The classes are actually structured as a “mommy and me” (or daddy and me) format. I learned during these classes that many parents, while enjoying the art activities with their child, did not do a lot of them at home, mostly from a lack of inspiration or information. In the coming blogs labeled “Fun Art 101”, I will be providing very basic instruction and ideas to give parents or child care givers a way to get started in assisting their little artists in the creative process.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Make a Picture Book
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.”
- Melody Beattie
There's a very sad trend going on now among parents of young children. In the desire of wanting the best for their child, parents are pushing their children away from picture books into the reading of text only chapter books, exclusively.
As a former English teacher, I would never discourage the reading of chapter books, if the child
is ready for them. But there is absolutely no reason to take away the joy of picture books by telling the child that “picture books are for babies”. On the contrary, picture books inspire children to learn and to enjoy reading. (For articles on this topic visit http://NationalPictureBookWeek.com.)
I have written numerous picture books for my arts enrichment classes to use as an inspirational jumping off point for the students. I would like to share the text from one of these books with you that you can use with your child to create his or her own picture book. The book title is I Say Thank You and the text is as follows:
I say thank you
for my favorite food.
I say thank you
because it makes me feel so good.
I say thank you
for my favorite toy.
I say thank you
because it fills me with joy.
I say thank you
for my beautiful family.
I say thank you, thank you, thank you -
thank you happily.
It's such a good thing
to say thank you,
that we have a special day
when that's what we do.
We eat turkey, potatoes and pumpkin pie
and say thank you for everything good
above and under the sky.
I say thank you, thank you, thank you,
thank you for everything.
I say thank you because
it makes my happy heart sing.
You can use a notebook or scrapbook as the base for your picture book, but I think the most fun base to use is an actual blank board book. That way the finished product has the look and feel of a “real” book.
These blank board books can be found at www.orientaltrading.com. (The product code number currently is IN-65/55184 and is listed as “3 Scrap your own! Board books”)
Now for the images. Images of food can be found in newspaper circulars, magazines and on food coupons. For the toys, check out the gift catalogs that are prolific at this time of the year. (Finding the images from the sources can be a fun “scavenger” hunt your child can do.) Make color copies of family photos. The Oriental Trading site is also a good place to find Thanksgiving stickers. And don't forget to check out Google Images for useful pictures.
All of these images can be attached to the board book with your favorite adhesive. And of course, offer your child the opportunity to draw their own pictures for the book. One big tip, have them draw on a separate piece of paper which can then be glued into the book. That way you save the frustration of the child drawing onto the book and then not liking the drawing. Trust me. That happens.
Type out the book text, print it out and glue the appropriate pictures next to the words in the board book. I created my book on one of the previously mentioned board books from Oriental Trading. Space the text out so that you see one paragraph on each two page spread.
Have your child read his or her own picture book at your Thanksgiving dinner. If you are a family that says grace before dinner and/or bedtime prayers, offer your child the opportunity to share the book at that time also. (Don't reserve Thanksgiving Day as the only time you teach your child the importance of being grateful.)
- Melody Beattie
There's a very sad trend going on now among parents of young children. In the desire of wanting the best for their child, parents are pushing their children away from picture books into the reading of text only chapter books, exclusively.
As a former English teacher, I would never discourage the reading of chapter books, if the child
is ready for them. But there is absolutely no reason to take away the joy of picture books by telling the child that “picture books are for babies”. On the contrary, picture books inspire children to learn and to enjoy reading. (For articles on this topic visit http://NationalPictureBookWeek.com.)
I have written numerous picture books for my arts enrichment classes to use as an inspirational jumping off point for the students. I would like to share the text from one of these books with you that you can use with your child to create his or her own picture book. The book title is I Say Thank You and the text is as follows:
I say thank you
for my favorite food.
I say thank you
because it makes me feel so good.
I say thank you
for my favorite toy.
I say thank you
because it fills me with joy.
I say thank you
for my beautiful family.
I say thank you, thank you, thank you -
thank you happily.
It's such a good thing
to say thank you,
that we have a special day
when that's what we do.
We eat turkey, potatoes and pumpkin pie
and say thank you for everything good
above and under the sky.
I say thank you, thank you, thank you,
thank you for everything.
I say thank you because
it makes my happy heart sing.
You can use a notebook or scrapbook as the base for your picture book, but I think the most fun base to use is an actual blank board book. That way the finished product has the look and feel of a “real” book.
These blank board books can be found at www.orientaltrading.com. (The product code number currently is IN-65/55184 and is listed as “3 Scrap your own! Board books”)
Now for the images. Images of food can be found in newspaper circulars, magazines and on food coupons. For the toys, check out the gift catalogs that are prolific at this time of the year. (Finding the images from the sources can be a fun “scavenger” hunt your child can do.) Make color copies of family photos. The Oriental Trading site is also a good place to find Thanksgiving stickers. And don't forget to check out Google Images for useful pictures.
All of these images can be attached to the board book with your favorite adhesive. And of course, offer your child the opportunity to draw their own pictures for the book. One big tip, have them draw on a separate piece of paper which can then be glued into the book. That way you save the frustration of the child drawing onto the book and then not liking the drawing. Trust me. That happens.
Type out the book text, print it out and glue the appropriate pictures next to the words in the board book. I created my book on one of the previously mentioned board books from Oriental Trading. Space the text out so that you see one paragraph on each two page spread.
Have your child read his or her own picture book at your Thanksgiving dinner. If you are a family that says grace before dinner and/or bedtime prayers, offer your child the opportunity to share the book at that time also. (Don't reserve Thanksgiving Day as the only time you teach your child the importance of being grateful.)
Friday, November 5, 2010
Dannie's Dandelions
“Some people see weeds, others see wishes.”
- Unknown
A number of the moms enrolled with their children in my toddler programs were thrilled to have a place where their child could create without messing up their own house. Let's face it, art is messy. Two of my three children were constantly “creating” works of art while growing up, so I'm well acquainted with what young art can do to a kitchen.
Now that my husband and I are empty nesters, the messes are a distant memory (kind of like labor), but so many of those art projects are now very cherished possessions of mine.
The template for this blog is off of a blogger.com site. When it popped up full screen on my computer I joyfully gasped. It looked just like art work I would do for one of the picture books I would write for my students. And the dandelions mimicked those on a porcelain travel mug my friend Dannie bought for herself at a local gift shop when visiting me from Florida. The above quote was on the mug.
The excitement I felt when I first saw the template in its full glory reminded me of the glee I would see on the faces of the toddlers I worked with when they realized they had created something really cool. In one particular class that was themed, “All About Me”, I had the kids lay down on a large piece of white paper. The parent drew around their child who served as a life sized stencil. Then with glue sticks, the children glued on the appropriate pre-cut eyes, mouth and nose onto their own outline. After the features were securely attached, the children colored in their hair and clothes with crayons. A little adorable blond headed, blue eyed 2 ½ year old named Lucas came running up to me, face all aglow pointing back at his new creation exclaiming, “That's me! That's me!'
Another project I did in this class was to introduce the toddlers to the mixing of primary colors. I gave each child a large piece of white paper, a squirt of blue, yellow and red paint on a coated paper plate and a small chunky piece of sponge. The parents assisted the children with putting the paint on the child's hand with the sponge and then the child pressed the painted hand onto the paper creating a personalized hand-print. After producing her first hand-print, one little girl looked up at me with a smile that lit up the whole room.
As they continued with this printing process, they could see how the yellow and blue mixed to make green, the red and yellow to make orange, the blue and red to make purple and that all the colors together made brown.
The final result was a poster sized, colorful, personal keepsake that they could hang on their bedroom wall. And I imagine, one day when that little girl is away at college, her mom or dad will come across that original work of art and will probably get a little teary eyed, remembering the joy, not the mess.
- Unknown
A number of the moms enrolled with their children in my toddler programs were thrilled to have a place where their child could create without messing up their own house. Let's face it, art is messy. Two of my three children were constantly “creating” works of art while growing up, so I'm well acquainted with what young art can do to a kitchen.
Now that my husband and I are empty nesters, the messes are a distant memory (kind of like labor), but so many of those art projects are now very cherished possessions of mine.
The template for this blog is off of a blogger.com site. When it popped up full screen on my computer I joyfully gasped. It looked just like art work I would do for one of the picture books I would write for my students. And the dandelions mimicked those on a porcelain travel mug my friend Dannie bought for herself at a local gift shop when visiting me from Florida. The above quote was on the mug.
The excitement I felt when I first saw the template in its full glory reminded me of the glee I would see on the faces of the toddlers I worked with when they realized they had created something really cool. In one particular class that was themed, “All About Me”, I had the kids lay down on a large piece of white paper. The parent drew around their child who served as a life sized stencil. Then with glue sticks, the children glued on the appropriate pre-cut eyes, mouth and nose onto their own outline. After the features were securely attached, the children colored in their hair and clothes with crayons. A little adorable blond headed, blue eyed 2 ½ year old named Lucas came running up to me, face all aglow pointing back at his new creation exclaiming, “That's me! That's me!'
Another project I did in this class was to introduce the toddlers to the mixing of primary colors. I gave each child a large piece of white paper, a squirt of blue, yellow and red paint on a coated paper plate and a small chunky piece of sponge. The parents assisted the children with putting the paint on the child's hand with the sponge and then the child pressed the painted hand onto the paper creating a personalized hand-print. After producing her first hand-print, one little girl looked up at me with a smile that lit up the whole room.
As they continued with this printing process, they could see how the yellow and blue mixed to make green, the red and yellow to make orange, the blue and red to make purple and that all the colors together made brown.
The final result was a poster sized, colorful, personal keepsake that they could hang on their bedroom wall. And I imagine, one day when that little girl is away at college, her mom or dad will come across that original work of art and will probably get a little teary eyed, remembering the joy, not the mess.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Fun Art vs Fine Art
"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."
- Pablo Picasso
I have been teaching arts enrichment classes to children ages 2/12 - 10 for the past 7 years. The object of these classes has been to bring out the joy of creativity in young children. I used the concept of fun art vs fine art when working with the children.
Fine art is considered a disciplined approach to art that does require a certain amount of talent to master. In my Fun Art classes, the child does not need any special talent to participate, only an openness and a desire to bring forth something unique and beautiful.
In this time of cut backs in educational art budgets, I am looking to share fun art ideas with parents, homeschoolers, pre-school teachers, librarians and anyone else who wants to join me in nurturing creativity in young children.
- Pablo Picasso
I have been teaching arts enrichment classes to children ages 2/12 - 10 for the past 7 years. The object of these classes has been to bring out the joy of creativity in young children. I used the concept of fun art vs fine art when working with the children.
Fine art is considered a disciplined approach to art that does require a certain amount of talent to master. In my Fun Art classes, the child does not need any special talent to participate, only an openness and a desire to bring forth something unique and beautiful.
In this time of cut backs in educational art budgets, I am looking to share fun art ideas with parents, homeschoolers, pre-school teachers, librarians and anyone else who wants to join me in nurturing creativity in young children.
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