“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.
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