April 16, 2014

Springtime Bunny Craft

Well I have been busy! So busy I haven’t had time to share what we have been up to here! Don’t worry, we are all well, just busy! I wanted to share a million things, but I will start with today. Today we had a spring surprise of 4 inches of snow! Yikes! The girls still went outside and tossed snowballs, but I really could have done without it! 🙂 We also are getting things ready here for Easter! I have been trying to do more crafting with the girls and today I found an idea on Pintrest for a bunny painting with feet! I modified it bit for us, and the girls loved it! Plus we had my friend and her boys over to do it too! Nothing better then crafting and coffee (which she kindly provided)! We simply painted a circle on the bottom part of the paper, then we painted each kid’s foot white with a pink center and stamped it on the paper for a bunny ear! With all the paint on feet, you might imagine that there was a lot of giggling! 🙂 After they dried, everyone added eyes, a nose, and all sorts of personalities! What a fun and super easy Easter craft. Plus that make great gifts for Easter!

January 26, 2014

Living in a Snowglobe

Stephanie Art, Snow 0 Comments

As another bout of snow and freezing is hitting our area, I thought I would share a craft we did that the girls loved! I found the idea on Relentlessly Fun, Deceptivly Educational last year and I knew it would be a perfect one for when it was too cold to go outside! Snowglobes are so much fun and who wouldn’t love an art project that was also a snowglobe you could shake. We started by tracing the circle on a piece of construction paper using the clear plastic plate. The kids then painted a snowy scene inside that circle. I didn’t tell them what we were making so it was a surprise. When it dried, we took scrapbook paper and cut a trapezoid out for the base. This is a fun way to use those Montessori metal insets! e glued the base down under the circle we traced. Then we dropped a handful of fake snow power in the middle of the picture they painted. Next it was my turn to help out. Taking the hot glue gun, I put a glue bead on the traced circle and glued the plastic plate onto of the picture and the snow. When it dried, it was all done! Art that shakes up like a snowglobe! Awesome winter fun!

January 23, 2014

Penguin Puppets

Stephanie Art, projects, Uncategorized 0 Comments

Today we got to join my mom and the kids for a wintery craft! They were making penguin puppets out of paper! Simple, happy, creative fun. Here is what they did! Starting with a piece of black construction paper, roll it and glue it on the short side. Then you flatten the top and glue it shut. Then you cut the glued top in an arch to create the head. After that its cut and paste on the details. The kids had a great time making them all sorts of personalities!

So simple and so much fun! There was so much personality added to these little guys. Bunny added glasses to hers, Pup made a scarf, my brother made a tie, and V made a waiter with a wine glass! So what do wintery crafts have you done this winter?

July 20, 2013

Hot Day Art

Stephanie Art 1 Comment

We have had crazy hot weather here the last couple of weeks. Its pretty much too hot to go outside for more then a little bit. Well I had a brainstorm while sorting some crayons the other day. I thought it would be a lot of fun to make a design on paper with pieces of crayon and let them melt in the sun into a beautiful rainbow puddle! So we peeled some old crayons and got our designs all laid out. However, to my surprise, the crayons didn’t melt. Even though the heat index was over 100 degrees, the crayons just sat there and got soft. After playing with a bit using a popsicle stick, we decided it wouldn’t work. So….we changed the project a bit! Taking the warm crayons, we smeared them al over some white paper! It turned out rainbow-y and pretty! Plus it was a lot of fun to feel those warm waxy crayons smooshing into our fingers. Here is what it all looked like:

It turned out really pretty despite not going according to plan! It was rainbow-y and fun! I would love to try the hot rock crayon art if it stays this hot! I wouldn’t need to put them in the over, just in the sun! 🙂 I hope that you are finding a way to enjoy this summer heat! Do you have a good hot summer activity that you like t do?

July 3, 2013

Artful Homeschooling

Stephanie Art, Homeschooling, School Plan, thoughts 4 Comments

We have been having lots of fun with art the past few days. I really love all the creativity and the happiness I see on the girls faces. This has really factored into my schooling planning for the year. In the book, the Artful Parent, she talks about how she makes art a part of her home life with her kids. She calls it artful parenting. I am thinking that we are not only going to do that, but take it a step further and become Artful Homeschoolers! Art is important to me girls and I love it too. I read about the Project Based Homeschooling and I loved the idea of it. However, that is based on what the child chooses to study. While I love doing that, I have the issue that my girls are going to need to do certain things in their school work, even if they don’t want to. So instead of waiting for them to choose something to work on and dig in, I am going to make the art a part of the school plan for the lessons that I am going to give. If we are learning about Africa, then they can create a map or an animal that they are learning about. If we are learning about Space, then they can create planets and solar systems. The possibilities are endless and they can even create with their math and language work. Make puppets to go with their story or make fractions out of clay. You see the more I think about this, the more I realized that they need to create to learn thing on a deeper level. They cant just read about it or hear me talk about it. They need to discover it on their own. As Maria Montessori said, “Education is a natural process carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words, but by experiences in the environment”. Their work is so important. The work of their hands is really what is going to help them learn. I can see Bunny and Pup both moving away from a lot of materials. It makes me sad, but at the same time I am proud that they are mastering so much. However, their need to work with their hands hasn’t gone away! So I see some of their work this year becoming more artful. As they make things they will need to know the information to do it well. So our Montessori journey has led us to be artful homeschoolers! My goal for their education is that it inspire them to want to know more about the world around them! I want them to dig really deep into the things that mean a lot to them and to know how to find the information. So I think that our path is changing and I am excited to see where its going!

Do you see a new path for your school plan this year? What new ideas are you thinking about?

June 30, 2013

Scibble Art and Family Time

Stephanie Art, Family moments, Learning with Play, Spur of the Moment Learning 0 Comments

I have discovered a book that I absolutely LOVE! It is called the Artful Parent and many of you may know of Jean’s work from her blog, The Artful Parent. When I opened this book, I knew immediately that this was an art book that we could do! The activites are simple, and a bit different from the average kids art projects. The goal of these projects is to promote freedom of creativity while allowing children to try new things at the same time! I love that the projects are pretty and look like real art, not just kids projects! While looking through the book I found so many project that I knew we had to do. In fact, the other evening we did one of them that worked out SO well! The project was almost a game. The kids and I each got a piece of paper and a marker. For one minute we each scribbled on the paper any way we wanted. Then we passed the papers around to the person next to us. Next we had four minutes to look at the scribbles and find a picture in them. We used crayons to color it in. It was so cool to see what each person found in the others persons scribble! Here are some that we did:

Pup’s Scribble~ Bunny’s Art

Bunny’s Scribbles~ My Art

My Scribbles~ Pup’s Art

Pup’s Scribbles~ My Art

Bunny’s Scribbles~ Pup’s Art (Mermaids)

My Scribbles~ Bunny’s Art (Mermaids)

Bunny’s Scribbles~ My Art

Pup’s Scribbles~ Bunny’s Art (Giraffe)

My Scribbles~ Pup’s Art (Fish)

What loved so much about this project is that the girls loved it, then had a chance to be really creative, and it was SO easy for me to just do it spur of the moment! A lot of the projects in the book require a bit more preparation, bit there are some others that are really easy to get together! It was such a great way to spend some fun family time with the girls while not needing a whole lot of prep. I think that we are going to have alot of fun this year with projects!
Do you have a favorite resource for art with kids? I would love to hear your favorites!
Happy Summer!