Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds: Spin Painted Apples! Spin art using a salad spinner is hands down one of the most favorite activities with 2 and 3 year olds. They love the entire process and master it quickly. (And once they do, they want NO help from anyone!) This post contains affiliate links. Once again, these handy squirt bottles are perfect. Paper was cut into apple shapes and placed in the spinner. The top was placed on the spinner and the fun began! Our 3 spinners each have different tops. When finished, pull off the top and see the results. We finally ran out of paper and it was time to clean up, but I think they could have done this for hours! Our apple tree is quite fruitful! This idea was featured at: This idea was shared at: Available from Amazon: <a HREF=" This post contains affiliate links. 230 Flares3631910×230 Flares
Night Sky Activities for Preschool: Stretchy Night Sky Playdough - Twodaloo Last updated Saturday, May 17, 2014 My children (and I) have a serious love affair with playdough. It’s our go-to activity for rainy days, lazy days, cranky days…just about any day, really! *This post includes Amazon affiliate links. I first saw the idea for black sparkly playdough over at one of my favorite blogs, Fairy Dust Teaching. Playdough creations in the classroom! The cool thing about the particular recipe that I used is that it has an element of elasticity that is missing from our typical homemade playdough. Stretchy Night Sky Playdough Recipe Ingredients: 1 cup flour1 cup water*Black liquid watercolors*2 teaspoons cream of tartar1/3 cup salt1 tablespoon vegetable oil1 teaspoon Knox Unflavored Gelatin (1/2 envelope)- I linked this to Amazon for reference but you can find it WAY cheaper in the grocery store! To make our stretchy night sky playdough, first you will need to decide what type of coloring you want to use. Just try to resist it. But seriously. Developmental Skills
Art Techniques for Kids" For many budding artists and craft junkies, finding a new way to approach their work is an important and necessary part of the artistic process. If you feel lacking in inspiration lately, try these art techniques for kids. They are sure to set you on a new creative voyage! Each art technique is thoroughly explained and for some of the projects there are pictures included as well to help give you an idea of what the end result should be. Pointillism Picture Technique Do you think you can make a picture from only dots? Foil Printmaking Technique Learn how to transfer a picture piece-by-piece using this exciting foil printmaking technique. Shades of Color Art Technique Can you take only one color and make a vibrant picture? Crayon and Paint Art Technique Crayon and paint are not like oil and water. Grease Casting Art Technique Do you like to make casts from plaster? Palette Painting Art Technique This palette painting art technique uses dabs of paint to create something extraordinary.
How To Emboss Wood – Part 1, Piping Style - Frou FruGal If you’ve been following my blog, you may have seen the dresser I did this past year. While I was working on the dresser, I had the awesome idea to do an embossed treatment to the center panel. Here’s how it turned out: I’ve actually come up with three different ways to emboss wood. Here’s what you’ll need to start: Smart Non-Shrink Wall Fix, Cake decorating bag and tips, picture frame or other wood piece to be embossed. Step 1 – Mixing the Wall Fix I bought the Wall Fix at Lowes for about $7. I put a large spoonful in a bowl and added some water to it. You’ll want to make it the consistency of frosting, but maybe a teensy bit wetter. Step 2 – Preparing The Decorating Bag and Tip To be totally honest, I didn’t actually use the tips for this project, due to a freak garbage disposal accident (or three) that wiped out my supply of tips. I have since bought some replacement tips and I will say that you get a cleaner line with the tips. Step 3 – Piping the Design Prep your wood piece.
The Benefits of Arts and Crafts (Yes, Both!) for Kids | Not Just Cute It’s funny how we often debate things with a black/white, either/or paradigm. Like whether preschool is for play or learning, for instance. Or order vs chaos. Or a little bit country vs a little bit rock n roll. Or arts and crafts. Yes, for many in the early education/child development world, the debate about arts and crafts rages on, with nary a UN negotiator to step in and help. Like most debates, however, camping out in either extreme generally misses the point. There’s a spectrum of arts and crafts, not just and either/or proposition. With both arts and crafts, kids are usually building small motor skills as they grasp and manipulate tools and media and they often get some valuable sensory input as well. At the art end of the spectrum, activities generally emphasize process over product. Activities from the “Pure Art” end of the spectrum look something like this: Turkey Baster Painting {No Time for Flash Cards} Sensory Sand Finger Paint {The Artful Parent} These activities are great for:
Dragon To tell you the truth, I was hesitant about making a dragon. Life got really busy as soon as we came back from our Christmas holidays, and Chinese New Year was fast approaching. I didn’t think we’d have the time, and it seemed challenging to make a cute dragon since I was so used to making my cute bears and bunnies. Ryan, who is always up for a challenge, strongly encouraged me to give it a try, saying that we’d have enough time and that it would be really special since it was Chinese New Year. We thought this little green dragon was so sweet! This Dragon’s head is different than all the other amigurumi I’ve made since it is not spherical or ball-shaped. As you can see, I then started widening the head and then sharply decreasing. Ryan then excitedly began working on the wings. Next I worked on Dragon’s legs/body. I continued for a few rows until the cute little body was complete! Ryan then worked on the four horns for our little Dragon. And here is a really close-up view of his mouth.
Doodle Craft...: Super Sci-Fi Rocket fueled Jet Pack I saw a pin on pinterest for some jet packs and knew my son needed some too... I took a piece of cardboard that fit the width of his back. Used some old webbing and stapled in place to go around his arms. I upcycled 2 Two-liters and lightly misted the tops of them with silver spray paint. I cut out flames of felt 2 red and 1 orange for each rocket engine...turbine... and hot glued them in the spout... Then we hot glued the bottles onto the cardboard. He (Mr. 3) took it out for a test drive only to find that the arm straps slipped down. I took some more webbing and a buckle and stapled them across the front for maximum stabilization. I also hot glued on a little rectangle of felt onto the front straps for the ignition switch. We have lift-off! Zoom! I love his extreme happiness! Garbage, spray paint, felt fire, 20 minutes... Priceless. Linking up at East Coast Creative
How to Weave on a Cardboard Loom June 25th, 2008 Email 1323 users recommend Weaving like this can be the basis for so many projects: place mats, coasters, bags, hats—use your imagination. All photos by Diane Gilleland Keep your edges a little loose, and they'll stay nice and straight. An ordinary salad fork makes a great tool for keeping your weaving snug. Photo: All photos by Diane Gilleland Time to string your loom! Next, draw the yarn across the surface of the cardboard, and then wedge it into the first slit on the opposite side. On the back side of the cardboard, wrap the yarn around and wedge it into the second slit, as shown. On the front side, draw the yarn over the cardboard and then wedge it into the second slit on the opposite side. Continue like this, stringing the yarn back and forth over the cardboard, using those slits you cut to anchor it. View 1 member project gallery
Why drawing needs to be a curriculum essential | Culture professionals network | Guardian Professional Drawing has seen something of a renaissance in the last twenty years in the UK. From the Campaign for Drawing to the Drawing Research Network, from the Drawing Room to the Rabley Drawing Centre, we've witnessed a proliferation of passion, effort and energy matched by increased museum exhibitions, dedicated degree courses, professors, publications and conferences. All of the above have been established in pursuit of understanding, developing and promoting drawing, and many inside and outside the sector endure to evidence drawing as both the most sophisticated means of thinking and communicating, and an activity for all. In the 1990s dedicated resources for drawing were much thinner on the ground. At Gloucestershire College of Art (now University) my team taught a structured programme that started with an intensive drawing course as the introduction to the underpinning systems and principles of visual language and painting in particular.