Blog - The Art Pantry

April 26, 2010 by Megan Schiller

Tissue Paper Suncatchers and Emergent Curriculum

To celebrate spring and the sunny days ahead, we have been working on “stained glass” tissue collages. Each child was given a canvas of waxed paper, a brush, and a cup of watered-down glue (tinted with color so the kids could see it better). Spread out on the table was a variety of tissue paper. I encouraged the children to first paint the paper, then stick the tissue onto the glue- this helps the tissue stay down rather than getting stuck to their fingers.

Rogan experiments with putting the tissue paper directly into the cup of glue.

This week we also welcomed our new friend, Addicus, to class!

After discovering the scissors last week, Richie asked for them again- determined to learn how to use them.

When the kids began asking for more glue mixture, I offered them squeeze bottles of tinted water so they could add it to the glue themselves.

Pretty soon the glitter came out as well!

The kids were interested in working with the water and glue so I brought out some eye droppers for them to try. The eye droppers help kids develop the “pincer grasp” which is an important pre-writing skill.

For the easel projects this week I set up two types of sticky collages. For the first one, I cut a variety of colored tape and placed it on the edges of the tray for the kids to stick onto the paper.
Some of the kids showed more interest in painting the collage, so I offered them watercolors to use as well.
On the second easel I taped a piece of clear contact paper (sticky side out) for the base of the collage. Then I filled the tray with materials such as paper, cotton balls, and feathers and showed the children how they stick to the paper.
Towards the end of class, the children began to choose different activities to work on. This group wanted to use the spray watercolors, so I set them up outside to create a spray mural.
In this group, Lucia took a break to hang out in the garden with her mom during class. She found a small lizard and a “roly poly” bug that she brought back to the class to show her friends. They all immediately wanted to go outside to find more bugs.
As a believer of emergent curriculum, I want to honor the children’s interests and shape the lesson plans to allow them to explore these interests. With half of the class left to go, I dragged out a tarp, paints and brushes and offered them the opportunity to paint some rocks for the bugs. We collected rocks from the ground and everyone took part in the rock painting. I also moved one of the easels outside in case anyone was interested in continuing the collage work.

As we happily looked for bugs and painted rocks, it suddenly began to rain. We all moved back inside where I quickly got out some powdered tempera paint for a rain project. I offered each child a tray of paper and powdered paint to bring out to the rain. The idea is that when the rain falls onto the powder, it suddenly turns to liquid paint.
But when we walked outside, it was sunny again! So I went back to the studio to collect the spray bottles for each child to make their own rain.

Although the spontaneous curriculum adjustments were a little exhausting, it helped me to realize how I can bring more of the Reggio Emilia approach (especially the concepts of emergent curriculum and project work) into my art classes. Which got me thinking about my oldest class… (stay tuned for more about them)

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April 19, 2010 by Megan Schiller

Squeeze Painting

Have you ever done a gluing project with toddlers and wondered why they continue to squeeze glue from the bottle until they’ve just about emptied it out? Young children need to squeeze! Squeezing is an important fine motor skill that is also very entertaining. One way to offer this activity to kids is through squeeze painting.
I purchased empty squeeze bottles at an art supply store, but you can also use empty bottles from glue, soap, ketchup, etc.
To make the paint, I mixed flour, water, salt, and a little tempera paint to get a consistency like thick batter. I covered the table with cardboard so they could use the entire surface to squeeze out their design.

I realized that this paste would work great for paper mache- so for the older class, I offered them bowls and newspaper and showed them how they could cover the bowls with the strips of paper to make a sculpture.

My original squeeze bottles were a little tough for the children to use, so I brought out various glue bottles to add to the squeeze painting.

Jacob tries to squeeze the glitter glue into the larger bottle.

Rogan offers Liam the glitter glue.

By the third class, I had found some squeeze bottles from the Container Store that were much easier to use. Richie squeezes the paint onto the truck wheel to see what kind of tracks it makes.

Lucia begins to work on making a cupcake.

As the older kids work on their paper mache sculptures, Jason decides to squeeze all of his paint into the bowl to make a cake.

Of course, the other children realize that making a cake sounds much more fun than a paper mache sculpture!

After a while of squeezing, I offered the children bowls of colored sand to sprinkle on their paintings. Kirsten decides to squeeze the glue into the bowl of sand.

The children loved scooping the sand onto the table and mixing it around.

Anna, Jordan, and Jessica add the sand to their cakes.

Jason uses glitter glue to make a cake decoration.

Eventually, everything made it to the table- paper strips, paints, brushes, cars, horses…

As the children began to move around the studio, they explored various activities. Kirsten makes a print on the acrylic easel.

Kate creates a crayon drawing.

Rogan checks out the materials on the shelf.

Our new student, Mariana, discovers the easel.

Richie and Lucia found the toddler scissors (which cut only paper) and practiced their scissor skills.

Mariana decided to glue a collage, so I brought out the bin of collage materials- which was exciting for everyone!

The mound of materials in front of Lucia is her finished cupcake :)

Jason, Michael, and Karuna gather more materials for their cakes.

At the end of class, the cakes were finished… just in time for Jessica’s Birthday. Happy Birthday Jessica!

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April 16, 2010 by Megan Schiller

Naomi’s Bedroom Makeover

My niece, Naomi, recently turned 8 years old. One of her birthday wishes was to make some changes to her room. As you can see from the before photos, there was little about her room that said “8-year-old girl.” Her room housed a rarely used family computer, a toddler table set, Hello Kitty bedding from years ago, and an outdoor mat.

Naomi’s Nana offered to sponsor a makeover (within a budget of course!) so I set out help make this birthday wish come true. These are the photos I took of her room as we discussed what type of design she hoped for.

Naomi chose the bedding on the Pottery Barn teen website which gave me a jumping off point for the colors and feel of the room. She was drawn to the oranges, blues, and yellows of the bedding and her main request was a bed canopy. She also asked for some paint on the walls (including chalkboard paint), but they are in the process of putting their house on the market so we decided to only change what can easily be moved to a new house. This also meant that I had to somewhat design the room to stage the house… so less is more! My goal was to turn the room into a cozy, bright, girly (but not too girly), functional room that Naomi would want to spend time in.

Naomi’s artwork hangs in the bedroom entrance, brightening up the corner, and setting the tone for the colors of the room.

To stay within the budget, I purchased a worn used desk, repainted it, and added new knobs that Naomi picked out from Anthropologie. The bottom of the desk pulls out for extra surface space.

I made this bulletin board by upholstering a plain cork board with fun, Amy Butler fabric.

I added the shag rug and low chair so that Naomi would have an inviting space to hang out with family and friends on the floor. The soft blue blanket (another request from Naomi) adds a final cozy and luxurious touch to this tween room.

April 11, 2010 by Megan Schiller

Watercolors and Oil Pastel Resist

Thank you all for reading the blog posts and for your interest in these wonderful children and their creative work. I love documenting these experiences and sharing what I see with you. Up until now, I have been doing a blog post for each individual class- which is extremely time-consuming (but still really fun!). So in an effort to redeem some precious evenings away from the computer, I am going to condense the class documentation into one weekly blog post. I hope you continue to enjoy them!
For the second week of our spring session, we began with oil pastel drawings. On the table, I set out paper and small cups filled with oil pastels for the children to use. Oil pastels are fun for young children because they have brilliant colors and glide smoothly onto the paper. They are also a great starting point for watercolor painting because they resist the watercolor and will show through the paint.

Jacob gets right into the oil pastel as he waits for the others to arrive.

Lucia and Karuna trade colors.

Lucia had gotten up from her seat when Richie arrived, so he promptly sat down and began to add to her drawing. Lucia, unattached to her work, moved seats and began a new drawing. I love to see the different reactions to sharing artwork. From my experience it seems as though something changes at around age 3, and children begin to feel an ownership of their work.

For my older class (3 and 4 year-olds), I decided to offer them mirrors with the oil pastels and prompted them to do self-portraits.

Anna draws a few different self-portraits next to each other. maybe one is her face and the other her body?

As Jessica drew she said, “I’m a boy!” Then she made circles around her face and said, “I’m in a cage.” Drea (her mother) mentioned that she had just been to the Zoo.

Jason pays close attention to the details, making sure to add hair and ears (and later a shirt) to his drawing.

Karuna decides to draw on the mirror instead.

In each class, I began to bring out liquid watercolors as soon as I felt them loose interest in drawing.
As kirsten worked on her painting, she continually asked, “more?” She wanted more watercolor in her bowls. I want the children to be in control of their own art materials, but this time I wasn’t sure how to do this. Later I realized that I could have filled a squeeze bottle with water and a little color in it for Kirsten to use herself. That way she would be able to have as much as she wanted, whenever she wanted. I’ll remember this for next time!

Grace works on her painting, adding glitter to the watercolor.

Anna continues to look into the mirror as she paints her self-portrait.

Jordan exclaimed, “I’m making a tractor!” Then Karuna pointed at her own painting and said, “tractor!”

As the children paint and move around the studio, they gather more materials to work with at the table.

Logan collected brushes and arranged them in one of the paint jars.

After painting on the paper, I offered the children paper towels to use with the watercolors. Rogan tests out his brush and paint on the paper towel.

Lucia spotted the button jar on the shelf and asked to use them. I brought them out along with the tub of collage materials and glue. They began to glue the materials to their paintings.

Some of our watercolor easel work…

Towards the end of class, I brought out watercolor spray bottles to use at the easels.
Kirsten’s dad, Kevin, helps her pull the spray trigger.

Most of the children are just beginning to learn how to use the bottles. They are loving the task!

Karuna is interested in wiping down the watercolor once it is sprayed on the acrylic easel.

The older kids worked on spraying a large drop cloth outside.

On warm days, clean-up time can be so much fun!

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April 6, 2010 by Megan Schiller

Finger Painting

We began the new session with finger and object painting- a fun activity for a rainy afternoon! I offered each child a bowl of paint and a spoon to get started. Some were eager to get their hands messy, while others first used the spoon to begin their paintings.

I slowly added tools for the children to paint with- such as interesting brushes, combs, and necklaces.

Eventually, the toy cars came out- as always, they were a hit with everyone!

As the paintings progressed, the children got more into the sensory experience of the paint.

Jason uses his paint-covered hands to make prints at the easel.

Jordan focuses on her brush painting at the easel.

Jessica and Karuna came up with the idea of painting the wall and then washing it off with a wet towel- It seemed that cleaning the wall was just as fun as painting it!