February 2, 2011  by

Drawing and Watercolor Resists

For the last week of this mini- session, we explored drawing and watercolor painting. The 2s classes began with a still life of an aloe plant. I wanted to introduce the children to the concept of drawing an object that they can see in front of them, but I also wanted to find something that was fairly simple in form. I chose the aloe plant because it is made up of mostly simple lines. I encouraged the children to touch the plant and look at the shape/lines of the plant before drawing.
Then I offered the children black Sharpie markers (calling them “special grown-up markers”) to try to draw the aloe plant. I’m not sure if any of the children really understood the concept of drawing the plant (some of the children thought I meant to draw on the plant) , but it was still a fun exercise to get them used to the idea.
For the 1s class, I offered the children oil pastels and encouraged them to make marks on the paper.

After our drawing sessions, I brought out a tray and liquid watercolor paints for each child. The oil pastels and sharpie markers will show through the watercolor to create a “resist” painting.


After a little while of painting with brushes, I brought out eye-droppers to use with the watercolors. They take a little practice before mastering, but once the children figured them out they proved to be very interesting!




To further the exploration of watercolor, I offered the children “bleeding” tissue paper and cups of water to make their own watercolor. When the tissue paper gets wet, it bleeds the color into the water- then the wad of tissue can be used to paint with!


Of course all the children eventually wanted more water, so I gave them their own squeeze bottles- this incited the investigation of mixing colorful water with a variety of materials: glitter, glue, mixing tools, cars, necklaces, etc.



It was really interesting to see how the colors in the water reacted to movement and different materials.



When the children asked for more water, I gave them sponges and showed them how to re-use their water by soaking it up and squeezing it back into a cup or bottle.

The Wednesday class asked to use the spray bottles like the previous week when they “washed” the chair seats.
Soon enough, they were washing the chairs again!
The children also worked at the easels with oil pastels and watercolors.



Towards the end of class, we continued our exploration of watercolor outside. For the 1s class, we spread bleeding tissue paper over white watercolor paper. The children squeezed water onto the tissue paper to see the colors bleed onto the white background.

The 2s classes used spray bottles filled with liquid watercolor to paint the white canvas… among other things!


The batiks are finally dry! Here’s one of the finished pieces.

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January 26, 2011  by

Exploring Clay

For our third class of the session we focused on clay work. I first offered the children a few tools to roll, poke, or shape the clay.

Many of the children have worked with clay here in previous sessions and immediately knew what tools they wanted to use. Soon they were at the shelf retrieving trucks and animals to roll and stomp in the clay.
We talked about how you can pinch off parts of the clay and roll it in your hand to make balls or coils. I offered them toothpicks to use with their clay to continue our exploration of building up from last session. I also offered the children a tray of little “treasures” to decorate their clay (this included beads, buttons, rhinestones and googly-eyes).


The children in the 1s class were not quite sure about manipulating the clay with their hands, but they were very excited about decorating the clay!

Sometimes it’s nice to take a break from working at the table…


After working with clay for a while, it can begin to dry out, so I always offer the children some water and a sponge to moisten their clay.
Sometimes it can get really wet and the kids will soak up the excess water with the sponge or an eye-dropper.
After working with fabric last week, many of the kids wanted to cut and add fabric to their clay work- an interesting new combination!

And sometimes a bowl is needed for all that water!


In one of the 2s classes, the children asked for the spray bottles and glue. They began to mix the glue and water together which began to drip onto their chairs. This gave one of the kids the idea of spraying the chair with watercolor, then cleaning it off with a sponge!
Pretty soon all of the kids were “cleaning” the chairs.

I thought it was interesting how the chairs suddenly became a new surface for their art experiments (good thing these materials are washable!)
At the end of the 2s class, the kids painted the batiks that they had started last week. Next week I’ll show you the final results.

Yay for clean up time!

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December 3, 2010  by

Beading and Open Studio

For the final week of the fall session, we focused on beaded sculptures and jewelry. For each child, I pre-made a base for the sculpture using a wood block, nails, and plastic coated wire. Then I offered the children beads for stringing onto the wire. For the older children, I also offered them elastic beading cord for making jewelry.Instead of planning a second project for when the kids got sick of beading, I wanted to offer them an “open studio,” with most of our materials accessible to them on the shelf. I began the fall session with only tools on the shelf (and paint at the easels) then eventually placed the glitter on the lower shelves as well. Now that the children have had weeks of experience with the materials, It is time to give them a greater sense of autonomy in their creative process. On the lower shelves I placed glitter, markers, oil pastels, tempera paint, liquid watercolor, colored glue, collage items, paper, and a variety of tools (the rollers, brushes, and eyedroppers were new additions). I was curious to see how the children would respond to the variety of choices and accessibility.
In the first few classes, the children came into the studio and immediately began beading, without noticing the new shelf set-up. Their focus and fine motor skills were incredible!

Luke and Brooks checked out materials on the floor while the big kids worked on beading… too cute to not include!




When the children finished beading their wires, I helped them to twist the wire around the other nail head and… voila! A wire sculpture that you can bend and shape again and again.
While some kids took to beading right away, others spotted the new set-up and went straight for the shelves!
The children were encouraged to use the materials on the shelves, even if that meant gluing all over their bead work or passing up the beads all together.


I think it is important for children to learn at an early age how to be self-starters and creative thinkers. In my experience it seems that young children naturally start out this way, but aren’t always allowed the opportunity to strengthen these skills. This is something that I work on with the children throughout each session. I was delighted to see on this last week that without planning and prompting from me, most of the kids knew exactly what they wanted to do and how to do it.
The rest of the photos will give you a glimpse of the “open studio” work of the children.




















Thanks for a wonderful session and Happy Holidays!

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November 18, 2010  by

1s clay and watercolor

This week I offered the 1s class a similar clay provocation as the older kids. Instead of giving them clay slabs to work with, I presented the clay in balls and coils and set popsicle sticks on the table (no pointy toothpicks for this group). Clay in this form is easier to pick up and manipulate than in the form of a slab, which makes for a new kind of exploration.
A new friend, Grayson, joined us for class this week and was immediately interested in the clay.
Pretty soon, I brought out a variety of tools and water to continue the exploration.
Aly was curious about the materials on the shelf as well as the liquid watercolors at the easels.

At the end of class I brought out some large watercolor paper and different stencil-like shapes for each child. They painted the paper with liquid watercolor then placed the shapes on the paper. The watercolor tends to pool up underneath the shape and when it drys you can see a darker image of the shape on the paper. Electra came over to paint, and sat down right on top of her paper!

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November 16, 2010  by

New Clay Provocation and Watercolor

For our second clay exploration of the session, I decided to present the clay in the form of balls and coils, rather than a slab. The addition of toothpicks and popsicle sticks offers a provocation for a new way of working with the clay (Reggio Emilia early childhood experts use the term “provocation” as a form of provoking, or inviting, children to interact with a material or idea). I set up a workspace for myself as well so I could model different ways to use the materials. I wanted to present the clay in a way that would encourage the kids to build up, rather than out. The toothpicks proved to be great tool to connect the pieces together to create a sturdy structure. The children also loved sticking them into the clay to create spikes.


After our initial exploration with the toothpicks, I began to bring out more tools, water, and extra slabs of clay for the kids to work with.


Sienna celebrated her 2nd birthday with us in class! Happy birthday Sienna!






The kids began to move around the studio and found the easels set up with oil pastels and liquid watercolor paints.



Some of the kids decided to bring the watercolors to the table to use with their clay. As the table began to overflow with watercolor, I brought out coffee filters to soak up some of the liquid, creating interesting effects.
To continue the watercolor theme, I offered each child a large piece of watercolor paper with various stencils and cookie cutters to place on the paper (everyone started with a stencil of the first letter of their name). Then the children sprayed their papers with liquid watercolor and left the papers on the floor to dry.



When they were dry, I removed the stencils to reveal white images of the shapes on the paper!

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November 1, 2010  by

Watercolors and Foam Paint

For the 1s class this week we explored painting with liquid watercolors. Each child started off with two colors of paint, a brush, and watercolor paper. They curiously dipped their brushes in the jars and then watched how the paint ran and swirled around the paper (unlike the tempera paint they have been using).

After a bit of exploration, I began to slowly introduce new materials such as coffee filters, glitter, and new colors of paint. Coffee filters are fun to paint on with watercolor because they soak up the paint and create a tie-dye effect. Once the children realized that they could pour the paints, they were quite content focusing on pouring and didn’t care much about the filters! This is why the trays come in handy :)

After a while of pouring and painting, I brought out a new medium to use with the watercolors… foam paint! I usually use whipped cream for this project, but it is pretty greasy so I decided to experiment with Colorations foam paint this time (it has the same texture and properties as shaving cream without the toxic fumes). Mia was really into this sensory activity, while Aly and Electra preferred to stick with the watercolors.
As the kids moved around and explored the studio, I brought out a bucket of warm water for washing up (and more pouring of course!).


Towards the end of class Karuna (who hangs with Grandma during this class) came to the window to check out the scene.
She was welcomed by the kids and came in to help them pour.

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October 12, 2010  by

Oil Pastel Drawings and Making Our Own Paint

As leaves and petals begin to fall this time of year, I realized that they would make great materials for this week’s art exploration… making our own natural paint! We began first with oil pastels and water color paper to create a base for our plant paintings. The oil pastels will resist (and show through) the paint to create a multimedia work of art.
For the older class, I placed jars of flowers on the table and invited them to draw a still life of a flower. I asked them to pick one or all of the flowers to look at, focusing on the shapes, lines, and colors. Although some representations were more abstract than others, all the children worked hard at observing the flowers.



Once the kids had some time to draw, I brought out the materials to make our own plant paint. Each child was given a bowl, spoon, and a bottle of water. Then they chose flower petals and leaves to crush with water in their bowl.
To crush the plants well, it’s best to use a mortar and pestle, which the children took turns using.
In other classes, I used a blender to crush some red rose petals to get a stronger color.

After the initial experience of making our own paint, I offered watercolors to the children which was a little more interesting than painting with very diluted flower colors.


Eventually the children wanted to add glitter and jewels to their bowls, making a sparkling potion-type of paint!









Around the studio, the children found some interesting materials to work with!



A bowl of sparkly flower paint!

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September 20, 2010  by

Color Mixing and Finger Painting

We began our fall session with various forms of color mixing. Some children started off with liquid water color, while others started with tempera paint. They first experimented with the primary colors, red, yellow, and blue to see what would happen when they mixed two colors together.


This project allowed the returning children to interact in a new way with the paints, while at the same time offered the new students a chance get to know the materials through finger and texture painting.




As the children continued to experiment with the paints, they discovered more tools and materials from the shelf to work with.

It was exciting to see the children move around the studio and explore new places to paint!

Towards the end of class, I brought the children outside to learn about color mixing with powered tempera paint. They each chose two of the primary colors to use, scooped out some powdered paint onto their paper, then used water to mix the colors together.

We had a beautiful, warm week for clean up and water play!

This is going to be an exciting session!

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August 18, 2010  by

Stamp-Making, Collage, and Watercolor Target Practice!

This week we focused on gluing and collage work- and began by making our own stamps! I gave each child a thick block of foam, an assortment of thin foam shapes, and a bottle of glue. I explained to the children that they could glue the shapes down onto the foam blocks and when they dry, they can use them as stamps. As I observed this process, I realized that the kids who have been in art class for a while, were squeezing small dabs of glue onto their blocks and gently placing the shapes into the glue. Do you remember some of our first collage projects? The children would squeeze out an entire bottle of glue and dump as many collage items onto their paper as they could (no matter what age). In a past blog post, I explained that it is important to let them experiment with the glue and materials and eventually they will learn how to self-regulate. Well it looks like that time has come! Of course I’m sure they will still experiment with squeezing and dumping, but I’m ecstatic to see that they really are learning in here!



After putting their stamps to dry, I offered the children a tray of small materials and some colored glue to continue working in this collage medium.









The children moved around the room to work at the easels and collect items from the shelf.
Then they discovered the scissors again!



As the weather has begun to warm up, I wanted to end class with a fun outdoor art game. I created two bulls-eye targets on paper and hung them on the easels outside. Then I gave the children water color spray bottles to shoot at the targets from behind a line (thanks Rhian for this awesome idea). These kids have great aim!






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July 31, 2010  by

Liquid Watercolor and Whipped Cream

We began this week with liquid watercolors, a new medium for many of the kids! Starting off with a simple painting experience, each child was first given watercolor paper, cups of paint, and brushes. Soon they began to ask for cars or other familiar tools as well.
Many of the children began to pour the watercolor- which is usually what toddlers want to do with a cup of liquid! Sometimes they would pour the paint into different cups, but mostly they poured it onto their paper (after the first class I realized it was a good idea to use trays!)
After a little while, I offered the children coffee filters to paint on in addition to their paper. Coffee filters soak up the watercolor in a different way and are fun to experiment with.





Eye droppers are great tools to use with the liquid watercolor. They’re unique and fun for the kids, but they’re also excellent for developing fine motor skills (specifically the pincer grasp, used for writing).
After a lot of painting and pouring, I moved the paper to dry and brought out whipped cream! With the aluminum foil on the table, I gave each child a scoop of whipped cream and encouraged them to use it in their exploration. Some kids immediately wanted to rub their hands in it, while others used tools to move it around. Painting the liquid watercolor on the whipped cream offers a unique sensory experience and a new way of seeing the vibrant colors.










The easels were set up with jars of liquid watercolors to continue the watercolor experience.


I recently replaced some of the containers on the shelf to entice the children to visit it more often. I think it’s working.
Finally, I brought out the watercolor spray bottles to use on the easels and at the table. I can never go wrong with the spray bottles!



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