Last Week:  Snow Flake Mobiles

Literature Prep:

Isaiah 1:18 18 "Come now, let us reason together,"
       says the LORD.
       "Though your sins are like scarlet,
       they shall be as white as snow;
       though they are red as crimson,
       they shall be like wool.

Psalm 51:7  Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
       wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Proverbs 25:13 Like the coolness of snow at harvest time is a trustworthy messenger to those who send him; he refreshes the spirit of his masters.

Two things we can think of when we see snow:  Be a faithful messenger, and God makes our hearts CLEAN! 

Materials per child:  

Four 4" light blue paper squares
Four 3 1/2" white paper squares
String
2 popsicle sticks, hotglued together, and crisscrossed with string from which it will hang.
Hot glue
Elmers Glue/water mix
Thick ribbon
Stapler
Hole punch

Process:
1.  Make two snowflakes:
       Fold white paper two or three times diagonally, depending on child's skill
      Cut out little shapes.  For younger children, draw the shapes on the folds that they can cut out.
      Unfold and paste the snowflake onto the blue sheet and repeat with another
      Paint over the snowflake with the glue/water mixture to leave a little gloss on the sheet

2.  Make ribbon squares:

Cut 8" ribbon and fold in half. 
Slip blue paper square in between the ribbon.
Staple
Punch holes in square and thread them.

3.  Cut the other two snowflakes and paste them on the back of the other snowflake/blue square sets when they are dry.

Punch holes in them and hang from the popsicle sticks, and hang the other blue squares.  Put a dab of hotglue on the thread at the top when you have them balanced.

Notes:  The blue construction paper wasn't strong enough not to curl, so I either need to flatten them between heavy books before the art show, or if I were to do it again, I would flatten them for a few days after drying, and before threading them.

This Week:  Night Cities.

Materials:

1 12"x18" sheet of black or blue construction paper
oil pastels
glitter
glue
scissors

Intro:  Read Good Night Philadelphia and discussed the familiar buildings and places.  Went back and looked at the various skylines, and had the children look for outlining shapes.

1.  Fold a dark blue or black 12"x18" piece of construction paper in half, lengthwise.
  Measure 1 1/2" down, and fold again. 
  Measure 1 1/2" on each side of the paper, and fold again.
  Make a 1 1/2" slit on each of the middle edge folds as shown

2.  Use the side of dark oil pastel crayons, and make the upper half of the paper dark, using black, blues, purples, etc.  This will be the sky.

3.  Fold up the lowest section of paper, and do the same with the oil pastels, using blacks and browns.  These will be the buildings.

4.  Draw in the city outline

5.  Cut it out.

6.  Using bright oil pastels, make little strokes along the edges of the buildings, bleeding onto the "sky".

7.  Add in windows and doors, elevators, etc.

8.  Add glitter glue as desired, for stars

9.  Glue the flaps together, to make the box.

Ideas adapted from Art Today and Every Day: Classroom Activities for the Elementary School Year  by Jenean Romberg and Miriam Rutz

Art Class:

This is my favorite leaf project so far, and was a big hit with the kids and the parents. Christopher kept mentioning how he liked the color "copper", and asked to play with the acrylic paints again today, heh, heh.  I promise, however, that I will not use leaves again for our project next week.  I am hoping to avoid turkeys, too, but we will see.  (:

Materials:
Plain wood frame (5"x7") and glass per child--discard the cardboard backing
Extra (5"x7") glass fitted to frame (I used a plain clip frame that was cheaper, but my talented friend who has the glass grinder had to grind it down a little to fit perfectly)
Iron and towel (or board)
Wax paper
Leaves of child's choice
Acrylic paints in fall colors
Sponges of various textures

Instructions:
Step 1:
Paint the frame a dark brown, covering well
Use the sponge to dab the lighter colors (we used metallic gold, red, and copper) over the dark brown as desired

Step 2
While that is drying a little, go outside and collect at least five leaves that you love (exclude withered ones).  It's okay if you have more or less than five, but five seemed to be a good rule of thumb.

Step 3
Come back in and arrange the leaves on the glass.  You may not need to use all the leaves, and it's okay.

Step 4
Use a warm iron to iron the leaves between two pieces of wax paper.  This will help to retain the color and flexibility of the leaves.
Re-assemble the leaves on the (clean) 5"x&" piece of glass and place the other 5"x7" piece of glass over the arranged leaves.  Cut any leaves sticking out over the edge.  Fit them into the frame.

Materials per child:

Red sheet of paper
Yellow sheet of construction paper
Pencil
Scissors
Elmer's Glue mixed with water in a dish to a consistency that is easy to paint with
Paintbrush
Small squares of tissue paper in fall colors
Leaves of various types cut out of black construction paper

Step One: 
Draw a line of choice (squiggly, jagged, curly, geometric)  from one corner of the RED paper to the diagonal opposite.

Cut the paper according to the line drawn

Step Two:
Paint the entire page of yellow with the glue/water solution

Lay the half sheet of red over the yellow:

Paint the red part with the glue solution

Step Three:
Choose tiles and arrange them on the page:

Paint over the tissue tiles (sorry, no pics of this.

Add the leaves and paint over them, too:

Here are the sides we did last week:

This week we took the other side of the red sheet, and made a "negative" on the back of last week's work, and did the same process.  Next week, we will punch a hole in the top and hang them like mobiles (one child was absent, and I didn't finish my example because I was helping all the kids).

If you can think of a good name for this project, let me know. (:

Today was our first week of art class for the new school year (3 and 4yo children).

Materials (per child):

8x14 sheet (or two) of paper
Cut out of train (used exacto knife for the windows)
Brush
Paint (tray of blue and white for sky;  
     tray of blue and yellow for grass;
     tray of red, yellow and blue for train [by 'tray' I mean a yoghurt container lid, or some other flat item]
Cup of water and blotting sponge in container
Glue for train and cotton (plus the sky and grass that were glued together for the 3yos)
Cotton
Oil-based crayons for the track

Lesson:

Motivation:  Tell them we're going to make a train today and then go upstairs and play on our train table (kids here love trains).

Input (Modeling), Application, and Product
1.  Discuss placement of sky (above) and mix white and light blue and long strokes for sky
(the kids really surprised me by making and discussing moons, so we got out our planet fact books, and looked at Titan, Titania, etc.  I showed them a finished model, and painted the sky, and then they did it.

2.  Then I showed them three different grass textures I had painted for the land, and demonstrated each one.  The 3yos had both filled up their pages with the sky (no application of sky being above), so I cut out a hill for each of them to put under their skies with their many moons (you wouldn't know there were moons there unless you heard the discussion).  The 4yo understood and applied both perfectly.  (Glued sky and grass together for younger kids)

3.  Showed them two ways to paint the train, and gave them their trains and red/yello/blue paint palette.

4.  Glue on trains.  Glue on cotton balls for the steam (one child left before putting on his cotton, but we'll fix that).

 The lower left picture is my example I made with them, and the upper right was done by our four-year-old friend.  The opposite pictures were done by our three-year-old contingent.  (: 

Tips for Next time
If I had to do it again, I would probably try to outline the train cut-outs in thick black marker to provide more definition.

Also, I had wanted to do the Character trait of diligence, but I forgot.  I'd really like NOT to forget a Biblical application next time, seeing that it's the main advantage of teaching at home.

PS
I also decided to wait to use my Atelier DVDs until next year or even the following year as I think our children will get more out of it when they are older.

I'm not concerned the the 3yos didn't get the sky  at the top--or anything else--I'm not really evaluating their work, although it's revealing about where they are developmentally.  I am mostly interested that their imaginations were working enthusiastically, and that they are practicing playing with different media.  I'm lacking in focusing their attention on God's beauty, and if anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Theme:  My Family

Art concept: Media

We took different size potatoes to make a "face" print onto a paper for the faces in the family (brings a new perspective on Mr and Mrs. Potato Head!).  Use marker to draw faces and outline.  Use oil pastels to color in clothing.

Artists at work:

:

 Artists showing their work!

I can't take credit for the Picasso's "Hands and Flowers" idea.  It's based on Atelier, or "Arts Attack", a DVD approach to arts education, as an answer to the California public schools choosing to give "Art" the financial boot.  It's been re-formatted to be beneficial to homeschoolers, and you can read about it at here.  I discovered them at IAHE, and chose them over Thomas Kinkade's program, since my children are little.

It is not a Christian program, but it is easily adapted--for instance, you can teach that God made beauty, and for specific lessons, you can make an application, such as Jesus' teaching that it is better to give than to receive, or for the caterpillar metamorphosis, that God makes all things new, and we are new creations in Christ.  The initial logo presented at the beginning of the DVD is a devilish icon presenting "ARTS ATTACK",  which I simply don't let my kids nor their friends see.   The content of the lessons, so far, is wholesome and fun.  If I encounter anything unwholesome, I will not use that lesson, but will teach the concept myself in a different way.

I am inviting my son's friends over to join us for the class, as it's really fun to do art together.

I chose it for the following reasons:

1.  It is an educational masterpiece--the teacher is an older, quiet, pleasant  woman, with about 30 years art teaching experience, and every single word, activity, and image is chosen to make it easy for the kids to understand and apply.

2.  She teaches one concept at a time, and it breaks it down in a way that our kids naturally apply the concepts later in the week when doing "art". For instance, the first lesson is about "LINE".  She talks about lines around us (on the ceiling, walls, windows, etc.), on our clothes, then on a painting by Henri Matisse (straight, curvy, jagged, curly, parallel, cross-hatched, fat, thin), and then practices on a practice sheet of paper, then they make a caterpillar, by making the circles, and decorating each circle with a variety of lines.  The only thing used is paper, and a fat and thin black marker--no confusion, no complications. 

3.  She shows lots of children making the project for the first time, which is inspiring.

4.  The projects are designed to help the child understand, be motivated, and to succeed

Christopher's "Azalean Malean Tree That Drops Jelly Beans, etc."

Aviva's "Hands and Flowers"

The Artists--a Work of Art by God (: