Everything...Family Guide: art

Showing posts with label art. Show all posts

Tuesday, 1 April 2014

Mosaic styled Artwork at Las Vegas

Mosaic-styled Artwork at Las Vegas Airport Terminal

Close-up of the Artwork

We saw some really interesting artwork at the Las Vegas airport where the students drew pictures which were minimized and then placed in a tiled fashion to resemble a wall-sized painting.

Monday, 24 March 2014

Spring Art: Butterflies, Butterflies, Butterflies...

This art project was inspired by the beautiful colors of the spring. We love using recycled materials for our art projects. So for this project, we used painted paper that we had salvaged from another art project.

Materials Needed:

Paper painted in a variety of bright colors (you can paint over recycled paper with bright watercolor paints; allow time for the papers to dry before proceeding with this project)
Paper Punch (we used a butterfly one; you can use other spring shapes like a flower, bird, etc.)
Glue stick
Plain/white art paper
Scissors

What to do:

1. Prepare for this project in advance by painting papers using a variety of watercolor paints. We used a large bristle paint brush to paint each of the papers with a yellow, red, orange, and green color. Allow time for the paper to dry.

2. Next, you need a paper punch for producing various colored shapes. Tip: Remember to keep your colors separate for creating a striped (horizontal or vertical) affect.

3. We started the project by applying glue on the plain/white paper. Then, we carefully stuck each butterfly/shape on the glued space.

Tip: When the glue is applied on the paper it may dry out really fast, so it`s important to only apply glue when you are ready. We used a small plate to separate each colored shape; to work efficiently and with ease.

4. After the red butterflies, we added orange, green and yellow ones. We applied the shapes in a horizontal pattern. At the end, we cut off small strips from the leftover paper to form a border. Then, we glued the paper strips to add a border to the art project.

Here you have it...Paper Punched Butterflies! Aren't they cute?

We love the beautiful colors of spring..how about you?

Annie

Friday, 21 March 2014

Mosaic Art using Paper Scraps

At Everything Family Guide, our purpose is to recycle and re-use everything whenever we can. Everything little thing that households do to conserve resources goes a long way towards saving our world! So today we created mosaic style art using construction paper scraps from an old project.

Materials Needed:

Different-colored scrap paper tiles (size doesn't matter)
Scissors
White paper (8 1/2 by 11 inches)
Liquid glue

What to do:

Collect the construction paper scraps.

Cut them into little pieces; we cut ours into little rectangles.

Next, we applied liquid glue in a row and glued the pieces together, making sure that the pieces fit close together and there is little to no white space. This way there will be no straight lines when you are applying the mosaic tiles, as all the pieces are of different sizes (and that is what makes it look so good at the end).

All done! This is the finished product...

We had some more scraps left so we did another one!

Mosaic styled art projects are great for little hands and guaranteed to be lots of fun! And they always turn out to be so beautiful.

Annie

Thursday, 13 March 2014

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Collage

We love the "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle!! We are always reading it and looking for new ways of exploring this AMAZING book! Here is an amazing paint collage art project inspired by the book...

Materials that you will need:

Sheets of white paper
Watercolor paints
A Paint brush
A Painting tray
A Glass of water
A Glue stick
Scissors
Markers (for decorations) and,
A Large sheet of paper

Here is how we created our collage...

We painted a variety of colors (inspired by Eric Carle's book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar) on white sheets of paper. We didn't use any particular painting technique but we made sure that the whole surface of the paper was covered in paint. So this way, we painted five sheets of paper using a variety of paint colors. We left the paper to dry.

When the painted paper was dried, we traced shapes of butterfly wings, circles and strips, using a pencil crayon. We also used the last two pages of the book for inspiration on what shapes to trace for our collage.

Then our budding artist cut out the shapes from the painted paper with a pair of scissors.

We laid our cut-outs and planned where we would place our painted paper cut-outs on the large sheet of paper using the book as a reference (the very last page with the butterfly on it). It is very important to go over the details as it can be confusing for the little ones. I always demonstrate a few steps before I allow my preschooler to go ahead independently. We placed them on the paper without gluing first to understand how to use our cut-out shapes.

We glued on the shapes like a collage (one-by-one) to help form a butterfly. We started off with the head in the top center of the page. Then we added the wings on each side, one by one. Finally, we added the body of the butterfly and small cut-outs for the details on the butterfly's wings. At the end, we drew two antennas with a marker. You can also add the butterfly's hands/feet for additional details.

This project turned out to be very beautiful and it's definitely going in our little guy's art portfolio (where I save all his treasured artwork). Thanks for reading our post and I hope you will try this project with your kids/students! We would love to hear how it turned out!

Annie

4 Spring Art and Craft Activities

So we are doing some early Spring activities and hoping that the cold winter season will pass soon in our city! Fingers crossed! Here are some Spring inspiring crafts that are easy to do for little hands and very colorful! We promise you that your little one will have a blast doing our craft activities! Here we go...

Confetti Art

Materials: glue stick, pre-drawn/printed shape on white or light colored paper, 2 inch long green construction paper strips, 2 googly eyes and Spring confetti

This activity is super simple! You will need a pre drawn or printed picture(s) of something related to Spring. We chose a rabbit because that's what our little guy wanted. You also need a packet of Spring confetti (we got ours for a $1 from the dollar store!). Then, you need to apply glue to the inner part of the blank shape using a glue stick. Now the fun begins, let your little one use his/her tiny fingers to press the confetti to the inside of the shape (great for fine motor development). Upon completion, press the confetti with your hands to ensure that it sticks to the paper and doesn't fall off. We then cut green construction paper in 2 inch strips and cut little slits halfway (looked like a comb) on the top of the paper. Then we glued the strips to the bottom of the page. We used our hands to curl the paper forward to give it the appearance of grass. To make it fun, we added some googly eyes to make our Spring-inspired Confetti Rabbit!

Spring Blooms

Materials: liquid glue, confetti or glitter, colorful pipe cleaners, toilet paper tube, recycled paper (for decoration), a piece of tape and stickers

We do this activity every year for Spring! It is super easy and lots of fun! First, we cut the little egg holders/bulbs from the egg carton. Then we cut out tiny triangles (around 3/4 for each bulb) on the top of the bulb. We poke a hole in the center of the bulb to slide in the pipe cleaners. I always fold the top of the pipe cleaner on the inside of the bulb to keep it from slipping out. Finally, we add decorations to the flower bulbs using liquid glue to tack on confetti or sprinkle on some glitter. To make it into a bouquet, we twisted the pipe cleaners together. For a vase, we used a toilet paper tube and wrapped it with leftover wrapping paper. We taped the wrapping to secure it in place and decorated the top of the vase with foam stickers (we used animals or insects that you would see out in Spring). We slid the bouquet inside to make a Spring-inspired flower bouquet in a recycled vase.

Recycled Spring Bouquet © Everything Family Guide

Spring Flower Bouquet © Everything Family Guide

Pipe Cleaner Butterflies

(Materials: different colored pipe cleaners)

This craft was inspired by a blog post at the Gummy Lump Toys Blog. It took a little trial and error by our preschooler to master the butterfly twisting process, but it was a fun learning activity. Just a word of CAUTION: the ends of the pipe cleaner can be very sharp/pokey, so please proceed carefully. First, we twisted both the ends of the pipe cleaner to form an "O" shape. Next, we twisted them in the center (a few times) to make a "Bow-tie" shape. Then we folded the pipe cleaner in half and strung a different colored pipe cleaner around the folded bow-shaped pipe cleaner. We twisted the new pipe cleaner on and worked our way vertically. When we were done, we opened the bow shape to reveal a beautiful butterfly!

Pipe Cleaner Butterflies © Everything Family Guide

"The Very Hungry Caterpillar" Paint Collage

Materials: Sheets of white paper, watercolor paints, paint brush, water, glue stick, scissors, markers, and a Large sheet of paper.

We painted a variety of colors (inspired by Eric Carle's book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar) on white sheets of paper. We didn't use any particular painting technique but we made sure that the whole surface of the paper was covered in paint. So this way, we painted five sheets of paper using a variety of paint colors. We left the paper to dry.
When the painted paper was dried, we traced shapes of butterfly wings, circles and strips, using a pencil crayon.
Then our budding artist cut out the shapes from the painted paper with a pair of scissors.
We laid our cut-outs and planned where we would place our painted paper cut-outs on the large sheet of paper using the book as a reference (the very last page with the butterfly on it).
Then we glued on the shapes like a collage (one-by-one) to help form a butterfly in the end. This project turned out so good and it's definitely going our little guys art portfolio where I save all his treasured artwork. I plan on using a technique by artist Jan Eleni to collage my son's mounting art projects in his portfolio. Then we will present that to him as a graduation gift.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar inspired Collage © Everything Family Guide

Spring is my favorite season of the year..how about you?
Annie

Sunday, 2 March 2014

Recycle Art: Window Collage

Here at Everything Family Guide, we are busy recycling and re-purposing everyday junk items and turning them into colorful, fun art projects. Today, we did an activity that is very simple and takes only a half hour block to complete.

Materials List:

2 pieces of paper (from the recycling bin)
Glossy magazines or flyers (from the recycling bin)
Glue stick
Crayons

Project Instructions:

To make the top page of the project, you need to fold the second paper in half and then fold it into another half to form a four paged book. Now, draw any shape like an Oval or diamond on the folded part of the paper. Cut the shape on the inside fold of the paper to form a paper cut-out pattern. When done cutting, open the paper and glue on top of the magazine strips paper. Look at the example below.

Tear flyers or magazine paper into long vertical strips. Apply glue on paper and glue the magazine strips in any position (vertical or horizontal). Place it under a heavy object to keep it from curling; this helps to dry the paper flat/straight.

You are all done after you have added some funky designs using pencil crayons! The paper cut-outs will make for an amazing window display.

This project can be done in many ways and with different design cut-outs. Here are some recycling tips to share with your little learners:

Reduce (Avoid buying excessive things and throw out less in the garbage.)
Reuse (Turn your junk into funky art and craft projects or use old cans/jars for storing things. Food garbage can be composted for reuse in the garden.)
Recycle (Remember to recycle paper, plastics, cans, electronics and other items in the proper way and take them to the right recycling outlets).

Have fun recycling!

Annie

Monday, 24 February 2014

Toddler Art using Old Markers

We have a lot of old markers lying around in our stationary tub that were either dried out or ran out of ink. We discovered today that you don't have to throw those dried out markers in the trash right away. Actually, the little one tried to suck on the dried out marker and got an orange tongue! YUCK! We decided to use the dried markers for art instead ;)

This is what we did: I provided the budding artists with a bowl of water, old markers and paper dollies. You can also use coffee filters to watch the ink spread for a cool Tie-Dye effect. It is very easy and all your child has to do is dip their marker in the water bowl and then touch the paper with the wet marker tip. The ink spreads by itself as the paper gets wet and the effect is Tie-Dye.

Warning: If your child tries to color the paper, it might work or the paper can rip. Anyhow, here is the project in progression...

Bowl of Water, Old Markers, and Paper Dollies © Everything Family Guide

Dipping and Dyeing © Everything Family Guide

The Finished Project © Everything Family Guide

So here we have it: Tye-Dye Paper Dolly Art using dried-out markers.

Happy Recycling y'all!

Annie

Friday, 14 February 2014

Recycled Paper Weaving Craft

Here is a simple and creative craft that you can do with your little ones. All you need is paper (newspaper, magazine paper, paper bags or any other recyclable paper), glue, scissors, and pre-cut strips of paper.

First you need to fold the paper in half and cut strips that are spread at least 1/2 or 1 inch apart. Always cut from the folded side up. Don't cut all the way and leave at least a two inch space at the end. Now open the folded paper and demonstrate how to weave a strip of paper with the under and over motions. It is important to do a demonstration to guide your child. To secure the strips I glued them to the paper at the end. Finish weaving all paper strips and glue the ending corners to secure the weaved paper in place.

The Finished Project - remember to adjust the strips closer together so as not to leave any space in between. This will help in achieving a checkerboard effect.

Paper weaving is a great way to reuse left over scraps of paper. You can also do patterns while paper weaving by adding different colored paper strips. Another unique way to do paper weaving is by weaving shape cut-outs. Here is a heart-shaped weaving project we are working on currently...

Hope you are having a loving day ❤❤❤

Annie

Tuesday, 11 February 2014

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Math and Crafts

This is our all time favorite book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. It talks about a very hungry caterpillar that eats and eats until the time of its metamorphosis! It is a great book with easy to read vocabulary and beautiful illustrations. Here are some cool art and craft ideas inspired by The Very Hungry Caterpillar:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Graph - For this activity, I drew a graph on a large scrap paper sheet (You can also draw this on a large poster paper or canvas/easel paper for your display board.). At first, I drew it wrong and then we realized half way through the activity that the graph would not work (hehe..we all learn from mistakes). Anyhow, then I cut off the days of the week row and thought we could use it to identify what days the caterpillar ate the food items. We also added added a column of how many items the caterpillar ate (i.e We counted how many oranges the caterpillar ate on Friday to record it on the chart). At the end of the activity, you may ask the following questions and count together to review what was learned:

What is the number of fruit or food item the caterpillar ate on a particular day (i.e. Friday, Sunday)?
Which food item or fruit did the caterpillar eat the most? How can you tell?
Which food item or fruit did the caterpillar eat the least? How can you tell?
Do you see any patterns in the graph like similarities or differences?
What is your favorite food item that the caterpillar ate?
What is your least favorite food item that the caterpillar ate?

Skills Learned: counting, graphing a bar graph, visual representation, days of the week, questioning, identifying, and matching.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Paper Roll Craft - For this activity, we used a small toilet paper roll (you can use a large paper towel roll as well). I had my preschooler paint the paper roll in advance and let it air dry. Then with my help, we cut the paper roll into sizable chunks (about 1 and 1/2 inches long). Then we glued the pieces together and let it air dry before proceeding with the next step. We hole-punched the bottom of each cardboard chunk to lace the pipe cleaner legs. We set the legs to a side as this was the most practical option. Finally, we added some facial details like googly eyes, antennas and a mouth/nose.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Egg Carton Craft - This was a pretty simple craft activity. We used water-based green paint, cardboard egg carton, scissors, a sponge brush and a pipe cleaner. Firstly, my preschooler painted the egg carton with water based paint using a sponge brush and let it air dry. Once it dried, we punched two holes for the antennas and added googly eyes for facial details.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Printmaking - This was another easy craft activity that required little prep and was mostly child-led. I provided my preschooler and toddler each with a piece of paper, an egg carton cut-out, and paint to share. I demonstrated how to make a print by dipping my egg carton cut-out in paint and pressing firmly to make sure that all edges are dipped in paint before pressing my egg carton cut-out firmly on paper with both hands (if necessary). This technique is similar to stamping but it's called printmaking, as you are transferring the shape of the object onto paper via paint. My kids had a blast and my preschooler even added two finger painted eyes.


Toddler's Project © Everything Family Guide

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Pompom Craft - this was a simple craft for a child who has mastered the fine motor skill of twisting and turning things with their hands/fingers. We used three pom poms, 2 pipe cleaners and two googly eyes. To start, we wrapped the pipe clear securely/tightly around the first white pompom once (the one with the eyes) in the center. Then we wrapped the second and third pompom using the left-over pipe cleaner. We took the second (green) pipe cleaner to secure our pompoms together. Finally, we glued googly eyes using strong craft glue; my preschool chose the big ones :). This activity can be hard for some kids if they are still practicing their fine motor skills and may require some guided help.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Number Math - I prepared for this activity by folding a green construction paper into many folds. Then I cut out a circle which saved me time for cutting individual circles. I divided the circles in half by labeling some with numbers and others with a visual representation of those numbers (in this case, I used dots but you can also use other shapes or stickers). I shuffled the cards and then let my kids play a Match the Number game. The game can be played by matching the numbers to their right visual representation circle. I showed my preschooler to count by first picking the visual representation circle, counting the dots out loud, then finding the right number card to match to the dots. We spread out the numbers circles on the side to save time to look through the pile each time. Skills Learned: identifying numbers and matching numbers to visual representations.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Science - We added another learning activity by learning about a caterpillar's life cycle. The book we used is a part of an awesome illustrative and descriptive life cycle series about a Monarch Butterfly. It is a different caterpillar than the one used in The Very Hungry Caterpillar book but it explains the process of metamorphosis pretty well. The green caterpillar in the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar is pretty similar to a Cecropia Caterpillar or a Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar as listed on this website. Skills Learned: identifying caterpillars/butterflies, reading about life cycles, and learning the process of metamorphosis in a butterfly`s life.

Overall, this was a fun caterpillar week and we learned a lot about caterpillars, life cycles, and metamorphosis through fun and games. We hope you enjoyed our blog post. Please be sure to leave some comments or suggestions for activity ideas.

Take care,
Annie

Tuesday, 1 April 2014

Mosaic styled Artwork at Las Vegas

Monday, 24 March 2014

Spring Art: Butterflies, Butterflies, Butterflies...

Friday, 21 March 2014

Mosaic Art using Paper Scraps

Thursday, 13 March 2014

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Collage

4 Spring Art and Craft Activities

Sunday, 2 March 2014

Recycle Art: Window Collage

Monday, 24 February 2014

Toddler Art using Old Markers

Friday, 14 February 2014

Recycled Paper Weaving Craft

Tuesday, 11 February 2014

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Math and Crafts

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