Valentine Art Box

Let the Valentine-making begin!!

Whew, that’s a lot of pink and red!

I’m keeping it simple this year – just a few basic supplies.  I am neither in the mood nor energetic enough to do a lot of art cleaning up right now.

In our box this year… red and pink construction paper (cut in half); Valentine stickers – regular, foam, and scented (yum!); a couple of paper punches – a heart and a swirl, glitter in pink, purple, and an iridescent white; scissors, glue, a container of sequins and googley eyes (there are regular-shaped sequins and heart-shaped sequins); markers in shades of pink, purple, and red; a kit of foam finger puppet valentines (from Target dollar spot).

The foam finger puppet kit is basically this craft that we did a couple of years ago:(Target, quit stealing ideas from my blog – this is not the first time I’ve seen something we’ve done made into a neat little kit and placed in your aisles.)  (What?  Other people might have the same ideas because mine are not that original?  Nonsense!)

Happy month o’ love, everyone!

Have a beautiful day! :)

Preschool Arts and Crafts – Valentine Suncatcher and Art Box supplies

Suncatcher Craft

Honestly, we are in some sort of suncatcher rut around here.  M loves hanging things in the windows “for the birdies to see”, (never mind that our stinker of a red squirrel has pretty much chased away all the birds and other squirrels – grrr).  But if you search for “suncatcher” or “sun catcher” (because I like variety in my spelling) on my blog I bet you’d get 50 hits.  Or somewhere around 10 or so, maybe.  But it feels like 50.

Anyway, they are pretty, right? :)

For this little craft we used black paper, tissue paper scraps in a few colors, a black marker, scissors, and contact paper.

I folded the paper several times and drew half hearts on the folds here and there: 

I always love to give M a little scissor practice, and he thinks it is so cool to open up the hearts.Last year I set out folded scrapbook paper with half hearts drawn on his activity shelves, and he happily sat and cut out about 20 hearts, acting surprised each time. :)  Oh, the joy that was 3 years old.

Cut a piece of contact paper that is slightly smaller than your black paper, and stick it on to the front of your paper.  Flip it over and stick on the tissue paper pieces. 

M wanted purple, but we didn’t have any, so I showed him how to make purple by layering the bright pink with the blue. 

When it’s finished, flip it over to the front, and hang it in a window. :)

 

ART BOX supplies for Valentine’s Day

Last year, M was still making valentines for everyone he knows well into March. :)  So I decided to get a Valentine Art Box ready for him right away this month.  I don’t really post about his Art Box much anymore, but it is still a significant part of almost every day.

(My craft/school supply room is also our exercise room.  So, yes, that is a treadmill that the art box is sitting on.  It’s the most use it’s gotten in months, hee hee.)

I spread everything out to give you a good look:In the Art Box: paper doilies, markers, regular and craft scissors, buttons, a variety of stamps (including several trucks to “man it up” a bit, hee hee), stamp pads, several patterned papers (the little ones on top are metallic and I cut them into smaller pieces to get more use out of them), watercolor pencils, pom poms, pony beads, glitter foam cut into heart shapes, regular sequins and heart-shaped sequins, googley eyes, foam heart stickers, ribbons and rick-rack cut into small pieces, craft punches, and glitter glue.  There’s also regular white and colored construction paper in the box, as well as glue and watercolor paints.

Let the Valentine-making begin! :)

I’m linking this up to Kids Get Crafty!

Have a beautiful day! :)

 

The Art Box

This is the final Art Box post.

M is at a point now where he’s drawing the same thing over and over and over again.  And then one more time.  He still loves his art box, perhaps more now than ever, and gets it out at least once a day.  But I feel that the quality of the posts I’m writing about this aren’t worth the time and effort I put into them.  I will continue to take pictures of his artwork for his little memory box and of course we’ll save some of it.  I just won’t be posting about it every week.  I am hoping to do at least one, maybe two, structured art projects with him per week that I’ll try to post about.  Or maybe one art project, and one craft project, depending on the season (and my need to craft ;) ).

So, for an ending note, I thought I’d share with you about the variety of things that go into M’s art box and how I switch them out each week.  Occasionally, when I’m feeling brave, I let him into my craft drawers to pick his own supplies for the week. :)  

There are some art basics that are always in the box, which I replenish as needed. 

BASIC ART SUPPLIES:

1. paper – usually this is a combination of newsprint and construction paper.  For a change once in a while I add in some colorful tissue paper, fun foam, scraps of wrapping paper, or aluminum foil.
2. scissors – the safety kind for children are always in his box.  I also add in one or two pairs of my craft scissors (with fancy designs) from time to time.
3. glue – basic white school glue.  If interest in gluing wanes, adding a few drops of food coloring to the bottle and shaking it up (or stirring it in with the pointy end of a small paintbrush) can revive interest pretty quickly!  Glitter glue is always a big hit too!
4. drawing utensils – this can be crayons, oil pastels, markers, colored pencils, gel pens, chalk, etc.  Lately there have been two to three of these in his box at one time – did I mention a lot of drawing has been going on here?
5. paints – fairly non-messy paints include watercolors, roll-on paints, and do-a-dot painters.  I also have a small pill container that I keep a little tempera paint in.  It has seven sections – perfect for the six primary and secondary colors, plus white.  M has been painting since he was born (well, maybe not quite that early) and isn’t all that messy anymore.  For a younger child, or one that hasn’t painted much, the temperas should be used under supervision, for the sake of mom’s sanity. ;)
6. paintbrushes – chunky and big, as well as thin and small.  Foam paintbrushes are a fun change too, as is a mini paint roller.
7. collage materials – this can be just about anything.  Torn pieces of paper, catalogs (Christmas ones are lots of fun!), tissue paper, fabric pieces, or ribbons.  I also keep a small divided container in M’s art box and it’s usually filled some combination of the following items:
   1. pom poms
   2. googley eyes
   3. buttons
   4. beads (usually pony beads or foam beads)
   5. sequins
   6. shapes from craft punches
   7. dyed macaroni
   8. glass mosaic pieces (like what you find in stepping stone kits)
   9. seashells
   10. cotton balls

Extras – depending on space, I try to have a couple of the following extra items in his art box each week:

1. craft sticks
2. pipe cleaners
3. stickers – foam or regular, occasionally something fancy like pop-up stickers
4. tape – colored, scotch, double stick, masking, or electrical
5. glitter
6. play dough that is just beginning to get old (this is great for making sculptures to stick things into!), or is being replaced by new play dough
7. something new to paint – like a wooden train car, airplane, or those bendable wooden snakes and crocodiles; small ceramic or plaster items would be fun too 
8. stencils
9. stamps
10. feathers
11. new things to paint with – a bath pouf, crumpled plastic wrap, porcupine balls, potato masher, small cars with that make neat tread marks – just about anything will work for this!

I know there are many, many more things that could be added to this list.  If you have a favorite that isn’t here, leave it in the comments!  One of the reasons I started writing these posts was to share ideas and get ideas from other mamas so our Art Box would always hold something interesting for M.  I’d love to hear about your child’s favorite art supply!

Have a beautiful day! :)

The Art Box – Nov. 1, 2010

M’s love for drawing has really taken off lately, and I’m enjoying seeing all the interesting things he makes.  Smiley faces and hearts are prevalent right now, but he also throws in a car here and there, or sometimes he draws an entire story.  Being 4 is amazing! :)

I’m guessing smiles and hearts are a way of saying he’s happy. :)

He continues to gather leaves and make leaf people… or leaf creatures like these guys: 

A “pom pom boat in the water”:

A “pom pom duck in the water”:

M in the swimming pool at a hotel with his float ring on, and a woman coming in at the door (we were at a hotel recently where M had an exceptional amount of fun in the pool):

A “car on a road on a hill”, with smiley faces on the wheels: 

M and his cousin S:

My favorite of the week – Daddy swinging M, while a mommy mouse kisses her baby mouse; it even shows M’s slide and ladder:

Have any children’s art work you’d like to share?  Link it up below!  Remember to link back here somewhere in your post!

Have a beautiful day! :)

 

The Art Box – Oct. 25, 2010

I really need to get back in the habit of letting M choose his own supplies for the week from my craft stash, but that would mean re-organizing my craft stash which somehow has turned into a big mess in the last few weeks, and I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.   I put out many of our “regular” items for the Art Box this week, but M really was only interested in his roller paints:

We actually have the primary color ones,
but the ones pictured above were
the only ones available on Amazon. 

M’s cousin S spent two days with us last week and in the days before she came he spent hours drawing pictures with these rollers and making art for her.  Most of the pictures are of he and she together.  Note that several of them have hearts.  M loves “little cousin S” very, very much!  (He calls her “little cousin S___”, even though she is 2 years older than him. :) )

The one above has their names written on it – see all the letters?  M just can’t seem to remember that the letters should be in a row to actually spell something, not just scattered around the paper. :)

He did this one by stamping with porcupine balls dipped in tempera.  

So, I guess there was a tiny bit more than roller paints going on. :)

Since the Art Box is all about child-directed art with no mama input, I try to get M anything extra he wants or needs (if I have it) that he asks for.  He did a contact paper collage with a variety of “stuff” on it a year or two ago; he has the original hanging in his room, and apparently it caught his eye at some point and he begged to do another one.          

I put together this little tray of items for him: foil, glitter foam cut into pieces, ribbons, yarn, fabric scraps, tissue paper, construction paper, pom poms, sequins, foam beads, and little sponge shapes (from those capsules you melt in warm water):

I hung some contact paper on the wall, sticky side out, and he worked on it for close to an hour.  He used scissors to cut the yarn and paper to just the right size and very carefully arranged everything:                                                          I love how it turned out!

Have any children’s art work you’d like to share?  Link it up below!  Remember to link back here somewhere in your post!

Have a beautiful day! :)

 

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The Art Box – Oct. 18, 2010

No picture of the Art Box this week.  We all just need to just be ok with that, don’t you think?  ;)

But I do remember what M had in there:  regular tempera paints, watercolor paints, paper, glue, scissors, tape, stickers, markers, some empty ribbon spools, and red and gold glitter glue.  Also, some collage items: pom poms, buttons, googley eyes, confetti, beads, dyed macaroni.  These are the staples we usually go with (except for the glitter glue and ribbon spools), so nothing too exciting!

He is LOVING his new art strings.  All four of them are practically full at this point, and there’s still art taped to the walls in random areas.  Since the purpose of the art strings was to minimize the amount of art randomly taped to the walls throughout the house, I’d have to say they have been a huge failure.

However, did I mention that he LOVES the art strings?  So, my guess is he’s going to be asking for more art strings, and then our house will look like… I don’t know… like the reason why Mama is crazy, I guess.  Sigh.

Anyway – on to what he made this week…

Another birthday present for Daddy (in addition to the collage last week):

 

I sent M packing on his first guilt trip, and asked him why he never makes anything for Mommy, even though I had a birthday last week too.  I made him feel bad and got these two pieces of artwork out of it:

 Those are hearts!  Cute, no? 
I don’t see any hearts on Daddy’s artwork! Hee Hee.

And another heart with a very cute smiley face.  An M for M and an M for Mommy. :)  Now I’m happy.
Although, I’m not sure, but I think he just used scrap paper for mine – see the chunks cut out?

Some art string artwork:

Experimenting with white on red:

This is my favorite:

The next one is my least favorite.  Can you see the face with a frown on it in the lower left?  That was because Mommy was crabby that day (I asked him about it and that’s what he said!).  You can imagine how awful that made me feel.  However, it does go to prove that he’s able to work out his feelings with his art, and in my mind that’s one of the most important and beneficial things about art in early childhood.  And he was better able to talk about his feelings when referring to the art he’d made.  And of course, there was a big lesson for me there too:  I’M A BAD MOMMY.

Oh wait, maybe it’s more like I’LL TRY TO BE A BETTER MOMMY AND GET MORE SLEEP. ;)   

If you have a kid's art post, link it up below! Be sure to link back here somewhere in your post.

Have a beautiful day! :)