The Art Box – November 30, 2009

November 30, 2009

In the Art Box last week: scrap paper (including patterned paper, half a paper plate, construction paper scraps, tissue paper), some car pictures torn from a magazine, sponge, craft leaves, bubble wrap, glitter glue, glue in a bottle, gluestick, watercolors, foam stickers, paint brushes, scissors, flat piece of styrofoam, watercolor pencils, and tempera paints.

I know this sounds like a lot of stuff. I just pick up whatever catches my eye when I’m going through my art and craft stashes. The truth is M was interested in very little of it this week. I thought it might be neat to paint on the styrofoam, but he just wanted to saw it up with his toy saw. :)

And he only wanted to pop the bubbles on the bubble wrap. After he popped all of them he did put some stickers on it for a funky collage: I always get a laugh from how this kind of thing keeps him occupied… so I just let him keep at it.

He experimented a little bit with my watercolor pencils. He didn’t have great success with this, I’m wondering if I should get him some watercolor crayons. Do any of you have them? Here’s what he made with the pencils and a little water:

He was very into painting this week. He was producing one painting after another. Some were watercolors:

Some were tempera:

I found a way to have a small amount of tempera paints in his box for him. I bought this at Dollar Tree: It’s a pill organizer. We take off the entire lid (instead of one section at a time), and M has this: It’s perfect for his box. It has enough room for all the primary colors and an extra spot for white. He was very excited to see this.

Show us what your little artists did… Link up below!

Have a beautiful day! :)

The Art Box – Nov. 23, 2009

**Update**This post originally had a few link-ups and comments and then... well it got deleted. There's a long story behind this that isn't very interesting, but would explain to you how blog-ignorant I am sometimes. :) I finally was able to re-post this post, but all the comments and links to other art box posts from other bloggers are gone forever. (Sounds so very sad, doesn't it?) We will try again next week! Just wanted to explain in case any of you are wondering why your links aren't showing up!

In the art box last week: Do-a-dot painters, coffee filters, new stamps and stamp pads, glitter glue, feathers, cotton balls, craft sticks, cardboard tube, Elmer Color Slicks, construction paper, newsprint, “zig-zag” scissors, scrap paper, paintbrushes, a couple of pictures with watercolor strips (craft?), and q-tips. (All put together on Mommy’s bed, the secret art box center.)

M is still enjoying his art box, and went to it or asked for it at least once a day last week.

He still loved the zig-zag scissors and cut up a storm – no pictures this time. Really, a pile of cut paper one week looks pretty much like a pile of cut paper the next week. ;)

He loved seeing the Color Slicks out. We haven’t used them for a long time, and with good reason… they are extremely messy. They make beautiful, brilliant colors and draw even more smoothly than oil pastels, but ugh. Chunks break off and stick to things and then you step on one and track color through the house… and well, you get the idea. Here’s his lovely picture: They are so much fun, but I can’t recommend them. If they bother me because of the mess, believe me, they are REALLY messy. I actually took them out of the art box halfway through the week.

I added a little something I found at Michael’s over the weekend:Now, this is not completely child-directed art, but I don’t feel it’s a “craft” either… these coloring pages of animals have strips of dry watercolors along the bottoms. I showed M how to dip a q-tip in water, rub it on a color, then paint the picture. I feel that one “fun” thing to find in his art box that he can do by himself can add to his enjoyment and teach him something new. He’s never painted with q-tips before and he thought this was a lot of fun.

He actually asked for his watercolors (which I was happy to trade for the Slicks) and throughout the week made these paintings: Water colors were definitely the big hit of the week, and he has really progressed with his knowledge of how to make them lighter or darker. I love it when he learns something all on his own! He was especially fascinated with the black paint.

He loves the do-a-dot painters, and I was hoping he’d pair them up with the coffee filters, but for whatever reason he wasn’t interested in the filters at all. He used the dots on newsprint: He did enjoy seeing what some of the colors made when they were put on top of one another.

He asked for foam stickers too. I guess he had his own ideas of what he wanted in his box this time! He made this little collage with some glitter glue (still a huge favorite, and almost completely gone): Well, apparently that photo was taken pre-glitterization. I’m not taking a new one now, so you’ll have to use your imagination. :) Sparkly!

He did make a collage with some paper. I think he was experimenting with the glue here… remember the product isn’t the point (thank goodness!):

And that’s it for the week. I thought he’d do something with the cardboard tube, but all he did was cut it a little bit and stick it on the railing on the basement stairs like a sleeve. :) No picture of that either, although he was very proud of himself for doing it! Silly boy.

I can’t wait to see the art your little ones made!! Link up below!

Have a beautiful day! :)

The Art Box MckLinky – Guidelines

Yes, you've already seen this post. :) I'm adding a little bit to it, so I'm re-posting it.

One of our favorite art authors is Mary Ann Kohl. In her book, Scribble Art, she writes the following:

"I like to say, 'Process not Product', which means: the doing, exploring, creating, and attempting of new ideas is more important than the result of your creativity. you may end up with a painting resembling a muddy smear, but if you tried something new, learned something interesting, or discovered how paint acts, then you had a successful art process. The product is not as important.

Think of your art as 'experiments'. Some things will look great and others won't, but what you learn and discover in the process is worth so much more than perfect looking results."

I just want to put out some basic guidelines and I’m open to hearing about anything you think I’m missing.

The MckLinky will be open beginning with the Monday morning post and will close the following Sunday at midnight. I will be posting about what M created the previous week, as this is just easier for me and gives me more time to create a post over the weekend. You may do what works best for you… you can do the same as me, or you can link up your post anytime throughout the week and have it be for what your child made that week, if that is easier for you!

Some basic guidelines for your post:

1. An “art box” is not necessary. If you have a corner that your child uses for art, post about what they made there!

2. Change some of the items you provide for your child on a regular basis, and in your post be sure to list what you gave them! We’ll all get great ideas from each other! I’ll be adding (and subtracting) items on a weekly basis, and I think this will most likely be the best way to keep them interested.

3. Have your art box out all week long, or just one day, or bring it out when your child needs “something to do”… whatever works for you!

4. Let the art be completely child-directed. Let them know that this is for them to do whatever they want to do. I encouraged M to look through his art box and see all the neat things that were in there. Be very positive and encouraging. I also tell M that if there’s anything he needs for a project that he doesn’t see in his box, to ask me and I will supply it for him if we have it.

5. Take pictures and let us ooh and aah over what they’ve done! M loves to see his artwork published on the blog!

6. Please link your post (not your main blog page) to the MckLinky, and link back to this site somewhere in your post. I made a new button and it is below if you would like to include it. :)

7. I'm OK with an occasional craft, if say, you found a cheap one somewhere and it's something your little artist can do independently and would be a nice little surprise in their art box. (And yes, I'm adding this because I did find some things like this that I think will really be fun for M to find once in a while). Let's say no more than one per week. And, again, it should be something they can do by themselves and add their own touch to.

<center><a href="http://tiredneedsleep.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Art%20Box"><img border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_-U_B1j1OuRo/SwMNpJrCfvI/AAAAAAAABR8/Zc2bDwlkNzI/paint%20palette.png" /></a></center>

{A tip that has worked for us… praise the finished artwork (within reason). Make a big deal over it and say things like, “you must be so proud of that! It’s so unique!” Hee hee, they love hearing new, big words associated with something they’ve done. This really is encouragement for next time around, for those little ones that need it!}

It’s been suggested that maybe a name other than “The Art Box” could be used in order to highlight the idea that it’s child-directed art. Any suggestions? Honestly, The Art Box is what I hear in my head, simply because that’s what we call it, and I’m having trouble coming up with something else that’s kind of catchy too. So, help me out… let me know if you have any ideas!

Have a beautiful day! :)

The Art Box – Nov. 16

  In the art box last week:  leftover gel paints, watercolors, feathers, glue, scraps of tissue paper, foam, and construction paper, stamps and ink pads, colored pasta, scrapbook pinking scissors, craft sticks, stickers, and glitter glue. :)
This time I left the art box out for M for most of the week.   He was excited to see it again and could hardly believe his good luck when I explained that he could come make something anytime he wanted to.  Seriously, he was very happy about this… I should’ve started this a long time ago!
He did spend a good chunk of time with it when I first put it out, but still came back to it several times during the week.  I replenished his paper supply as needed.
So, here’s what he did:
When he first saw the colored pasta he said, “And are there things buried in it, Mommy?!!”  Apparently the I spy sensory tub needs to come out again soon. :)  After I explained that he could glue the pasta onto paper and make a collage, or think of something else to make with it, he just said, “Can I have some little cars please?”  So I got a couple of cars for him, and this is what he spent the next 10 minutes doing: Not really what I had in mind, but ok.
Soon he moved onto the watercolors:I tried to show him how to get more paint on his brush and not use so much water, but he liked his painting the way it was.
Then he found the glitter glue (again!), and this time he took the tips off and globbed it onto the paper.  :) 
He painted some more with the leftover gel paints from the previous week: These are so pretty, and perfect for putting in his art box.  I’ll have to buy some more, or figure out how to put some of our regular tempera paints in his box without it being an out and out disaster.   Hmmm.
He stamped:

More glitter glue exploring, this time with the tips back on:

There’s not a lot of great art here, mainly because he spent almost all his time, every time, doing this: He was absolutely fascinated with the scrapbook “zig-zag” scissors.   Here’s how much he loved them: And that’s only part of the pile!  I should probably mention here that I tested these scissors on my own fingers before putting them in his art box.  They are pretty dull and he’s very experienced with scissors.  I was around to supervise too, never far away.  We always go over safety rules when scissors are going to be used, and I have never had a problem with him.
I really think he would’ve been happy just cutting paper for hours.  However, we needed to clear the table off and so he quickly made this:

This was all I captured with photos.   There was a very cute sticker collage he made and hung in the window “for the birdies to look at” but it got taken down before I could get a picture, as well as a few other things. 
I have some great ideas for his next art box and I’m excited to see what he does!
Hey, does anyone want to do a little McLinky dance with me on this? :)  It’s turning out to be such a hit with M, and several of you mentioned trying something similar with your little ones… so think about it and if anyone is interested, let me know! 
I’m planning on writing these posts every Monday and they will cover what M did during the previous week.  I’m thinking if others join in we could get a lot of art supplies ideas to provide for our kids, and just have fun admiring all their masterpieces!  Of course they wouldn’t  have to be boxes… if you mix things up for your child and change out their art supplies once in a while, regardless of where they are kept, I’d love to hear about it!
Have a beautiful day! :)

The Art Box

 (M peering into the art box to see all the *stuff*)

We have a very small house and there just isn’t space enough for M to have his art supplies available to him at any time.  Normally I have something planned each day for him to do – usually some sort of painting or gluing activity.  He does have access to markers, crayons, colored pencils, a glue stick, scissors, and paper, and he does a lot of cutting and drawing, but I just feel there’s a lot more that he could be experimenting with.
Now that he’s three I’ve been thinking about giving him a bit more freedom with art supplies, but I don’t want him digging through my art stash all the time and driving me nuts with the mess.  So I came up with the “art box”.
It’s just a cheap $1.00 dishpan-type tub from Dollar Tree.  I filled it up with some random art supplies (should’ve gotten a good picture of it before he dug through it) – colored paper, newsprint, torn tissue paper, foam stickers, oil pastels, a strip of crayola gel paints, glue, scissors, craft sticks, pipe cleaners, glitter glue, googley eyes… maybe a couple of other things that I’m forgetting.
I put it on the kitchen table and told him, “This is your new art box!  You can make anything you want with any of the things in here.  Come look at all the stuff!”  I pointed out a few things to him and he was definitely interested.  He kept grabbing things and saying, “I want to do this!”, like he thought I must have some sort of project in mind… so I kept telling him, “You have to think of what YOU want to do – you can make anything you want and if you need something that isn’t in the box, let me know and I’ll see if I can get it for you.”
So, he got busy.  First he wanted to make the craft sticks into an airplane.  He showed me where they should be cut and then I helped him glue them together: (Sorry for the huge close-up, not sure what I was thinking.)  It pretty much stayed like this.  I’ll see if he wants to decorate it in a couple of days.  And, can I just say, I was totally impressed that he knew how to make an airplane and knew where I should cut.  Wow.  He sure surprises me sometimes!
Next, he saw the glitter glue and thought he was in heaven.  He grabbed some paper and did a little experimenting: Who doesn’t love glitter glue?!
At this point I was actually able to leave him and get a few things done in another room (yes!), with the understanding that he should not get down until he called for me so I could make sure he didn’t need to be cleaned up.  Sometimes it’s easier to let him create freely if I’m not actually there to watch the process. ;)
He also apparently saw the glue bottle, because when I came back he had made this: Not sure what it is, but that’s an awful lot of glue for a couple of googley eyes. :) 
He asked for some beads to put on the pipe cleaners, so I found our pony bead stash and he strung some on.  He wanted to make shapes, so when he was done he told me the shape and I helped him form it: Later he hung them on the window tie-back. :)  For some reason this is his favorite place to hang things.  
He made a sticker collage with the foam stickers:
And colored a bit with the oil pastels:
He painted with his roll-on painters over some stencils (he asked me for the roll-on painters and the tape to hold the stencil down):
Then he wanted to open the gel paints.  I gave him some paintbrushes that are quite a bit smaller than what he is used to, we pulled a piece of cardstock out of the art box, and he made this:I was stunned when I came back to see this – I think it’s absolutely beautiful and one of my favorite paintings ever.  (I love it so much I turned it into a button for my blog over there on the left!) 
He spent 2 hours with his art box and I was able to get a lot done, even with checking on him and supplying him with the extras he asked for.
He surprised me over and over again with his creative thinking and I was so proud of him.  The art box will come out on a weekly basis, if not a daily one.  I just have to keep it well stocked.  There is such a variety of things to put in it I don’t think I’ll have trouble with that.  I’m excited to see what else he comes up with, and just had to share this with all of you!
Have a beautiful day! :)