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Our part of the country (the southeast) has had an unusually cold winter this year. Temperatures have dipped below the normal range almost every week since the first of January; we’ve had three snow/ice storms in the past two months when we usually only see one during the season. Is it any wonder that everyone in our home is looking forward to spring?

This past week we did a fun activity that helped put us in the mood even more. This simple craft is great for all ages, even moms.

Painted Flower Pots

What you’ll need:

• Small clay pots
• Potting soil
• Acrylic Craft Paints
• Smocks or Paint shirts
• Containers filled with water
• Paint Brushes
• Styrofoam plates
• Paper Towels
• Newspaper
• Seeds

Before you begin, cover your table top or painting area with newspaper, allowing for easy clean up. Have each student put on a paint smock or shirt; acrylic paints usually don’t come out of clothing.

Provide each student with a pot, a Styrofoam plate to use as a palette, paintbrushes, a container of water to clean the brushes, and a paper towel to dab the brushes on after they’ve been cleaned.

Tell the students that they will be painting their own designs on the pots. Before beginning, though, have them think about what they want to paint. Do they want to paint spots and stripes? Butterflies? Rainbows? Geometric shapes? Solid colors?

Now instruct the children to begin painting. Have them wash their brushes out when changing colors.

After the students have finished decorating the pots, allow the pots to dry for a few minutes. These acrylic paints dry quickly, so they won’t have to wait too long.

When the pots are dry, show the children how to fill them with potting soil. Provide them with two or three seeds (we used sunflower seeds), and show them how to plant them. A perfect opportunity to learn about the life cycle of plants!

Now add a little water and place the pot in a sunny location. Watch for the new life to push through — and enjoy the first signs of spring!

This week, our kindergarten/first grade co-op class worked on lessons based on the book Three Names by Patricia Maclachlan. The watercolor illustrations offer a lot of art lesson possibilities. Our class chose to work on project about perspective, and it turned out to be a fun exercise that can be adapted for students of various ages.

For this lesson, you’ll need:

• One sheet of watercolor paper
• Masking Tape
• Piece of cardboard (a little larger than the paper)
• Watercolors: green, blue, brown, grey or black, and yellow ochre (golden yellow)
• Watercolor brushes
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Paper Towel

To begin, tape the piece of watercolor paper onto the cardboard backing. When your student paints on the paper, it will tend to buckle; by taping it to the cardboard and allowing it to dry completely, it should flatten out again.

Next, have the student draw a straight HORIZON LINE using a pencil and a ruler. The horizon is the line where the land meets the sky.

Now, instruct your student to choose a point on the line to be the VANISHING POINT. The vanishing point will just be a dot on the horizon line; it’s the place on the horizon where the road will seem to disappear.

Next, have your student draw two diagonal lines from the bottom of the page to the vanishing point. The resulting figure will look like a triangle. This is the road going far away into the distance.

Your child might choose to add other objects to his picture, such as trees or animals. Remember, though, that the closer the objects are, the bigger they will appear to be; the further away they are, the smaller they will appear.

To finish the picture, paint in the sky above the horizon line, and the land on either side of the road green and/or brown. The road could be golden yellow if it’s a dirt path or grey if it’s a highway.

Once your student has finished, be sure to hang up the painting or put it in a portfolio. A job well-done needs to be displayed!

This week, our kindergarten/first grade class read the story Katie and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton. Our craft was a simple but fun snowman picture. If you’ve been experiencing wintery weather lately, give this craft a try.

Supplies:

• Colored cardstock (any color will do, but we used a dark turquoise color)
• White cardstock
• Glue Stick
• Elmer’s glue
• Googley eyes
• Crayons, colored pencils, or markers.
• Pen
• White acrylic craft paint
• Styrofoam plate
• Water in a container
• Two small-medium paint brushes
• Paper towels
• Newspaper
• Scissors
• 3 objects with circular bases, 3 different sizes (i.e. a mug, the lid to a jar, etc.)

To prepare, draw 3 circles of different sizes (small, medium, and large) on a piece of white cardstock using the 3 objects with circular bases. Older students can do this step themselves.

Next, draw a hat (or several different hats if you want to give the student a choice) on the piece of white cardstock. Older students can draw the hat themselves.

Now draw a triangle for the snowman’s “carrot” nose on the white cardstock. Again, older students can draw the nose by themselves.

Have you gathered all of the supplies? Now you’re ready to create your snowman!

1. To begin, color the hat and triangular “carrot” nose with crayons, colored pencils, or makers.

2.  Next, cut out the hat, carrot nose, and 3 circles.

3. Using the glue stick, glue the circles onto the colored cardstock, placing the largest on the bottom, the medium-sized one in the middle, and the smallest on top, forming a snowman.

4. Next, glue the carrot nose onto the face of the snowman. Glue the hat onto the head of the snowman.

5. With a pen, give your snowman a smile. You might also want to draw on arms or buttons.

6. Now it’s time to add the snow! Cover your table top with newspaper. Next, pour a small amount of white paint onto the Styrofoam plate. Dip one brush into the water and then in the paint to dilute it a little bit. Now, hold that brush over your painting and begin tapping the handle of it with the handle of your other brush. The paint will spatter all over your painting, forming the snow flurries.

7. As a final step, glue on the googley eyes using Elmer’s or school glue (this step comes after painting the snow so the eyes won’t get paint on them).

When you’re finished, put it in a safe place to dry, and you can soon hang up your snowy day picture!

Yesterday, I had an art class meet in my home, and I felt like I was well-prepared. I had a plan in place — each student was to create a painting of a pumpkin in watercolor. I had purchased some small ornamental pumpkins from the store, enough so each child could have one. According to my plan, each child would draw a pumpkin on her paper, then use some watercolor techniques to fill it in.

I had thought it through before we began: the students would spend a few minutes drawing the pumpkins, then they’d paint the background a deep, fall-ish brown color with a little green mixed in, and then they’d paint the pumpkin a vibrant orange. The pumpkin would really stand out against a dark background.

But…the one thing I didn’t have on hand was an example. And so I merely explained the plan to the students, and they started to work. Some drew their pumpkins quickly, others more slowly, but they all worked diligently.

Then the first student was ready to paint. I explained my “vision” for the background again, and she replied, “Can I just make a blue sky with some green grass?”

“Well,” I said, a little taken aback, “I guess so. Let’s get out some other colors.”  We did, and she painted a lovely blue sky and green grass. Then she painted her pumpkin.

The next student, who loves horses, asked if she could add a horse to her picture. “Well,” I said, again a little unsure, “I guess so. Let me find a picture of one you can look at.” I pulled out several photos of horses, and she chose the one of a horse laying on the ground. She drew the horse with its neck outstretched, sniffing the pumpkin.

The third student, inspired by the horse photos, decided to add one to her painting too. Her horse was looking over a fence and licking the pumpkin. There were beautiful yellow flowers in long green grass in front of the fence.

The fourth student decided to try my idea with the browns and greens behind the pumpkin. It was a wonderful painting too, but not because of my idea. Like the others, it was an example of the creativity of the young artist. When I stepped out of the way, the students’ personalities came shining through — as each one created the perfect pumpkin.

 About half-way through the summer, when the initial thrill of summertime wears off, my children will come to me and say, “There’s nothing to do!” Now, deep down they know that’s a mistake, because they can always work on schoolwork – practicing their math facts, writing essays, etc. But because I love summer too, I give them a few fun options to choose from:

 1. Read a book by themselves, or read to their little brother.

 2. Make a wordless book. Draw the whole story – no words allowed.

3. Play with play dough. For less than $1 a can (off-brands are even cheaper), it’s an inexpensive way to entertain little ones.

4. Paint their faces (older children can paint their own if they have a mirror). Craft acrylics work well for face paint. Have the children put on old clothes (the paint doesn’t come out of clothing) and give them a couple of colors to choose from. Be sure not to paint around their eyes or mouth.

5.  Play in the sprinkler or hose.

6. Use the hose to make mud pies. Decorate the mud pies with twigs and flowers.

7. Play with bubbles outside. I like to use the large container of bubbles from Wal-Mart and flyswatters. Pour some of the bubbles into a bowl. Give each child a flyswatter to stick into the bubbles. As they wave the flyswatter around, hundreds of tiny bubbles will appear.

8. Make a robot. Use empty boxes, paper towel tubes, and toilet paper tubes. Pull out all of your craft supplies – markers, glue, popsicle sticks, sequins, paper, pom-poms, and see what the kids come up with.

If none of these ideas interest them, they could also:

9. Clean the bathroom.

10. Fold laundry.

11. Sweep outside.

12. Do the dishes.

With these options in the mix, they suddenly find something to do, and the summer fun continues.

This week, I’ve been working on a couple of painting projects for my niece and her husband. They’re building a mini putt-putt golf course, and their opening day is set for May 18.

One of the projects I had to do was to paint a mural of the Grand Canyon on two adjoining walls. Not an easy job, but I had a printed photo to use as a reference, so I thought I was ready to go.

The first day we had some errands to run, and we didn’t arrive at the site until about lunch time. After a late start, I worked on one wall of that mural for hours, stopping around 8 p.m. At first it looked like a big blob, said Cassie; as the mountain began to take shape, it looked more like a volcano, Lillie insisted. Despite all of my efforts, I decided she was right. Perhaps this Grand Canyon would only be adequate.

The next morning, before we headed to the putt-putt place, we searched the internet for a better reference picture. We found one, and when I went back to work on the mural, I decided to start on the second wall. In just a little while I had another mountain up – and it looked like a mountain from the canyon. The color scheme was totally different, though, and the two walls didn’t match at all.

It didn’t take long to figure out the first painting had to be re-done – covered over entirely with lighter colors. All eight hours worth of work from the previous day had to go. But some great lessons were learned in the process:

1. Find a decent reference picture before beginning a mural of the Grand Canyon and

 2. When you do a job, do it the very best you can, even if you have to do it over.

 Even if my children don’t learn the first lesson, I want them to learn the second. They saw me work hard on the painting the first day, and then they helped me paint right over it on the second. 

 It’s turning out to be a grand canyon after all.

Once a week, I teach art lessons from my home to homeschool students. Most of our projects involve drawing or painting from life or photographs. But as we are finishing up the classes for this year, we decided it would be fun to have a day of abstract art.

I have a class of boys ages nine to twelve that meets every other Tuesday, so yesterday we gave modern art a try. We used several different methods of painting the masterpieces, the best being spatter painting. It was an easy and (according to the boys) a very enjoyable project. This is what we did:

1. First, each student put on a paint shirt if they weren’t wearing old clothes. Painting can get messy!

2. Then, for each student, I supplied a half sheet of posterboard to paint on. We went outside and nailed the posterboard to a tree with just one nail in the center at the top.

3. Next, they chose the colors they wanted for their paintings. We used craft acrylic paints, and they squeezed them out onto styrofoam plates (their palettes).

4. The students then chose the brush or brushes they wanted to use. I had a container on the ground with brushes of all sizes, including larger house-painting brushes. I also had a container of water available for them to wash out their brushes when they needed to.

5. Then the paint went flying! Each boy stood in front of his paper and spattered the paint by using quick flips of the wrist.

It was interesting to me to see how deliberate the boys were in their choice of colors and where they made the paint go. Each painting was a unique original, and, by the boys’ reactions, a lot of fun to create!