If you are looking for a super-successful step-by-step Mayflower drawing, head right over to Art Projects for Kids. I downloaded Kathy Barbro’s excellent instructions and taught the lesson to our third graders. Result: 100% success!!!! CLICK HERE for the instructions.
I absolutely love Crayola Color Sticks for this project. The white sails really stands out on the light brown paper. Kids can layer colors, or create bright solid color areas using heavy hand pressure.
Have a happy holiday!
Enjoy!
If you are looking for a whole-class art project, artprojectsforkids.org also has nice downloadable murals for all the holidays.
Second grader’s food collage includes a carrot, egg and celery.
Are you looking for an engaging collage project? Try this ‘feast on a plate’ felt food collage project from San Diego’s New Children’s Museum.
I recently toured the Museum’s new food-themed exhibit FEAST: The Art of Playing with Your Food. I found a group of children at an art-making station, happily creating their own collage feasts out of colorful cut felt. I saw felt eggs, bacon, celery, blueberries, and mini-waffles all arranged and glued to paper plates.
Third grader’s plate includes bacon and mini-waffles created from felt and other fabric scraps.
Food sculptures made by rolling fabric and wrapping with yarn (teacher example).
This would be a fabulous idea for a Thanksgiving feast art project!
Whether you are a parent or a teacher, be sure to check out the New Children’s Museum when you visit San Diego. The museum offers art-making activities for children EVERY DAY. I wrote more about the museum in this post and this post.
I never tried face paint…until this Halloween. I’d seen face painters at festivals creating beautiful designs. Could I do that?
Way back in March, I received a big swag bag of sample art supplies from Col Art. Included were two types of Snazaroo face paint. I tested them out on some kids for Halloween.
First up: Snazaroo face paint sticks Snazaroo Face Painting Sticks. There six colors in the pack. They feel a bit like oil pastels. They are ready to use right out of the package – no water required. You need to warm these in your hand to get them to glide over the skin. I used them to dress up three boys – they were happy with the results. They were quick and easy to use, and you can decorate a lot of faces quickly.
You cannot get a fine line with these paint sticks. They are good for quick, simple stripes of color. I think they would be great for a class play or birthday party.
The boys got quick face paint with Snazaroo face paint sticks. Their sister wears a butterfly painted with Snazaroo cream face paint and face paint sticks.
Next I tested out the cream face paint in the Snazaroo Face Paint Butterfly Mini Kit. These paints need to be applied with a dampened sponge or brush (included in the kit). I loved these face paints – the colors were rich and they glided over the face. I painted a quick butterfly on a girls face. I like the enclosed sponge, but I wasn’t wild about the brush. Bring your own eye liner make up brush or get the Snazaroo Face Painting Brushes to make finer lines.
I layered the face paint sticks over the cream paint. It looked great, the little girl was happy with her results.
If I were going to paint faces at a festival, I would go with the cream face paint. I think I could get beautiful, elegant results with a little practice.
P. loves her butterfly, painted with Snazaroo cream face paint.
L. is the fiercest kindergartener ever! He is wearing the Snazaroo face paint sticks.
How do you remove face paint? My online research says try tepid water and baby shampoo. Gently wash the face – do not scrub! You could also try baby oil on a cotton ball.
Thanks to Col Art for providing the Snazaroo face paints. You made a bunch of kids happy on Halloween! I will definitely use these again.
Imagine a warm fall day in the mountains. Now imagine a bunch of art teachers walking among the trees and gathering leaves, acorns, dried grasses, and branches. That describes our Tree Huggers outdoor art workshop offered at CAEA Southern Area Conference, held amidst the pines at Idyllwild, California.
Our sculptures were inspired by the Tree Hugger Project by Agnieszka Gradzik and Wiktor Szostalo. Tree Hugger Project installations feature large-scale figures created from branches and vines gathered on site. Copenhagen, St. Louis and New York City have had Tree Hugger Project installations.
Workshop participants created their own tree huggers using gathered cones, grasses, and branches. The instructor provided corn husks and raffia to bind the figures.
When doing this project with children, you may want to let them gather for a set amount of time. Just in case, you may want to have extra branches and leaves on hand.
Art teachers had a great time making these sculptures. Imagine how Tree Huggers would look in your town, created from your own regional (and seasonal) gathered materials.
Thanks to our instructor, Dr. Kenneth Sakatani, for leading the Tree Hugger workshop at CAEA Southern Area Conference.
If you are looking for a creative way to integrate art and text, consider the iPad app Type Drawing. I learned how to use this app in just a few minutes at the iPad workshop at the CAEA Southern Area conference.
I started out by finding an image of a Garibaldi fish on Google. I saved it to my iPad camera roll. Next I opened the Type Drawing app and opened the fish photo. To create an image, I selected text (I chose ‘fin’, ‘gill’, ‘tail’ etc.) and traced my finger on the screen. Look carefully – all the lines are composed of words!
I matched the text colors to the fish using the eyedropper tool. I played around with the background color too.
Here is a piece of middle school artwork shared by our instructor, art teacher Lyn Gardner.
Type Drawing flower by Kylie C., created when she was an 8th grade student at Valley Christian Middle School.
Want to see even more Type Drawing artworks? Look at these beautiful illustrations from Gardens by the Bay in Singapore.
Beautiful Type Drawing art from Gardens by the Bay in Singapore
Type Drawing is not a free app, but it is a nice, easy to use typographic art tool.
Thanks to our instructor, art teacher Lyn Gardner, for presenting Type Drawing at the California Art Education Association Southern Area Conference in Idyllwild.
. These paints need to be applied with a dampened sponge or brush (included in the kit). I loved these face paints – the colors were rich and they glided over the face. I painted a quick butterfly on a girls face. I like the enclosed sponge, but I wasn’t wild about the brush. Bring your own eye liner make up brush or get the 
to make finer lines.
