Chalk - 2 Ways

Continuing with our summer theme, we worked with colored sidewalk chalk. Our first creation started with a sheet of white cardstock and drawing with chalk in at least two colors and all over the paper. I had the kids take turns and trade the pieces of chalk, as to encourage speech and socialization skills. Then, we took turns spritzing our papers with a spray bottle filled with water. The chalk simulated a watercolor effect.  

 

Our second piece of art started with black construction paper. We always start each new paper by writing our name on the back. This is difficult with our paper choice today, so we wrote on white paper, cut it out, and glued it to the back. Our routine is still in tact, phew. I passed out small cups filled with water and then the chalk pieces. This time we dipped the chalk into the water and then drew on our paper. This made the colors more vibrant and saturated. While the paper was still wet we drizzled glue and sprinkled glitter.

Red, White & Blue Sensory Art

So, in preparation for the 4th of July weekend we made some red, white and blue art inspired by fireworks this week. We worked mainly with tempera paint in hot pink, white and blue with painting tools that were not your normal paintbrushes.

 

 

I passed around a large Ziploc bag filled with bendy straws and everyone was asked to choose five. We held them together and taped them with masking tape right by the bend. Then the straws were bent out into a starburst pattern.

 

 

We passed around paper plates of paint, dipped our strawburst and then stamped it onto our construction paper (some stamped and some smeared; we make sure to comment about these differences during our show and tell portion of each session)

 

 

I had premade some pompom daubers by pinching different size pompoms with clothespins and secured them with masking tape.

 

 

And this project we used pipe cleaners to create our firework effect. 

 

 

 

We made the "fireworks" with paint and the pipe cleaner tool, and the dauber we used glue and sprinkled with glitter to finish.

 



 

I am always amazed at the individuality of each painting, even though we use the same limited amount of supplies!

It's Spring!

As of 12:57 pm yesterday we are officially in Spring! Even though we had several inches ow snow fall on Monday, it is nice to know that warmer weather is soon around the corner.

 To celebrate I planned a 'Seasons' art project for my group today. Here are the masterpieces!

We started with a printout of four trees that I made. I do minimal preparation with materials, so the kids have as many opportunities to practice their fine motor skills, as well as follow instructions. The spring trees were decorated with tissues paper squares that were crumpled into small balls, summer trees with green construction paper that was pinched and torn into small pieces, fall trees had strips of scrapbooking paper prepared with cut marks on the back for them, winter trees with cotton balls and optional glitter. We used both glue sticks and white glue to adhere the materials to the tree.