My Dad recently received this amazing gift that I thought you would be interested in seeing! My Dad went in for some serious surgery a few weeks ago and a group of quilters from his church made him this beautiful quilt! The reason it is so special is that the quilt is made up of square of HIS pen and ink drawings. Every year, my Dad draws many pen & ink drawings of places he visits on vacation and of … Read more…
Earlier I wrote a tutorial on how to make sailboats from milk cartons. My 1st grade students have finished making their sailboats. Here are some of their finished projects! After the boats were made, the students drew pictures of their boats. I had stuffed animals available if they wanted to draw a stuffed animal in the boat. Have you ever made boats with your kids?
My 1st graders are working on these fun boats now to go along with their explorer unit. Okay, I know they are not really explorer ships, but we can pretend, right? And they are so fun and cute. The kids love them! How to Make a Boat:  Gather empty milk cartons from the lunch room. Wash and wash again to get rid of all those icky germs. Let dry overnight.  Use a utility knife to cut the milk carton down … Read more…
What did I do on our two “cold” days off school this week? Well, besides snuggling under the warm covers and working on some school work, my 4 year old and I made some canvas collages for her bedroom. While I would not necessarily recommend this for a project in an art class, I see no problem introducing appropriation in the context of Pop Art. After all, Andy Warhol used cartoons in his famous art. I observed a really awesome … Read more…
Over the weekend, our school had a book fair at Barnes & Noble. There were musical performances by the students, story book read-alouds and an author visit. A percentage of the sales went to our school to buy books for our library. It was great fun and I think we will get a significant amount of books for our school! I was asked to have a craft table with a holiday theme. I decided we would make ornaments and pins. … Read more…
For those of you who celebrate, I hope you all have a very warm and happy Thanksgiving with your family.
Every year my sister-in-law hosts an Easter bonnet party. All of the guest come with Easter bonnets that were homemade and there is a contest for the wildest or most artistic hat. The crazier, the better! This would be fun to do for other holidays. Maybe you could create a 4th of July hat or a Christmas hat! Start with a base hat. The pink hat we bought from Target and my hat we bought from Michael’s craft store. Tie … Read more…
I received an email from Carrie Birmingham of Pepperdine University about teaching art. She teaches a general education course. She proposed a number of questions about teaching art that she would like to share with her university students. Here is what she writes: “The students I have will be general ed classroom teachers, mostly K-5. They may or may not end up at a school which has an art teacher, and I want them to have a starting place if … Read more…
Our last summer art workshop was a fun one! We decoupaged tissue paper on to glass vases. The cylindrical ones could be candle holders. We tore and cut tissue paper and adhered them to the glasses with Matte Medium. I hate the smell of mod-podge, so I rarely use it. I get headaches from it, does anyone else? I figure if I get headaches from it, it probably is not good for the kids to inhale. This Blick Matte Medium … Read more…
