I was sent a free copy of this new children’s book to review and share with you. It is called Too Much Glue, written by Jason Lefebvre and illustrated by Zac Retz. It is a very cute story of a boy who uses TOO MUCH GLUE on his artwork in art class, does a flying jump into the puddle and gets stuck there. What I love about the book: It’s a unique story, I have not seen a story like … Read more…
We took a trip this week to our local children’s museum in Madison. I was busy chasing around my daughter, but I managed to snap a few pictures of the awesomeness in this place. The museum is amazing. The lower level has a lot of things geared for dramatic play, such as a pretend garden, a water room, dress-up, puppets, etc. There is also an amazing “bone” bridge to climb. The upper level has building materials, like Tinker toys, Legos, … Read more…
***** Giveaway is now closed! *** Hi, friends! Back to school is almost here and because I love giveaways (and have been very lucky winning things from other blogs) I put together a “back to school kit” for one lucky teacher or parent. To enter the giveaway, leave a comment on this post and tell me what you like best about going back to school. Roaring Spring Paper sent me a box of different notebooks as a free sample. … Read more…
At the end of the school year, my kindergarten art class made some really colorful fish after reading the book Rainbow Fish . The students drew their fish on large posterboard (these were BIG fish). Then, they cut out paper pieces (I encouraged them to cut circles) from a variety of patterned and foil papers. Then, some of the kids chose to use paint dotters to add additional color. I I did this project again, I would have the kids … Read more…
One of our projects for the school fundraiser this year was this lovely fingerprint butterfly by the kindergarten class. I was inspired by this fingerprint artwork! I cut out the shape of a butterfly as a stencil and each kid used a different color to add their fingerprints. This was then cut out and glued on to a blue piece of paper. The artwork was a hit and the families loved it! It turned out very cute and was a … Read more…
I love these charming birds by the 1st graders! So colorful and a beautiful experience with watercolors. We read the lovely book The Boy Who Drew Birds, which is about the naturalist/artist John James Audubon. It is a great book that tells the story of how he loved to study birds and spent his free time as a child drawing and observing nature. Audubon banded birds to see if the same birds returned each year. It is a great book … Read more…
I gathered up all of the art journals and sketchbooks I could find in my house (I’m sure there’s more, as they are scattered here and there.) Some are finished and many are in various stages of completion. Don’t they look yummy all together?
Here is an easy Starry Night inspired project that I like to teach to my kindergarten art classes. There is a great Van Gogh book for kids called “Getting to Know the Greatest Artists”, by Mike Venezia (my favorite series of art books for kids.) After viewing the swirling lines, dots and dashes that Van Gogh used, the students create a wild and swirly night sky scene with markers. A silhouettte landscape or city scene is added on the bottom … Read more…
I got the idea to write this post based on a recent discussion about teaching portfolios in the Facebook Art Teachers group. I thought sharing parts of mine might be helpful to a prospective teacher who is building their portfolio. These are all my opinions and you might have a better way to show your teaching experience. Another teacher suggested bringing an iPad to the interview with digital pictures. I think that would be a fantastic way to show your … Read more…
I decided to take the summer off from teaching any classes or workshops. This is the first summer in about 9 years that I haven’t worked or taught any workshops at all. Daria will only be little once! We’ve been having a blast with many activities. Swim Lessons Daria has really loved taking swim lessons. While she is at her lesson, I’m not really supposed to “hover”, so I’ve been either working out in exercise center (there’s a window so … Read more…
Rolled up paper tubes, colored stickers, feathers, scrapbook paper… using up whatever was left in the scrap box at the end of the year! These were made by 1st graders.
Three free VCR tapes to a good home! Just leave a comment. First come, first serve. Only in the US please. What is the story behind these videos? Well, this weekend I volunteered at one of my favorite events of the year… the Re-Art Swap at Absolutely Art, a local art gallery. You bring in bags of old art supplies that you don’t use and can pick from piles of stuff that other people bring in… all for free! It’s … Read more…
I am honored to have an article published in the Summer 2013 edition of Cloth Paper Scissors PAGES magazine. It is on the newsstands now. The digital version is available here. I wrote about my watercolor doodles and showed how to photocopy the paintings, cut them up and use them in art journal pages. I have a lot of these types of paintings on my blog, like here, here, and this page using the watercolor doodles. Cloth Paper Scissors does … Read more…
Keeping with the Lego theme, I thought I would round-up some of the coolest Lego art projects I’ve found on the internet. Thanks to all these people for their awesome ideas! 1. Lego Drawings from Shine Brite Zamorano 2. Lego Stamping from Filth Wizardry 3. Designing your own minifigure with this template Check out these cool lego figure designs from The Art Teacher’s Closet. Our school is building an addition, so I thought at the beginning of this coming school … Read more…
First off, I just want to say that I had a fabulous time at home yesterday tuning in to all of the “ridiculously relevant” presentations from the Art of Education online conference. First ever online art teacher conference! Hats off to Jessica for organizing it! What a lot of work I’m sure it was. It was nice to see a lot of familiar names from the blogging world and I learned some new things. There were several Ipad ideas presented … Read more…
