Mommy, Monet and Me! Letters X, Y, and Z

X-Rays, Yarn, & Zoo

It is pretty difficult to come up with great art activities for the letters X,Y & Z!  Here are the highlights from the last 3 weeks.

X-Ray

Materials: Black Paper, Chalk, Real X-Ray (if you have one)

Show children a real x-ray.  Explain that x-rays show the bones inside your body.  Help children create their own x-ray by tracing their arms, legs, feet or hands on a black sheet of paper.  Next have the children use their imagination to draw what those body parts look like inside.  Its fun to see what the little ones come up with.

Yarn

Materials: Yarn, Red, Yellow and Blue Paint, Folded paper, fork or spoon.

Cut several pieces of yarn about 6-12 inches long.  Fold a large piece of white paper in half.  Next dip the yarn into paint.  Use a fork or spoon to hold the yarn down while you remove it from the paint.  This ensures that the yarn is covered evenly and doesn't have too much paint.  Next place the yarn in the folded paper, holding onto the end of the yarn.  Place one hand on paper to hold the yarn down while you remove the yarn with the other hand.  When you open the paper you will have a cool string design.  Repeat over and over until the paper is full of color.

Zoo

Materials: Stamp pads, animal stamps, crayons, strips of paper, glue stick.

We created fun zoo pictures using animal stamps.  Students simply stamp animals on their paper and then color in the scenery.  They can draw grass, rocks, or trees depending on what they want their zoo to look like.  Next we glued strips of paper onto our picture to create bars to make it look like a zoo.

Our next Mommy, Monet and Me class will be June 6th!

Mommy, Monet and Me! Letter U & V

Vaseline, Under, & Vinegar

I'm going to be honest...towards the end of the alphabet it gets a little tricky to think of good art activities, but these were the highlights of the last two weeks!

Vaseline

Materials: Vaseline, red, yellow and blue paint, q-tips, paper. 


This is one of the best art activities I have ever come up with!  I loved it, and the kids loved it.  Just take a little vaseline, put it in a small container and add a small amount of washable paint (you could also try food coloring).  Mix paint and Vaseline thoroughly.

Next, use the q-tips or fingers to apply the paint to a small piece of paper.  (I like a small piece of paper when you are working with finger or q-tips).  The Vaseline paint slides around, mixes together, and is shiny!  The best part is when the container gets knocked over the paint doesn't spill, AND the Vaseline keeps the paint from drying out so you can use it again and again!  Such a great project!

Under

Materials: Table or chair, coloring pages, tape.


Many kids love to do things that are out of the ordinary.  Something as simple as drawing or painting underneath the table can make them giggle and feel like they are breaking all the rules!

For this activity I got some cool art coloring pages and taped them on the underside of the table.  We put comfy pillows on the floor and got out the markers and crayons, and started drawing!

Vinegar

Materials: Tissue paper strips, vinegar, paintbrushes, paper

This activity is much like our tissue paper painting, only this time I used strips of colored paper, and vinegar instead of water.  I like the results!

Just have your child lay strips of art tissue paper down on white paper.  Then add vinegar over each strip with a paintbrush.  The vinegar seems to pull the color out of the strips better than water.

When using tissue paper for art, you need the kind that bleeds.  So avoid overly glossy tissue paper.  It wont leach color in the same way.  We order our tissue paper from discount school supply.

Join us next Monday morning from 9:30-10:15 am for the letter W!  See you there!

Mommy, Monet and Me! Letter T

Tubes, Tape & Toothbrushes, & Trees!

Join us each Monday for Mommy, Monet and Me!  Class is from 9:30-10:15 am.  We always have three different art activities.  The children can spend as much time at each activity as they would like and play with friends and toys at the end of class. 
 
Tubes

Materials: Paper towel tubes, toilet paper tubes, tin cans, paint, white paper.

This in such a basic way to paint, but it creates a really cool effect.  Using red, yellow and blue paint allows the colors to mix and still look nice.  Try to use a variety of tube sizes.  Simply let your little one dip the tube in a little bit of paint (I put the paint on a paper plate and spread it out a little) then press the end of the tube on the paper.  Encourage the child to press the tube several times, and move it around the paper.  The more overlapping circles the better!

Tape and Toothbrushes

Materials: Painters tape or masking tape, toothbrush, watercolor paint, watercolor paper.

Children can use tape to create the first letter of their names on watercolor paper or any thick absorbent paper.  Next, dip a toothbrush in water and then in watercolor paint.   Help your child flick the toothbrush to splatter paint all over the paper.  When the paper is dry remove the tape and reveal a white letter, and splatter paint background. 

Tearing Trees

Materials: Brown paper, blue paper, tissue paper, glue sticks

Kids love to tear paper.  Give your child brown paper and let them tear the paper into strips.  The more they tear the more little branches they make.  Then help your child glue the strips down on blue paper.  Next, add spring blossoms by gluing crumpled colored tissue paper on the branches.  You could also add pieces of green to make leaves for your tree.

Mommy, Monet and Me! Letter R

Rainbows, Rolling, and Runny Art

Today in MMM we created art that starts with the letter R.  It was a very colorful day!

Rainbows

Materials: tissue paper squares, water, paintbrushes, rainbow coloring page (optional)

I use tissue paper to paint with kids of all ages.  It is a fun way to paint and mix colors without the potential mess of paint.  Simply gather up old tissue paper or buy a variety pack at the store and cut or tear into small pieces.  Next draw a rainbow outline (with permanent marker), or use a coloring page for your rainbow.  Place a square of tissue paper on the rainbow outline and use your paintbrush to add a little water on top of the tissue paper.  Continue adding tissue paper and overlapping until the rainbow is completely colored.  Let dry flat on a counter.  When the paper is dry each square of tissue paper will flake off leaving the color behind on the rainbow! 

Rolling

Materials: Paint rollers, red, yellow and blue paint, large paper, variety of objects to roll in paint (balls, toilet paper tubes, etc..)

This is a very free form activity which is perfect for toddlers.  Too many instructions tend to frustrate little ones, so keep it simple.  Put some paint out and things that they can roll in the paint and see what happens!  They love seeing the primary colors mix and create new colors.

Runny Art

Materials: Eye droppers, food coloring, water, watercolor paper.

For this activity i gave the children three cups of water, each one with red, yellow or blue food coloring in the water.  Put quite a bit of food coloring so the colors stay vibrant! They used eye droppers to suck up the water and then to drip it on their page.  Watercolor paper or other absorbent paper keeps this project from getting too runny!  Once a color is dropped on the paper, the kids picked the paper up and moved it around to let the water run all over the paper.  Colors begin to mix together and the results are different every time.  Great for kids of all ages!

Join us next week for the letter S.  We will be doing St. Patrick's Day Art!  Monday from 9:30-10:15am.  375 S. 300 E. Springville

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Jr. Artists: Printmaking

 Here are some pictures from our latest Jr. Artist class.  We learned how to do basic printmaking using styrofoam plates.  To see more pictures visit our flickr site.

Jr. Artists meets every tuesday from 4:00-5:00pm.  Our class is full right now, but we may open another section.  If you are interested in joining our class please call 491-0825 and get on our waiting list. 

Join our Facebook page to get updates on class availability and our upcoming summer programs!  Our schedule of summer programs will be available March 12th. 

Jr. Artists: Winter Watercolors

Here are some pictures from our winter watercolor project.  We used painters tape, salt, blue watercolor and crayons to create our beautiful pictures!   See more pictures on our Flickr page.  Next week we will be working on printmaking!

Mommy, Monet and Me! Letter P

Puff Paint, Playdough and Purple!

Puff Paint
Materials: Salt, Flour, Water, Food Coloring, Squeeze bottles, Cardstock

Thanks to Ettie Smith for sharing this recipe with me.  It has become one of my favorite art activities and the kids love it.  Making the puff paint can be just as fun as using it.  The recipe is simple and you and your child can experiment making lots of new colors with food coloring.  

RECIPE: Add equal parts flour, salt and water in a bowl.  Mix thoroughly until smooth and shiny.  Divide white dough into smaller containers for color mixing.  Add food coloring and mix until you reach desired color.  Put puff paint in squeeze bottles, use like regular paint or finger paint.


I recommend using the puff paint on cardstock.  It holds up better to the heavy paint and doesn't soak through.  Encourage your little one to see what happens when you put one color on the other, or swirl the puff paint with a toothpick to create a marbled effect.



Play Dough

I like to make my own play dough rather than buying it.  You can make big batches with ingredients you have on hand, and then you can let your kids mix it without being so worried about ruining expensive play dough.  This is my favorite play dough recipe because it is so soft and smells great!

Materials
 • 1 1/4 cup flour
 • 1/4 cup salt
 • 1 pkg unsweetened Kool-aid (just the dry koolaid, don't mix it into juice)
 • 1 cup boiling water
 • 1 1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Directions:
 1.  In a bowl, mix flour, salt and kool-aid.
 2.  Stir in water and oil
 3.  Knead with hands for about 5 minutes (careful it's hot!)
 4.  Store in ziploc bag for up to 2 months.

 Purple


More color mixing today!  We made the color purple using red and blue paint.  We used paintbrushes and our fingers to combine the colors.  If you don't have red and blue paint on hand try mixing other things with your toddler or preschooler.  Here are some ideas. 


Koolaid or juice
Water with food coloring.
Crayons
Markers
Remember MMM is every Monday morning from 9:30-10:15am.  Try a class for free when you join our facebook page.   

Also join us this Saturday for our Chinese New Year Art Adventure!  Saturday February 5th from 1:00-2:30 pm.  Advanced registration preferred.  Space is limited.  

Mommy, Monet and Me! Letter N

Noodles, Necklaces and Night!

Today in MMM we made sparkly noodles and then made them into necklaces.  We also created beautiful winter night paintings.  

Sparkly Noodles

Materials: Pasta Noodles (any kind with a hole in it), white glue, glitter, plastic spoons, tray or bowl for glitter.

This a fun way to make sparkly beads for a homemade necklace.  Simply take a dry pasta noodle, drop it in some watered down glue, fish it out and let the excess glue drip off and then use a spoon or little fingers to roll it in glitter.  All kids love glitter, but mom's usually don't.  This is a good way to do glitter without making too much of a mess.  You could also put the noodles in a tupperware with a little glitter or a plastic bag, seal it up and let your little ones shake away until the noodles are covered.   Let the sparkly noodles dry before stringing them on a string or pipe cleaners. 

Noodle Necklace

Materials: Sparkly Noodles, Pipe Cleaners, other beads

Making a necklace is a great way for toddlers to work on those fine motor skills.  I have found that it can be really difficult and frustrating for little fingers to work with string or yarn for necklaces, especially when the string is dropped and beads scatter everywhere, so I use pipe cleaners.  Pipe cleaners are great for a few reasons...they come in so many colors, they can be twisted together, they are rigid and easier for little ones to manipulate, and they have enough friction to keep beads... or noodles in place.

Winter Night Painting

Materials: Watercolor paper (or cardstock), Masking Tape, blue or black paint, crayons or oil pastels, salt (optional)

This lesson is adapted from the blog Art Projects for Kids. 

For our night time painting we started with half sheet of watercolor paper and some masking tape.  Tear medium length pieces of tape for your toddler.  I like to tear the tape down the middle to get a wavy edge.  Then use smaller strips of tape to make branches off of the main trunk until you have a beautiful masking tape tree.  Encourage your little one to rub the tape down so the edges are flat. 

Next, use a crayon or oil pastel to make stars or snow in the sky.  They can just tap the crayon randomly all over the paper and it looks great!  You could also draw a moon in the corner. 

Apply the paint.  I use blue tempra paint that is pretty watered down, any watery blue paint would work.  Blue from a watercolor tray would work, but the other colors on the tray often prove too tempting for toddlers.  Paint all over the whole picture, even on top of the masking tape. 

While the paint is still wet sprinkle a little salt over the top of your picture.  The salt soaks up some of the water and leaves a cool winter texture behind.  It kind of makes it look like it is snowing. It's amazing how exciting the prospect of sprinkling salt is to a 3 year old

When your picture is dry, carefully remove the tape and check out the cool trees left behind on your paper.  Remember it is the process not the product that matters.  Every tree is different and your toddlers should not look perfect, let them create freely!