Volcano-making

Remember those volcanoes we sculpted, using our salt dough recipe?

A week later, they were dry and ready to paint!

We used acrylics to paint the inside red, the outside brown, and add grass around the base.

 I gave them creative license with their eruptions. Some of them had an all-out explosion on their hands, and others had rather inactive volcanoes.

Love how their personalities come out in their art.

 Progress, on some of their work:

We'll add more dimension to our dioramas next time, with pebbles and twigs, etc.

Girls' Art Class

For the last two weeks, we've been working on Folk Art drawings,

with lots of bold patterns and bright colors....

 {{amazing results!}}

 ...and bead-making, with this salt dough recipe.

 We also make necklace pendants and itty bitty houses.

I can't tell you how delighted I was to see my little pupils painting their homes with stripes and polka dots! That's what I love about kids!!-- their imagination is the limit!

Round house? Why not! Polka dots and swirly doors? Sure!

 It was sooooo gorgeous last week, so we did our lessons and snack break outside on the porch,

along with a little stretching (goofing off, whatev')

The sky is the limit!

Make some dough, mold your scuptures, and let air-dry.

(We left ours under the couch for a week, and painted them during the following lesson.)

Use tempera or acylics to paint them.

These are great, cheap, easy, personal Mother's and Father's Day gifts!

Boys' Art Class

In my Boys' Art Class, on Tuesday, we worked on Modigliani Self-Portraits in Chalk pastel!

First, with our black paper in hand, we created creases to help with the proportions that Modigliani is so well-known for.

 The boys were great about following directions, and listening to the very brief description of Modigliani's art.

 After sketching out their self-portraits, they colored them in entirely, and started adding the details.

We talked about blending pastels, and how to use fingers to smooth the color around.

Modigliani also typically left his portraits with a "blank" stare (think- no eyeballs), but only two of my students wanted to leave their self-portraits like that, which is okay. It IS a bit creepy looking.

Next, they outlined their entire portrait in black pastel.

I love that this sweet little dude even copied the pattern on his shirt!

In our remaining time, we molded volcanoes out of the air-dry modeling clay I had mixed up before class.

By our next class, they will be dry and ready to paint!

Enjoy art every day, folks!

It's all around you, in everything you see!

Jello Playdough in Art

The best thing about jello playdough? It smells aaaamazing!

Your whole house will smell marvelously yummy while you cook this.

I hadn't intended to make more playdough so soon, but our art lesson with professional artist John Lasater required play dough in primary colors. And, wouldn't you know it, Wal-Mart had only blue and yellow. Being in this little town, with no Target or other means to search for red playdough, we decided to make our own! 

Below, my amazing Jello Playdough Chef.

He poured, he mixed, and he was the first to try out the goods. 

~Jello Playdough~

 •1 cup of flour

•2 Tbs salt

•2 Tbs cream of tarter

•1 cup water

•2 Tbs oil - (I used canola oil, but I'm sure any edible oil would work!)

•1 3oz. pack of Jello in the color of your choice (the off-brand will work fine)

I doubled this recipe, for our group.

First, mix all your ingredients in a pan or pot.

Mix in your jello and watch it turn a bright color! This is the strawberry flavor.

After it's mixed, turn the heat to medium-high and stir constantly. Works those arm muscles!

It will start smelling great. It will also start slowly thickening and clumping together, after about 2 minutes. It's done in about 6-7 minutes. Just make sure there aren't wet areas, and it's in a ball.

Let cool. If it seems a bit sticky, add a touch more flour. It should be smooth and pliable.

Store in an airtight container or plastic bag, and it should last quite a long time.

It was a hit with the little artists!

A huge thanks to our guest speaker, John, for the lesson he shared about values, hues, and color mixing!

Our homeschool group has so many wonderful opportunities and so much support!!!

I love watching kids take such joy in art!

When I grow up (ha) I'm going to be an elementary art teacher!! --

....wait, I already get to do that!

I live such a great life! :D

Homemade Dye-free Playdough Recipes

Just mix 1/2 cup white glue and 1 cup corn starch!

 This is the consistency of modeling clay, not play dough.

It is thicker, a bit tougher, and a bit stickier.

My kids love it!

Next, we decided to make some play dough, for a softer consistency.

 This is the BEST recipe I've found!

It is soft and pliable, not at all sticky, perfect for shaping just about anything.

Love it! For both recipes, store the dough in an airtight container, when not in use.

Enjoy!

Sneak kitchen peek

We're all about games over here, every day, before, between subjects, and after school.

Go Ape is similar to Go Fish, but you collect three of each card, and must SHOW what you're asking for (stick out your tongue, cover your eyes, and so on...)

 And, behind this pajama cutie pie, you can see my now-white kitchen!

Makes the colors pop more, don't you think?

Really brightens things up on dreary days.

Art Class~ Birch Trees

First, I had my little pupils paint "grass" along the bottom of their sketchbooks. We talked about using strokes to paint, rather than jamming the brushes down on the paper. Acrylics dry fast, so we mixed in some water, painted our grass and blew it dry.

 Next, we used watercolors to add sunsets to our backgrounds.

While our sunsets dried, we used another sheet of paper to start on the birch trees. 

That there, folks, is my expired wageworks healthcare card.

See? It's still good for somethin'.

The kids took a short break while we waited for everything to thoroughly dry.

Next, we cut out our birch trees and pasted them on our backgrounds.

 Look at their beautiful results!!

I'm so proud of my talented little students!

 Some of their birch trees didn't reach entirely across, and kids wanted to add leaves to the top.

So we fingerpainted!

(Simply because fingerpaint is fun and an easy way to add foliage!)

Color Wheel Bouquet

Teaching this little art class has become such a great source of joy. I love art!~~ it just makes me happy. And I love the enthusiasm of children doing art!

For our last session, we used this Color Wheel Bouquet lesson from Deep Space Sparkle.

Remember-- an artful mess is half the fun!

My precious little pupils, taking as much joy in art as I do...

 Colorful masterpieces!!

Cousin Stations

I had my little niece and nephew yesterday, on their day off school. What do you do with 6 kids, when it's too cold to spend much time outside? Stations! We built Legos, played with Playdough...

My Oldest Boy was kind enough to make dough birds for his little cousin. Sweetness.

Dino station, below...

And weapons... because a station area isn't complete without swords, right?

Half an hour to play Just Dance...

The stuffed animal battle, and warrior Scarlett, with her pan shields.

Snack time!

Honestly, I could do stations and crafts with oodles of kids nearly every day! Fun stuff!!