Halloween Fun

Paper Plate Web w/ Bead Bugs

You and your child can have weaving fun creating spiderwebs using sturdy paper plates and colorful yarn. Add a bit of whimsy by offering large beads to string on the yarn as they weave.
Turn the beads into little spiders or whacky bugs by adding bits of chenille stems as legs. Top the beads off with googly eyes and really bring the bugs to life!

The Web:

• Start by cutting half inch slits all the way around the edge of a paper plate, spaced about two inches apart. Next cut a manageable piece of yarn for your child to use for threading across and around the plate.
• Put a knot in one end of the yarn.
• Slide the knotted end into one of the slits and have your child stretch the yarn across the plate to any of the other slits creating a line.
• Slide the yarn into the slit and again have your child stretch the yarn across the opposite side of the plate to any of the other slits. You will be flipping the plate back and forth creating a two sided web.
• Now let your child have fun with it! They can tangle the yarn as much as they want, wrapping it around other sections of yarn as they stretch it from one slit to another.
• When the thread runs out, tie a knot and have them begin again with a new length of yarn. You can trim off the extra yarn or let it dangle.
• String beads as you go to embellish as bead bugs.
• To make use of the dangling yarn add a bead to the end.

The Bugs:

• Its as simple as sliding sections of chenille stems through the hole of the bead so that there is an even length on either side. 
• Hook the chenille stem around the yarn to secure it to the web (these hooks could look like feet). 
• Bend the chenille stem to look like bends in the legs.
• Add the googly eyes for a finishing touch.

Materials:
Sturdy paper plate
Yarn
Scissors
Tape
Pony Beads
Large beads
Chenille stems
Googly eyes (Optional)

If your child is having trouble stringing the yarn through the beads, try wrapping the end of the yarn with a piece of tape.

There are a million and one ways to create little critters and webs with these simple supplies. This is just one idea. Encourage ingenuity and creativity in your child. Offer suggestions and allow them to explore the materials in their own unique way.

Water Play

Water Play

Get out with the kids and cool off with this easy but fun activity:

Sidewalk chalk is so much more fun when paired with a wet surface. Let that surface be anything...a tree trunk, a stone, a wall, stairs, fence, etc. First have the kids drop the chalk into the bucket of water, then have them wet down the sidewalk or any surface that is easily washable with a large paintbrush and water. Now they're ready to draw! Try having the kids mix the colors like paint with a brush. Blending and layering makes the chalk paintings/drawings even better. Or you can just let your child paint with water and watch what happens to each surface when it gets wet. Most importantly, let the kids experiment and explore their world in a new way.

Materials:

Water bucket

Large paint brushes

Sidewalk Chalk

Get Ready!

Art supplies for the home:

With this list of supplies you will be able to explore and create many wonderful projects with your child. Be prepared for a little mess. The kitchen floor is a great place to work. Any art activity with young children requires supervision at all times. Do not leave your child alone with these materials. The reward is well worth the mess!

Some of the supplies you will use can already be found in and around the home such as:

Old T-shirt
Cooking utensils
Cookie cutters
Rolling pins
String
Wood shapes/scraps
Toilet paper rolls
Plastic water bottles
Old CDs
Fabric scraps
Bubble wrap
sponges
Sand paper
Misc. buttons, beads, and decorative objects
Egg cartons
Foam trays (sanitized meat trays)
Card board ( cut into small shapes, med. rectangles, and long strips)
Masking tape
Small boxes
Large household paint brushes
Bucket or pail
There are many recipes online for homemade paint, paste, chalk, and play-dough!

Remember to let your child explore freely and at their own pace. You may be surprised at the inventiveness and unique perspective of their creations. There is no right or wrong, just safe, open ended exploration of the materials.

Optional supplies for purchase:

Art smock

Finger paint- red, yellow, and blue (other colors if desired)

Jumbo crayons

Water Soluble crayons

Non-toxic Water Soluble markers

Sidewalk chalk

Feathers (fun feathers come in a rainbow of colors)

Chenille stems

Play dough (air dry Super Dough is great too)

Crayola chubby brushes or similar

Jumbo Stamps

Jumbo water based stamp pads

Assortment of paper (include varied textures and colors)

Large white drawing paper 11x17 or larger

Stickers (the kids love the foamie shape stickers)

Elmers and Tacky glue

Glue stick

Colored tape

For inspiration on how to use these supplies join our classes at the unique kiddywampus toy store in Saint Louis Park, MN

Tips for Art With Tots (ages 2 and up): Recycled Tile Art

Recycled Tile Art

Drawing and painting is made even more interesting when you experiment with different surfaces. Tiles are excellent for just that. They typically have a porous surface on one side and a smooth sealed surface on the other. I suggest using pastels, oil pastels, and watercolor paint, but you can experiment with any non-toxic child friendly medium. 

The children will see the two surfaces react very differently to the pastels and watercolors. Let the child try both sides and see which one they prefer. Begin by offering the oil pastels. The oil pastel will act as a resist to the watercolor. Use light colored oil pastels first, and paint dark colored watercolor on top, to see the most dramatic effect. Soft pastels will blend with the watercolors when wet. Don't ignore the uneven surfaces of the tile. Its a great surface for rubbing the pastels on their sides to see the texture highlighted by the color.

When completed, the tiles can be mounted on mat board, cardboard, or foam core to be hung with ribbon. Other uses for the finished art can include: coaster, garden art, and/or paperweight. You can seal the tiles with a clear coat spray or acrylic gel medium to preserve the artwork for years to come. If the child choses to use the sealed side of the tile for their finished art, I don't recommend using them for any purpose other than wall art. 

Materials:

Old tiles

Oil pastels

Watercolors

Soft pastels

Any other non-toxic child friendly medium

Acrylic spray or gel medium

Mat board, foam core, or cardboard (for mounting tiles)

Ribbon (for hanging mounted tiles)

Hot glue gun (to glue tile to board)

Tips for Art With Tots (ages 2 and up): Newspaper Sculpture

Newspaper Sculpture

Crumple, twist, roll, and bend. Kids love to tear and crumple newspaper, and who doesn't love sticky tape? Have the kids make as many shapes as they like, big and small. Have them use tape to secure their shapes by tearing off several pieces before they start and help them tape as they go. Show the kids what happens if you don't use tape. Have them crumple bits of newspaper into a ball and then let go. It's a small newspaper explosion. This can be just as fun as creating the fixed shapes. When they have plenty of shapes to work with, have the kids start attaching them to each other to create a more complex form. You may need to do some reinforcing. Add stickers, popsicle sticks, wrap with colored tape, or foil, or glue decorative paper to the sculpture for the finishing touch. 

*These forms can be used as the foundation for a paper mache project for older kids.

Materials:
Newspaper
Masking tape

Optional Supplies:
Popsicle sticks

Stickers

Colored tape

Aluminum foil

Decorative paper

Tips for Art With Tots (ages 2 and up): Recycled CD Mobiles

Recycled CD Mobiles
I love a good recycled art project. Kids love art that moves. So combine the two, and create a recycled CD mobile! Using two, three, or more CD's create a series of collages. The sky is the limit to the materials you can use to decorate them. I have found the kids love stickers and paint for this project. Older kids love to cut their own sticker shapes out of sticky back mylar and create designs with colored tape. Younger kids love the foamie stickers in shapes of all kinds. Offer scissors and let them change the shapes as a way for them to add their creative stamp to the project. Don't forget the other side! Use paint dobbers for applying additional color and texture. Lastly help string the CD's together with yarn. Roll tape around the ends of the yarn and let the kids add beads (cut straws work great). You can hang them in a window and see how the CD's refract the light.

Materials:
Old Cd's

Foamies Stickers (Geometric shapes)

Colored tape

Sticky Back Mylar

Colored Yarn
Paint Daubers (Triarco® has Tempera Marker Sets)
Beads (cut straws work too)
Safety Scissors (I like the Fiskars brand)

Tips for Art With Tots (ages 2 and up): Color Around the Lines

Color Around the Lines


If you are tired of coloring books dictating what your child draws, have them try coloring around the lines instead of in the lines. Prepare several sheets of paper with pre-drawn shapes and patterns of different lines. Give your child a selection of markers, colored pencils, and crayons and watch what they do. Many children will mimmic the lines they see. Some will color in the shapes similar to a traditional coloring book. They may add to the designs with new lines and shapes of their own! The point is, there is not one right way for them to use the coloring sheets. The images are not concrete and leave enough to the imagination for them to experiment. Keep a dialogue going with your child while he/she works. Talk to them about the kind of lines they are creating. "I see you've made lot's of dots." "Wow, look how fast you're drawing!" "That's a big oval!"


*Many of the children I work with enjoy combining sounds with their mark making. dot-dot-dot or swirling sounds while drawing curly-q's are a great place to start.


Materials:
Paper (8  x 10 or larger)
Water Soluble Markers
Jumbo crayons
Colored Pencils

What The Experts Say

"From the time she first discovers that a crayon can mark a sheet of paper, this kind of play will be important to your child. Through drawing and painting she will not only learn to manage the preliminaries to writing, she will also learn ... to express some of her views about the world and her own problems... as well as the pleasure which can come only through her own efforts ... She is exploring the material and its potential, so if you try to make her `draw Mommy' or `cut out a star' you will be interfering with her play. In the same way, coloring books, painting by number, and many craft kits can set such rigid limits around the child's activity that they may frustrate and bore her. Stick to open-ended activities until or unless she actually asks for something more structured."
--Penelope Leach, Your Growing Child, (Knopf 1994)

Tips for Art With Tots (ages 2 and up): Soft Sculpture

 Soft sculpture

Begin by giving your child a piece of burlap and talk to them about how it feels. Next, hand them the cotton ball and ask them how it feels. Place the cotton ball on top of the piece of burlap and fold the burlap over the cotton ball. Let them squeeze it and see how squishy it is! Have your child poke the chenille stems through the burlap, around the cotton ball, in one side and out the other. Bend the ends of the chenille stems to keep them in place. Have the child string buttons and/or beads on to the chenille stems. Poke the feathers in to the burlap. Using the Tacky Glue attach other decorative pieces to the burlap. Let it dry. Lastly attach both ends of the long chenille stem to the sculpture. Use this as a handle to hang your sculpture by.
Try to avoid making decisions for your child about the sculpture. Ask them questions and assist them, but try not to do it for them. Each child will have their favorite part of the project and will want to spend the most time on that part. They may not want to add everything you offer. 





*For a fun twist have your child glue googly eyes on to their sculpture and let them name it!

Materials:
Burlap scrap (size should be approximately 3"x6")
Chenille stems (cut to half size)
One full length chenille stem
Cotton balls
Feathers Tacky glue- use a Popsicle stick to apply glue (I mix it with 1/3 Elmer's Glue)
Misc. textures and decorative pieces (buttons, Pom-Poms, beads, fabric, fancy papers, etc.)
Googly eyes, ball tip needle, and yarn are optional 
*Please be mindful of potential choking hazards when choosing your materials and never let the child play with their completed soft sculpture un-attended.



Tip: Adjust the project for older children by using yarn and a ball tip plastic needle instead of, or along with, the chenille stems.


Beginnings of a 3yr olds soft sculpture

This project was done by a group of kids ages 5 to 7yrs old. 
We proceeded to create homes for our critters out of cardboard boxes and our soft sculpture materials.

Tips for Art With Tots (ages 2 and up): Inside/Outside sculpture

Inside/Outside sculpture

Using an empty box begin talking with your child about different buildings or structures they are familiar with. See if they relate the box to a familiar object like a house or a boat. If there is a lid for the box start by glueing the lid to some part of the box to make a new shape. 
Help your child sort the wood and cardboard scraps into piles. An example would be a pile of large pieces and small pieces, long pieces and short pieces, etc.

Now it's time to add more structure to the box. Begin with the larger wood pieces. When glueing the pieces to the box talk about what's inside and what's outside. Help them to think about what is the top and what is the bottom. Next add the smaller wood pieces, cardboard shapes, and paper towel rings. Hold up the sculpture and have them look at it from all sides (including top, bottom, and inside too!). 
Lastly add the decorative pieces. When the glue dries you can add Tempera or Activity paint to the sculpture for the finishing touch. 
Try to avoid making decisions for your child about the sculpture. Ask them questions and let them tell you their "story".


Materials:
An empty box (no bigger than a shoe box) with or without a lid.
Tacky glue- use a Popsicle stick to apply glue (I mix it with 1/3 Elmer's Glue)
Wood scraps
Cardboard scraps (cut large pieces in to thin strips, triangles, rectangles, squares)
Paper towel tubes cut in to small rings
misc. textures and decorative pieces (feathers, buttons, beads, fabric, fancy papers, etc.)
Tempera paint/Activity paint
*Please be mindful of potential choking hazards when choosing your materials and never let the child play with their completed sculpture un-attended.


What The Experts Say
"The best creative environment encourages children to be playful or silly, to be alone or bored sometimes, to explore or even fail sometimes ... Children may not choose to `go on with art' as they grow older, but it will always be a part of their life. The most valuable things they get from art---the flexibility, the decision making abilities, the confidence in their intuition, the feeling of celebration they bring to any creative endeavor." 
--Sally Warner, Encouraging The Artist in Your Child, (St. Martins Press, 1989)

Tips for Art With Tots (ages 2 and up): Tissue Paper Prints

Tissue Paper Prints


Using bleeding tissue paper, cut out several shapes in a variety of colors. Have the kids lay out the shapes on a white piece of paper and arrange them until they are happy with the look. Next, use a wet brush or eye dropper to drip water on to each piece of tissue. It's best not to touch the tissue directly because it tends to stick. Let the water do the work. The dye from the tissue will bleed and mix with other colors. The more water they add the more the colors will run. Let the kids experiment with the amount of water they add. Don't be discouraged when you see a lot of brown puddles. It's all part of the process. Let the artwork dry and remove the tissue paper to see the finished design.
Note: The dye from the tissue paper will stain the hands. Have the kids use gloves if this is a concern.


Materials:
Bleeding tissue paper
Scissors
Eye dropper or paint brush
Water container
Paper towels

Tips for Art With Tots (ages 2 and up): Crazy brushes

Crazy Brushes


Painting is always a hit, but make it even more creative by using alternative brushes. Any painting surface will do. Start out by using one "brush" at a time and help them focus on the marks by only offering one or two colors of paint (preferably primary colors) at a time. As you rotate through the "brushes" point out how each mark is different. After you have explored each "brush" individually, begin a new painting and allow your child to chose their favorite "brushes" and use multiple colors of paint. This project is fun to try over and over again with new brush creations and on different surfaces. Art is about process first. Explore and create!


Materials:
Tempera paint or activity paint
Water container
Paper towels
Paint shirt
Painting surfaces (paper, canvas, card board, etc.)
optional "brushes":
Comb, doll brush, sticks, sponges, wire whisks, string, beaded necklace, plastic flower parts, pine needles, chenille stems, card board scraps, small rubber ball, toy car, the possibilities are endless!

Tip: To help paint wash off easily, put lotion on your child's hands before painting. This will also help to prevent the paint from being too harsh and drying on sensitive skin.

What The Experts Say
"The relationship between high self-esteem and unfettered creativity is extremely strong. By its very nature, creativity is a deviant act. It says, `I see things my way and I am willing to let you into my private, perceptual world.'... Studies show that the freely creative youngster is high in self-confidence, emotional maturity, calmness, and independence. He has the capacity for sustained concentration and involved absorption in his projects. Education must concern itself with children's emotions and self attitude or it does not deal with the whole child. It is only as a child's total uniqueness is respected that he can permit his individuality to unfold."
--Dorothy Corkille Briggs, Your Child's Self Esteem, (Doubleday, 1970)

Tips for Art With Tots (ages 2 and up): Paint with Pastels

Add a little water fun to your everyday pastels!
Paint with Pastels


Begin by dipping the pastels in water. Make a few marks on a chalkboard with the wet pastels. Blow on the marks to see them magically brighten!
Next use a sponge to add a layer of water to the chalkboard. Start swirling the pastels in the water until it forms a paint like consistency(rubbing them on their side works best). Now dig in and use your fingers to swirl and mix colors like finger paint!


Materials:
small chalkboard
a few brightly colored pastels (sidewalk chalk works too but the colors won't be as bright)
container of water
small sponge

When they are all done playing, make a print!

Tips for Art With Tots (ages 2 and up): Rubbing Resists

Rubbing Resists


Take the paper off the crayons, rub the side of the crayon on paper over textures of all kinds. Sand paper, plastic lace and/or mesh screening material work well.  For a little extra fun paint watercolor or watered down tempera paint over the rubbings and "see what happens!"

Materials:

Crayons

Paper

Paint

Paintbrush

Water

Misc. Textures