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.