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)