Kids' Nature Art: Strawberry Paint Print

Kids' printing art activities don't always have to include gloops and glops of paint. I have some guilt about doing food art. I’ve got on my soap box about this before  when I posted on painting with berries and beets (so I won’t this time), but let me clarify that I do see a difference between edible art that you and your child can eat after making and food art – crafts that use food (like a potato stamper paint project), but then you must throw away. Not that I think a few preschool potato stamper projects will cause an all-out food shortage, but I feel somewhat wasteful.

With that in mind, I was chopping up some strawberries and was about to toss the tops into the trash (the stem pieces that is). As they sat on the white cutting board, I noticed how the juice that was squeezing out made a pretty pink print. I figured, why throw the strawberry tops away when I can reuse them in a “painting-printing project”? Add in a touch of dandelion (see my plant paint project for more art like this), and this doubles as a science activity. Discuss nature with your child, the growing life cycle and try some color mixing (the red strawberries and yellow dandelions make orange).

What You’ll Need

·         Strawberry stem tops

·         Dandelions

·         White paper

·         Fine paintbrush

What You’ll Need To Do:

1.      Grab a strawberry by the stem and push it down on the paper. Encourage your child to experiment and explore this process. The harder she presses the more juice will come out. She can also swipe the berry around the paper, dragging the pink paint-juice from edge to edge.

2.      Infuse the red strawberry color with yellow dandelions. Push the dandelion head around on top of the strawberry marks. Your child can make a design, picture of “something” or her own abstract art.

3.      Use a fine paintbrush to create a design and/or remove some of the strawberry pulp from the paper.

Plaster Cat: Kids' Puppet Art Activity

I have a secret crush – on a cat! Art Cat to be precise. I taught children for many years as an arts educator at the Children’s Studio of the Carnegie Museum of Art. Our mascot was Art Cat, and he was an adorable little guy that one of the other teachers made using plaster, fabric and paint. In honor of Art Cat I’m going to share a modified version of making a plaster animal. While my plaster cat (cat, not cast – it is not a typo) project is certainly fun to look at, I figured why let it sit on a shelf after the art-making is over? This isn’t just a sculpture, it’s also a puppet. After the creating is over, the creativity doesn’t have to stop. Your child can use this pillow case (I’ll explain that in a bit) puppet for hours of pretend play.

And by the way … your child doesn’t have to make a cat. She can make a plaster dog, bird, bunny or whatever other animal he chooses.

What You’ll Need:

·         A balloon

·         Plaster roll: You can find this at most craft stores. It’s a roll of white plaster sheeting that you can cut and wet to apply.

·         Plastic bowl

·         Scissors

·         Cardboard

·         Tempera paints

·         A paintbrush

·         An old (washed and dried) pillow case

·         Clear drying school glue

What You’ll Need to Do:

1.      Blow up the balloon for your child. This will be the animals head.

2.      Cut the plaster into strips. Fill a bowl part way through with water and dip the strips into it.

3.      Cover the entire balloon with plaster, except for the bottom. Your child will use the bottom as a hole to put her hand in to make the puppet move.

4.      Cut the cardboard into triangles (if your child is making a cat – or another shape for another animal) to create ears. Attach the ears to the top of the wet plaster balloon. Cover the ears with more plaster, securing them to the head.

5.      Let the plaster dry overnight.

6.      When the plaster is completely dry, poke the scissors through the bottom of the balloon (if the balloon hasn’t started to deflate already you may hear it pop). Trim the area around the bottom of the plaster so that it is large enough for your child to comfortably get her hand in and out of. Even though I do believe that kids should make their own art, young children will need either help or a parent to do this step for them.

7.      Have your child paint the head, adding eyes, a nose, a mouth, whiskers and any decorative details. Let the paint dry.

8.      Line the hole in the plaster with glue.

9.      Have your child put her arm into a pillow case, moving her hand to the closed end. She can insert her hand into the hole in the plaster. Help her to press the pillow case fabric against the glue. If the pillow case falls out when she plays (the glue may not hold forever), just have your child put the pillow case back in when she uses the puppet. 

If you're looking for more animal themed crafts, visit my Pinterest board that features an array of imaginative projects! Just click on the words "animal themed crafts" in the sentence before this one.

The real cats enjoyed investigating their new puppet friend.



 

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Mother's Day Kids' Craft with Plants!

Why make a Mother's Day plant craft? I have boxes filled with Mother’s Day, birthday and other various arts and crafts that my son has made over the years. The one gift I don’t still have is his pumpkin plant seedling. His preschool teacher helped the kids start pumpkin plants in little plastic planters, and sent them home as Mother’s Day gifts. I was thinking about that gift recently (as it’s spring and I’ve been thinking about gardening) and how I could make a starter plant gift with my son, but still add in an artsy aspect.

 

As I was standing in the checkout line at my local craft store I saw these super-cute mini take out containers (like pint-sized versions of the ones you get from a Chinese restaurant). These seemed perfect for making a plant project that would leave behind an artistic keepsake. You can buy these at most arts and crafts stores or reuse the ones you get with take-out. You can also use this activity on days other than Mother’s Day – such as a take home favor for your child’s birthday party.

 

Here’s What You’ll Need:

·         Plain white take-out containers

·         Crayons or oil pastels

·         Markers

·         Clear drying glue

·         Tempera paints

·         Paintbrushes

·         Glitter

·         Soil

·         Seeds

·         Plastic sandwich bag

What You’ll Need To Do:

1.      Decorate the outside of containers. Your child can choose from a variety of different options.

2.      Do something simple. Give your child markers, crayons or oil pastels to decorate the outside of the box.

3.      Get more creative and use paints or glitter and glue. Have your child paint the outside of the box (she can make a design, a pattern, a picture or use a solid color). Or, paint the box with glue and sprinkle glitter over it.

4.      Line the box with a plastic bag.

5.      Pout soil into the bag.

6.      Add a seed, or a few, to the dirt. Pat the soil down.

7.      Close up the box to transport and give as a gift!

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Jackson Pollock Inspired Art: Kids' Cupcake Activity

Cupcakes as famous artist kids' art activities? Last week I made Impressionist art cupcakes, and they were so much fun that I wanted to try another artist/style. Sure, paper (or an actual canvas) can make an excellent canvas for your kids’ art activities, but isn’t frosting much tastier?

 

As I’ve said before, I’m not the world’s best baker. I’m not even the world’s most sort-of kind-of ok-ist baker. Not by a long shot. When my son comes home from the neighbor’s house he often says, “Why can’t you bake things not from a box like his mom does?” I’ve tried. And, I’ve failed. So, instead of detailing my own super-sweet batter and frosting recipes, the how-to focuses more on the art-making part. If you’re a baker (or at least don’t have to call on your BFF Betty Crocker for help) go ahead and leave a link to your favorite recipe in the comments section. For this activity I used the box mix and a ready-made can of frosting.

This cupcake/art-making adventure is a tribute to the abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock. I’ve made Pollock-inspired paint projects more times than I can remember, and the kids always enjoy the messy abstract paint-flinging fun. This time instead of using actual paints, we’re going to swap out the temperas for frosting and food coloring.

What You’ll Need:

·         White or light-colored cupcake batter mix or a recipe

·         White frosting (or made from your own recipe)

·         Food coloring

·         Cupcake baking tin and liners

·         Plastic straws

·         Spoons

·         Colorful sprinkles

What You’ll Need To Do:

1.      Whip up your cupcake batter. This offers an opportunity for your little one to put her math skills to the test and make measurements or help you to read the numbers on the side of the measuring cup.

2.      Drip a few drops of food coloring (Pollock-style) into the batter. I added a few blue, green, yellow and red (yes, I know that the red looks a bit like a crime scene) drops and the slightly blended it to get a rainbow type of streaky look.

3.      Pour the batter into the lined tins and bake it (don’t allow your child to go near the oven).

4.      Prepare the frosting as the cakes bake. You have two options when it comes to decorating: 1. Drip food coloring on as if it was the paint itself, or 2. Drip colored frosting on. Either way – it’s going to get messy. If you want to drip colored frosting (it’s not quite as much fun, but somewhat neater), you’ll need to mix in the food coloring. I used an extra baking tin, making each cup a different color.

5.      After the cupcakes bake and fully cool, create a canvas for the artwork with the white frosting.

6.      If you’re going the dye drip route, pour each color onto a paper plate or in the bottom of a reused cupcake tin. Use a straw to pick up the color and either gently blow or drip it onto the frosting canvas. You can also use a clean, never-before-used thin brush.

 

 

7.      If you’re using colored frosting, repeat the dripping process. I used straws (one for each color) to drip the frosting on. Your child may need to slightly brush or push the frosting on.

8.      Add another layer of texture to your Pollock pain cupcakes and use sprinkles to create extra dots or speckles of color.

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Kids' Nature Art Activity: Painting With Plants!

Painting with plants? This kids' art activity is the perfect way to celebrate spring. You might scowl when your child comes home with the knees of his brand new jeans covered in the tell-tale green scribbles of grass stains, but you can use this natural marker to your artsy advantage. Whether you’re just looking for a natural way to create a craft or you’re fresh out of temperas (and who wants to pack the kids up and trek to the craft store to spend your hard earned money anyway?), your own backyard can become an art supply treasure trove.

I grabbed a handful of grass, picked a quickly wilting tulip and pulled some of those uber-invasive dandelions to make an abstract art activity.

What You’ll Need:

 

·         Colorful natural items such as grass and flower heads

·         White paper

What You’ll Need To Do

1.      Hit the backyard and pick a fistful of grass, deface some dandelions or grab some freshly fallen flower petals. You’ll need vibrant or bold items to make the color transfer.

2.      Have your child “draw” or “finger paint” with the natural items on plain white paper.

3.       Even though it may seem like grass stains magically appear with almost no effort on your kiddo’s clothes, they actually take some muscle to make.  Your child will need to gather together a bunch of blades (of grass, that is) and push them across the paper. Dandelions and flowers are much easier to transfer the color.

4.      If your child wants to go beyond an abstract artwork (even though his mini masterpiece may rival some of the contemporary pieces that you may see in a gallery), he can fill in a simple marker or crayon drawing with colorful plant life. Have him draw the outlines of a design, and then push the plant color on the paper in the same way that he would fill in a coloring page.

Are you looking for more kids' art activities? Follow my Pinterest board for ideas!
 

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Take a Selfie, Or Rather Make One With Your Child

Self-portrait art is a perfect way for your child to explore her sense of -- well, self. It seems like nowadays everyone is getting into self-portrait art. At least, the pop culture form of it: The selfie. I kind of can’t stand the word “selfie”. During a family dinner the other night my mother exclaimed that she was going to take a selfie. My 12-year-old just shook his head and said, “Grandmaaaaa!!!!”

This art project doesn’t involve a camera, Instagram or anything like that. Your young artist can use her imagination to create a textured, mixed-media self-portrait. Aside from doing this project with my own child, I’ve done it maybe a million times (ok, possibly that number is actually lower) with kids in preschool through high school while working as a museum-based arts educator. You can focus on something simple such as creating facial features (naming two eyes, one nose, one mouth, two ears) or make the art more in-depth and have your child come up with her own story behind the self-portrait. For example, she can create a magical woodland setting for the background and tell you all about it.

What You’ll Need:

·         Cardboard- Cut apart an old box or just cut the front off of that used cereal box that’s hanging out in your kitchen.

·         Model Magic – Plain old white (your child will paint it).

·         Tempera paints

·         Paintbrushes

·         Markers or crayons

·         Tissue paper

·         Clear drying glue

What You’ll Need To Do:

1.      Have your child draw her “face” onto the center of the cardboard. The bigger the piece of board, the bigger her face needs to be. Draw an oval, but leave it blank. Later on she will create facial features with Model Magic.

2.      Draw a neck and shoulders (this selfie is just from the shoulders up).

3.      Create a backdrop. Your child can stick with a plain background or she can draw a setting.

4.      Cover the oval face with the Model Magic. Spread a thin layer across the oval. It will stick to the board. Your child can add pieces to create a nose, mouth, eyes and ears. She can also use her fingers (or a tool such as a craft stick) to mold some of the facial features.

5.      Paint the face. Use temperas to add color to the skin, lips and eyes.

6.      Color or paint the background, neck and shoulder areas.

7.      Make hair. Cut or tear tissue paper and glue it to the top of the head.

Use realistic colors or encourage your artist to get creative and collage on rainbow-hued hair or mix up a one-of-a-kind paint color.