Fun with Art and Summertime Activities

     Summer seems to be flying by but we have had many opportunities to enjoy some beautiful weather. I have always been inspired by Tomie dePaola's book, The Art Lesson. In the book, a young artist is told that his picture should be copied in exactly the same manner as modeled by his art teacher. When children ask what color something is, it is easy to give our wise answer of "blue" for the sky or "green" for the grass, but there are colors to be discovered in grass or even a piece of the sky. We can answer instead, "What do you see?"

    We explored different art methods during the past two weeks. Inspiration came from science projects, Lisa Murphy's training session, fun with plastic eggs and a winery. The first art experience included our favorite volcanic reaction with baking soda, vinegar, food coloring and Dawn dish soap. We placed our paper on top of the reaction for a print.

   The next art project included dropping food coloring and water with a straw on top of a paper towel. The paper towel was placed on top of a piece of paper for a transfer activity.

    Here is Lisa Murphy's activity that includes nylons stuffed with un-popped popcorn and paint. 

 
     In this activity, I placed liquid watercolors in a plastic egg to be shaken onto our paper. I used tape to seal off on of the ends on the egg.

     At the winery, I saw this beautiful painting, which inspired our own use of watercolors, pipettes and Mod Podge.

    

     Other art activities included marble art, Perler Beads and fun with Play Dough.

      We also had opportunities for sensory play and light table activities. Often times the children use my phone to take pictures of their masterpieces.

     We had a fun day in the middle of our theme with a focus on...

We were able to wear some cool hats from home, take home a balloon animal (if it survived) and decorate our party plate.

         Farms were built and creations made as children worked together during free play.

     We also revisited and activity by Steve Spangler. I recommend using two toothpicks at crossing angles rather than just one. I did not get a photo of the reaction, but Diet Coke shot up through the construction paper Geyser Tube and ended up above my head.

    We had the opportunity to capture a wood boring caterpillar that used the wood in the stick to form a cocoon.

     We are also eagerly awaiting our sunflowers to form a flower.

   
     This week we begin our look at Ocean life. Here is a glimpse into the beginning of our week. Have a great week!

Going to the Zoo, Selling Lemonade and a Holiday

     Our look at animal life began with We All Went on Safari: A Counting Journey Through Tanzania and Good Night Gorilla. We also referred to the following site for information on animals, including a look at Zebras and their unique stripes. Some of our activities included playing with Bubble Dough from Creative Playhouse, oatmeal sensory with animals, cooking with baby apples and playing with corn flour.

   Art was more focused on free drawing, block and rubber band "Zebra stripe"printing and the creation of our t-shirts for our trip to the zoo. We had beautiful days and spent much of our time outside enjoying water play along with the sensory activities while the yard was still relatively "mosquito-free."The t-shirts were created using Crayola crayons, fine sandpaper and an iron as outlined at Alpha Mom. 

     We had a gorgeous day for our trip to the Zoo and great chaperones. Here are some pictures from our trip.

     We began fundraising for our service project. The children ran a lemonade stand with some great results.

     Finally, we spent the day enjoying our freedom with some of our favorite activities. We added colored water to salted ice cubes, added food coloring and vinegar to baking soda using a straw, played with bubble solution and painted with puffy paint as shared by Learn Play and Imagine.We also had the opportunity to draw with chalk and even trace our friends. Our next unit includes new art experiences and science ideas from Lisa Murphy.

        
     Have a great week!