Create postcard-sized Mixed Media paintings, get inspired by the seasons, have an epic, two day Collage Craft Party like we did or collect your children’s mini creations throughout the year to make a calendar! This is my absolute favorite, toddler approved project to experiment with materials and Mixed Media layering techniques! Materials Sharpies Oil pastels or crayons Watercolor paper cut in small rectangles to fit your calendar Art calendar printouts
Snowflake Mixed Media Collage
Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look at what they can do when they stick together. – Vesta M. Kelly Are you looking for a fun way to recycle your left-over tissue paper snowflakes? We took our window decorations down and glued the snowflakes onto paper which turned out to be a wonderful, open-ended art activity as well as a good introduction to layering with various
Fall Leaf Suncatchers
With October in full swing, the leaves are starting to show their last colors while the peaks are already snow capped. If you want to hold on to fall a little longer and need an idea what to do with all the leaves on the ground, this project is for you! Go on nature walks, observe the changing seasons and pick the last leaves! Our toddlers loved collecting and arranging
Mixed Media Autumn Wall Hanging
One of our favorite art projects involves salad spinners! Yes, really. Spin painting is a mesmerizing process and lends itself perfectly to color our collection of fall treasures. Plus, it never fails to create stunning pieces of artwork. Seriously, you have to try this! Materials: Tempera paint in squeeze bottles Trays Tarp Salad spinners Glitter Cardboard Oil pastels School glue Tissue paper shapes (round, square) Watercolor sets Paintbrushes Tape String
Fall Leaf Creatures
Invite your children to create with fall leaves! This open-ended art activity is fun and always a hit with children! What is an invitation to create? An “Invitation to Create”, also known as art prompt or provocation, is a intriguing and thoughtfully arranged array of materials that invite exploration and further investigation. It’s meant to be a simple but engaging activity that stimulates your child’s imagination, offers the freedom to
Autumn Shadow Boxes
Collecting and creating art with pieces of nature encourages us to observe the changing seasons and engages our senses. During nature walks the children like to collect leaves, pinecones, sticks and small rocks etc. We talk about the different colors, shapes and textures: “Some of the pinecones are spiky!”, “The wood is so soft!” etc. Inside we keep a basket to collect all our little treasures. We’ve been creating a
Sun Prints
Have you ever tried sun prints? They’re a easy and versatile art activity with young children, both for indoors and outdoors! You could go on nature walks, explore and collect different sizes, shapes and colors of leaves, sticks and flowers; you could portray your shadow, make patterns out of foam shapes or use pretty much any other objects you have on hand to create a sun print. Due to rainy
Superheroes Part IV: Mixed Media Collage
Whenever children say ‘Let’s pretend’, a new landscape of possibilities for learning is revealed. When children pretend, they try on new feelings, roles and ideas. They stretch their minds along with their imaginations. – Curtis & Carter To finish our artful exploration of superheroes we pictured ourselves as superheroes in our own Superhero Landscapes. The children invented funny and very thoughtful scenarios for themselves, including protective powers in form of colors or
Spring Shadow Boxes
We love making Shadow Boxes! They create the perfect depth and backdrop to capture any little keepsakes and lend themselves perfectly to display miniature scenes, three dimensional artwork and other found treasures! You can hang them on the wall or place them on a shelf and they’ll always look neat and finished! Inspired by the various spring books we’ve been reading (“Turtle Spring“etc.) we created our own Spring Shadow Boxes. We asked
Mother’s Day Photo Canvas
Learning about kindness, friendship, empathy, feelings, strengths, giving, sharing and love are arguably some of the most valuable experiences in Early Childhood. When wondering about Mother’s Day (see last post) most children really wanted to let their mommies know how much they love them which led us to further wonder about “What is love and how can we show love?”: “Love is… when you share your toys and favorite dresses.” “Love