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Audubon Coloring Page

See the original colors of John James Audubon’s painting called Mocking Birds and Rattlesnake at www.audubon.org/birds-of-america/mocking-bird.  You can click the “See full plate” link on that page to see the complete painting, and read lots of interesting stuff that Audubon wrote about creating this picture.

Click here for a free pdf file that you can download and print for your coloring pleasure.

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Foam printmaking

snowmanprintKids don’t need to use any sharp tools when they create designs on flat foam sheets.  Just draw on the surface with a pencil or ball-point pen to make embossed lines. A regular printmaking brayer is then used to roll a thin layer of water-soluble printing ink over the foam, and a piece of construction paper is laid on top and pressed firmly with fingertips (taking care not to wiggle the paper).  Many prints can be made from a single foam block design.

Flat pieces of foam can be cut from many kinds of packages, from pizza boxes to the hinged “take home” containers used by many restaurants.  It’s a great way to reuse/recycle in your art curriculum.

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Sandwich Bag Collage

A collage is a design created out of found objects, from cut paper to cloth, leaves, string and all sorts of things.  To make a sandwich bag collage, start with a plastic sandwich bag.  Lay it flat on the table and arrange small, flat, lightweight collage objects inside.  Use colored paper snipped and torn into interesting shapes, giftwrap paper and magazine photos, sequins and glitter and tinsel, bits of lace and cloth.  Plan your design so it will look good from both sides.

PocketCollage

When all your collage items are in place, slip the plastic bag between two pieces of aluminum foil.  Have an adult press a warm iron on the foil for 10 or 20 seconds.  The plastic will melt together and hold all your collage items in place.  If a whole classroom is doing this project and your adult is ironing a lot of collage bags, it is good for them to work on a porch outside or in a room with really good ventilation to minimize any hot plastic smell in the air.

A sandwich bag collage looks great hanging in a window.  It looks like a mini stained glass suncatcher!

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Make Your Own Clay Tools

Kids love to work with clay – any sort of clay from home-made playdough to a beautiful, giant, muddy block of pottery clay!  You can buy special tools for working with clay at an art supply store, and of course, many household items can be used, such as:

  • A rolling pin is a handy tool to flatten sheets of clay.  A piece of wooden dowel works well too.
  • Wire is used by potters to cut clay.  Start with a 9 inch length of telephone wire, and twist-tie the ends of the wire around two wooden handles leaving 5 to 6 inches of wire between.
  • Bend paperclips into interesting shapes, then duct tape them onto wooden handles to make clay carving loops.
  • Bits of sponges dipped in water for earth clay
  • A garlic press is great for making squiggly clay hair!
  • Any gizmo that creates an interesting texture when pressed into clay is great fun for kids – silverware, combs, old buttons, scraps of lace and old crochet doilies, baskets, a piece of tree bark, thick rope, a fingernail brush, things from the hardware store.

Do not give small objects to really young kids.  Work along with your kids!  Adult supervision is always suggested.

ClayTools

 

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Valentine Sculpture to Eat

heartcookieCookie dough “clay” will sweeten your Valentine’s day – or any other day of the year.  It’s a fun sculpting project that ends up with cookies to give to family and friends.

What you”ll need:

  • A grown-up to help kids bake!
  • Sugar cookie dough.  Super easy to buy a tube of ready-to-bake dough at the grocery store, or a bag of sugar cookie mix, or make your own from scratch to go fully organic.
  • Red coloring.  But please – don’t use regular “red food coloring.”  The standard Red Dye #40 is a well-documented factor in hyperactivity and all sorts of allergic reactions.  Do your kids a favor and buy a bottle of Beet Powder at your local health food store.  Beet Powder won’t change any cookie flavors, and is not only safe, but actually full of health benefits.
  • Waxed paper and some white flour
  • Optional: Some wooden “treat sticks” (otherwise known as popsicle sticks)

What to do:

1. Divide the cookie dough into 3 balls.

  • Leave one ball plain.
  • Mix a bit of red coloring into the second ball to turn it light pink.  Go slowly – add a bit of coloring at a time and squeeze the dough with clean hands.
  • Mix more red coloring into the third ball to make a darker pink.

Put all 3 balls of cookie dough into a plastic bag and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour, or more.

2. Sprinkle flour onto waxed paper and roll some dough into a long snake about as thick as a pencil.  Bend the dough into a heart shape.  Fill in the center of the heart  with other dough colors – rolled into snakes, smushed in as dots, or whatever each young artist wants.

3. The adult helper can carefully move the finished dough heart onto a greased cookie sheet.  If you want a cookie-on-a-stick, just slip a clean wooden treat stick under the bottom of the dough heart and press gently.  Bake at 350 degrees for 7 – 8 minutes.  Move cookies to a rack and cool completely.

Sculpting with clay is a wonderful activity for kids of all ages.

 

 

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KidsArt Matisse Faces Activity

greenlineHenri Matisse was an Impressionist artist and one of the most innovative painters in 20th-century art. He was a master of color and form, and he used color in new and imaginative ways. Kids especially love the way Matisse used color in his paintings of faces.

After looking at lots of Matisse portraits on the Internet, these young artists recreated themselves as Matisse portraits! Starting with a sheet of paper with an oval cut in the center, the kids painted a colorful background for their “portrait.” Then then painted themselves, using skin-safe face paint (easy to find in stores around Halloween, or order online). A big mirror in the classroom helped the process. The final step was a photograph of each student!

Learn about Matisse and 79 other great artists with Discovering Great Artists. There’s a hands-on art activity in the style of every artist in the book!

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