Archive for the ‘Art’ Category

Paint by Number

Tuesday, July 31st, 2012

paint-by-number-1You would think that paint by number would decrease creativity in children, but I’ve found the opposite to be true. My son learned how to shade horses by doing a paint by number. We bought the kit at a craft supply store. The thin canvas has an outline of the picture, with numbers inside each area. The number corresponds to a color. For example, number 8 is light blue. You go ahead and paint each area the correct colors until you finish the painting.

paint-by-number-2Later on I noticed that my son was drawing horses freehand. When he colored in the horses with colored pencils, he shaded the mane in the same way that he did for the paint by number. So his artistic skill increased because of the paint by number. Now the beautiful painting of horses can be seen in the hallway of our home. (Actually, another son painted the horses in my hallway. We gave the collection of horses as a gift to Grandma, who owned horses for years. You can see one of our horse paint by numbers in the YouTube video “Hallway Art Gallery.”)

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Making a Patriotic Collage

Monday, July 2nd, 2012

patriotic-collage

Making a Patriotic Collage

To make a patriotic collage, start with a poster board or large piece of construction paper. I like to choose a color instead of starting with white. My kids chose blue, but you could also start with red. It should be one of the colors of the American flag. Now cut out pictures from magazines that remind you of being an American, like an eagle, Mount Rushmore, or some American soldiers. You can do the entire collage just with pictures from magazines, with people eating apple pie, playing baseball, or doing any other typical American activity.

patriotic-poster

Write “America” on the top in bubble letters, and color in the letters with red, white, and blue crayons or colored pencils. You could also cut out bubble letters from construction paper or use large alphabet stickers instead. You can add patriotic cloth or napkins with the American flag to add texture. Color a map of the United States, and cut it out and glue it to your poster. Overlap all your pictures so that there is no poster showing except for the title. Now your gorgeous patriotic collage is finished. Hang it up on the wall for everyone to enjoy.

Painting Fireworks with Kids

Wednesday, June 27th, 2012

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What better time to paint fireworks than the weeks leading up to the Fourth of July?

In this humorous video, I show you how to paint fireworks on a poster board by throwing a pronged ball dunked in paint straight at the poster. Does that sound like fun? Painting fireworks with kids has never been so easy!

You will need black poster board, kid paint, and a pronged ball. You might also want some old newspaper to place under your project.

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Of course, my kids tried painting fireworks another way, which turned out to be disastrous. Take a look at our failed artwork as well as our successful painting of fireworks.

Sidewalk Chalk

Monday, June 25th, 2012

sidewalk-chalk

Have you taken your kids outside to color with sidewalk chalk? Last summer we bought some bright chalk at a craft supply store. I prefer bold colors rather than pastel colors. The kids and I walked down to the local school, which was empty for the summer. You have already paid for the school you never use with taxes from your property, so you might as well get some use out of what you’ve paid for. Most schools have a large cement area where kids play basketball or do other PE activities. This is your blank canvas.

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First we all sat down and drew a white rectangle with the chalk. Each child sat in front of one rectangle, and they decided what scene they wanted to draw. I put the chalk right in the middle so all the kids could reach it.

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My oldest son decided to draw a person, just to challenge himself. My second son drew a camping scene, while my third son drew an ocean scene with underwater sea creatures. My daughter drew a field with flowers on a sunny day, with a bird flying through the air.

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The children colored in every area of the rectangle, with the exception of my oldest son. I was surprised at how beautiful all the pictures turned out, especially the chalk drawing of a person, which my son had never attempted with chalk before.