The Unplugged Theme of OCEAN this week comes at a perfect time. In about a month we will be spending some time at the ocean. We have been reading ocean books and learning all we can about the sea. I love the art work in so many children’s books. Two artists I really like are Leo Lionni and Eric Carle. THE ART OF ERIC CARLE and the book ARTIST TO ARTIST 23 major illustrators talk to children about their art, are excellent books that talk about and/or show the artists at work.
Another book we read was SWIMMY by Leo Lionni. We looked closely at the pictures and tried to figure out how Lionni made them. Then tried out some of our ideas in our own ocean pictures.
Looks like doilies!
Molly also used bubble wrap and “paintbrush hair” to add some texture to her work. She also made a fish stencil so that all of her fish would look alike.
Inevitably the painting turned into to finger paint and 5 year olds have their own ideas. Ginger started her painting by cutting out a red fish shape, gluing it down and calling it “swimmy.” The next time I looked their were sunshines and and words and hearts in her ocean. Taking a deep breath I had to remember it’s the process not the product that’s important!!
This was the first time we used acrylic paints. Molly really liked the coverage and control she felt with these as well as the clean finish.
Picture books are a great jumping off point for so many activities. I have a few other ideas to share soon.
Yesterday we spent the day at The Works Museum. What a great hands-on place! I forgot my camera so no pictures. But there was enough to keep Ginger and I busy for 4 hours while Molly was in an Art-Science class there. One of the many things we loved at the museum was this Budda Board. They had one at the Childrens Museum in Maine but the gift shop was out of them. Lucky for us The Works had plenty in stock!
It really is a zen experience to paint with water on this slate board and watch it eventually fade away.
OOoHHHMmmmmmmmm
I am a bug lover, much to my son’s dismay! Although I am pretty sure Ginger has my bug gene-just ask her friend Maya, she will attest to it! We recently checked a really cool moth book out of the library, NIGHT VISIONS THE SECRET DESIGN OF MOTHS by J. Scheer. Really beautiful pictures. I was hoping to attract some of these beauties to our yard!
Yesterday we made a concoction to entice moths to come and drink from our tree trunk pub. A few years ago we tried this with the Moth Broth recipe from Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots, but I didn’t have a copy on hand. So we used the Mother Earth News recipe.
3-6 over ripe bananas
1/2-1 c molasses, honey or corn syrup
1-2 cups orange juice or other fruit juice
1 or 2 bottles stale beer
1-2 oz rum (I had to skip this as my I was out out rum-go figure!)
mash bananas, stir in sugars, add rest a little at a time. It should be as thick as house paint. If too thin add another banana. Cover and let ferment in the sun for a few hours.
Pick a tree near a clearing and paint at least an 8 inch square of said concoction onto tree bark a few hours before sunset. Hint-use a bigger paint brush than us! We used a tree near our outside light, I thought that might be like a double bait!
Go back at night and check to see who came a callin’! The magazine suggests around 3 AM.
Now this is where I failed. We checked around midnight and there were a couple of common moths catching a buzz but then we all fell asleep. There may be too much light pollution near our house to attract most of the moths in the book but I was hoping for something a little more impressive. We are going to camp at a near by camp ground tonight. I am bringing the left overs with us to try again. I will update if there is good news!
It’s just about finished!
Friends and heavy machinery certainly help!
Do you notice a big new something in my hand? A new camera! And not just any camera..She’s a Nikon D300. WoW!
Whenever I get money for a holiday I put it away. Whenever I clean my husbands office, I put it away. Whenever I sell anything I put it away. I have been saving for awhile, years actually, so I had a good bit of stash. She is AMAZING! Look at what she can do…
And even this with NO FLASH or tripod….(Wasn’t happening with my XTi)
I haven’t had much time to get to know her but I have been admiring her from afar. I had her picture taped up on my kitchen cupboard for a while. And it was love at first sight. As I said in my previous post (Where there is a chance to win a party favor!) I am obsessed with taking pictures and photography in general lately. Lucky for me, my husband believes in me and supports my creative endeavors or else I would have been short a little bit of dough. Thanks honey!! Now on to the unplugged project.
We cut a piece of contact paper, pulled the backing off and taped it down to the table. OUTSIDE for those that are mess-phobic! Now let them shake the glitter all over the contact paper.
Cut a second piece of contact paper the same size or a bit bigger to stick over the top.
Trim the edges if you want…
Hang in a window…
I made it! I am really liking this blogging thing! I wanted this to serve as motivation to do more projects with my kids as well as some documentation, But I am so blown away by the connections I have made and the comments from all the readers. It is so fun and just the sort of paycheck I think I needed to boost my own creativity. I am completely obsessed with taking pictures and photography in general! More on that later but now on to the celebration……………..I wanted to give out a party favor to a lucky reader! So if you want a chance to win this: (And you know you do)
Jan Brett’s The Umbrella and 3 pots of finger-paint, leave a comment on this post before midnight (Eastern Standard time) on Thursday June 12 and you will be entered. Winner (randomly picked out of a bowl by one of my kids) will be announced on Lucky Friday the 13th!!!
Thanks for all your visits and comments!! Keepem’ comin’!!
Love (and not so much like to the confused and wrong and mean, Nasty Neighbor commenter),
Kristen
As I worked furiously today I sent the girls outside to Marbleize some paper. I have not tried to to this with paint, but this chalk method works well, and is really easy.
Materials you will need: Colored chalks, the brighter the better, craft stick or 2, white paper that does not have a shiny surface-we used construction paper, wash tub or tubbie big enough to comfortably fit the paper (or cut paper in half).
Fill tub 2 to 3 inches with water. Scrape chalk with craft stick so that the chalk dust falls onto the surface of the water.
Try not to shake tubbie, the dust may sink. After scraping several colors, gently lay paper onto water surface and gently swirl the paper so that it stays on the surface.
Gently peel paper out of the water. You may want to weight edges as the wet paper tends to curl as it dries.
Molly actually made a book out of all her pretty papers! If you drop the chalk into the water wait until you swirl your paper before you dive in after it. And you may want to spray your pages with hairspray to keep the chalk from rubbing off. I didn’t have any so we skipped this part. Warning–this is sort of an addicting activity. The combinations are endless!
Now as far as the cleaning and the pending garage sale…….
It better not rain all day as this pile doubled in size after this photo was taken!!!
Clean dinning room and fresh picked flowers!! Can’t show pictures of the rest of the house yet!
This is going to be our new nature table. I will be taking some ideas from A CHILD’S SEASONAL TREASUREY and THE NATURE CORNER.
And a few photos from our trip to the skate park
