Wow! I am speechless! That alone is a shocker to anyone that knows me. I like to talk and talk a lot. However at this moment I am at a loss for what my first post should be about. I keep thinking my first post should be grand, something you will remember but I keep drawing a blank. So today I am just going to start by sharing a project I did with my son and some of his friends a while back.
This is a project inspired by Kandinsky. I used a wonderful book called Art Treasury from Usborne Books and more for this project.Here is the link if you are interested. http://w3541.myubam.com/p/423/art-treasury (Yes I am an Usborne Books & more Consultant ) In this book you learn all about the author and then do a project inspired by one of their works. I love all the colors and the contrast that you get from this one. This is a simple project that doesn't take much time and it's not too messy either.
First you will need some Watercolor paper (we used larger pieces and I cut them down to 12x12 inches)
Oil Pastels (we used Crayola's brand and they worked great) note you can use regular wax
crayons but I think the oil pastels are more fun.
Watercolor paints (I have a few and honestly can't remember which ones we used for this project)
A flat watercolor brush or other brush that you like
A ruler (What you say Math? Yes sneaking in a little math never hurts)
Now that you have all your materials out take your paper and divide it into 9 equal squares by measuring off every 4 inches both vertically and horizontally and then use your ruler to make your straight lines dividing your 9 squares. You could sneak in some measuring skills and fractions too. Thinking about it there are arrays also.
First you will need some Watercolor paper (we used larger pieces and I cut them down to 12x12 inches)
Oil Pastels (we used Crayola's brand and they worked great) note you can use regular wax
crayons but I think the oil pastels are more fun.
Watercolor paints (I have a few and honestly can't remember which ones we used for this project)
A flat watercolor brush or other brush that you like
A ruler (What you say Math? Yes sneaking in a little math never hurts)
Now that you have all your materials out take your paper and divide it into 9 equal squares by measuring off every 4 inches both vertically and horizontally and then use your ruler to make your straight lines dividing your 9 squares. You could sneak in some measuring skills and fractions too. Thinking about it there are arrays also.
Now you get to play with the incredibly fun Oil Pastels. Use as many colors as you want and draw your circles in each of the 9 squares you made. Use a black pastel to divide trace the lines dividing your squares also. Next use a different watercolor to paint in each square. You don't need to worry about covering up your circles because the oil resist the watercolors. The technique is actually called watercolor resist and is one of my favorites to do with kids. Hmm I think there may be a science lesson in there too. Don't worry I wont tell the kids they are actually learning while playing.
We had fun doing these and we did get a little messy which is always good. So what do you think? Let me know if you try this with your children and how they liked it.