Another Art Thread

[becoming]

So, the responses in the other thread ("Messy Activities") are pretty vague as far as the actual activities and supplies that everyone does and uses. Can we get more specific lists of the stuff you have and the things your kids make?

[mamaloveseee]

We use finger paint - we paint with Q-tips, cars, cleaning brushes, sticks, straws, sponges, lots of other things
sugar mixed with food coloring - very messy but a beautiful end result
feathers, yarn, pudding, macaroni, baby food jars
Too many things to think of right now.

[DevaMajka]

Moved to Parenting from SAHP

[BellinghamCrunchie]

We got most of our ideas from Discount School Supply, even if we didn't buy the product - many of the crafts there you can duplicate at home without buying anything special.

The Foam Paints are a big hit, and they can be duplicated by adding food coloring to shaving cream (although I wonder if that's less toxic than the Foam Paint).

DD likes to squeeze the paint out, so these were perfect because they are small and she can't squeeze too much out: http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/...3&category=109

Face paints are great fun: http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/...1&category=109

We have mixed smushed blackberries with white glue on a paper plate, and laid flower petals (bright pink ones are especially stunning with the dark purple blackberries) on top, and let dry.

Yesterday we got a head start on our Christmas ornaments with this type clay: http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/...27&category=70 We rolled out the clay, cut out shapes with Christmas cookie cutters, used a straw to put a hole for the ribbon, speed-dried them in the oven, then painted them.

Every year we make holiday cards. When she was 1 year old she fingerpainted all over fingerpaint paper. I took cardstock and cut out the shape of a tree or an ornament, cut a piece from her fingerpainted paper, and glued it on the reverse side so the bright paints showed through but the cutout design gave it a shape.

For a fun, cheap sensory experience but doesn't create a lasting piece of art I mix instant mashed potatoes with warm water until they are pretty thin (like paint) and added some food coloring. She loved painting her whole body with this goop then loved watching the bathwater turn color when I plunked her in.

DD loves painting her plastic baby doll then giving it a bath.

My 3 year old is enjoying these currently. They might give you some ideas. The masks in particular are a big hit. If I don't feel like getting messy, stickers work for decoration - you can even make your own homemade stickers, or cut out things from magazines that he likes and use glue dots or the stick glues.

http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/...87&category=88

http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/...02&category=88

http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/...29&category=88

http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/...70&category=88

http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/...86&category=88

http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/...&keyword=masks

The Waldorf Schooling forum here is an excellent place to find many craft-type activities, too, even if you don't Waldorf.

[IBC Mama]

DD is almost 5. Here are some projects she has worked on recently:
cutting pictures out of catalogs and gluing them onto paper (white school glue)
colored tape and popsicle sticks: she made flags, sculptures, taped things to paper
origami paper and tape
we trace her body on newsprint (we get the end rolls free from the local newspaper) or cardboard and she draws on clothes, jewelry, features with markers or pastel crayons
colored paper, white paper, scissors, and glue: she used the colored paper to make a book cover, glued in white pages, folded it, and uses it to write treasure maps
air dry clay: we made pinch pots and animals
sculpey clay: we made food for her doll house
fabric scraps, cardstock, glue: we make "quilts"==really fabric collages
we buy cheap picture frames and glue glitter, jewels, etc onto them

we are a pretty crafty family so we have a lot of supplies. I would say the ones that get the most use/provide the most entertainment are:
white school glue
scissors
origami paper
fabric scraps
tape
big rolls of paper
pastel crayons


right now she is also really interested in using the flower press. At her school, they do a lot of "sculpture" type art by gluing things onto cardboard.. they have done corks and paper scraps, flat glass marbles and pebbles, packing peanuts, twigs and sticks, beans and grains, etc. The teacher often puts out dishes of glue with paint brushes. They also paint at the easel.
Our problem at home is drying space and display space!

[Mama Poot]

We do crayons and markers with coloring books, construction paper, clip out things from magazines and make collages, sidewalk chalk-or even just the right kind of rock that will make marks on the pavement. Play dough is another hit here, too. They like to "bake cookies" with it in their play kitchen.

[mumm]

No one has mentioned shaving cream play. And for extra fun add a little food coloring.

[ErinBird]

My daughter is just two, so most of the time our "art" is not elaborate. WE paint, we color with crayons or markers, or colored pencils. We do those things on different textures or materials (rocks, smooth paper, colored paper). We use different things to apply paint (rollers, fingers, different brushes, etc).

Sometimes I suggest a theme- DD has been excited about spiders (spiders everywhere here this time of year), so we borrowed a bunch of spider books from the library and read them. I then suggested we make a spider and web. Another day we read monster themed books and then DD made a scary friendly monster.

[famousmockngbrd]

A fun thing we like to do in the fall is to collect leaves and iron them between pieces of wax paper, then tape them to the windows. They look nice when the light shines through them.

We recently made ghosts to hang on the trees in the front yard. We cut up white plastic grocery bags into ragged squares, then rolled up balls of the scraps to make heads, and wrapped the squares around them. We tied the necks with fishing line and DS drew faces on them, then we hung them from the trees.

We have a lot of art supplies, because I like art. Crayons, markers, paint, pastels, chalk, playdoh and accessories, glitter glue, feathers, pom poms, beads, regular glue, pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, clothespins, scraps of cloth, yarn, string, egg cartons, paper towel rolls...lots and lots of paper. Really anything can be transformed into "art". I'd say paper, crayons, string and glue are the most important, and you can pretty much add on from there. (Well, and scissors, of course.)