Eye Monster

I got this idea from 'The Preschooler's Busy Book' by Trish Kuffner. A fantastic recourse full of imaginative ideas for any parent/carer of young children. I refer to it almost daily. 

Looking through old magazines, Finn and I chose a variety of facial features from faces (eyes, noses, mouths, eyebrows etc) and Finn arranged them on the page the way he decided. Then with a pen drew a face around the glued features. Your child could also add facial hair, ears, or any thing else to finish their creation. 

Materials: Cartridge paper, glue, pens, magazines with faces. 

Collage

For this project I cut pieces of coloured paper of various shapes and sizes. Finn decided to create a robot for this one (naturally), so he asked me to cut out grabby claws and buttons. He had full control over where the shapes were placed and we were both delighted that he was able to create recognisable images. Children love glue and Finn is no exception. Try to encourage children to wipe the excess glue off the brush, and try not to rush their work. 

Materials needed: Watered down PVA glue, cut out shapes of coloured paper of different sizes, textures. Your child may ask for extra shapes once the image is emerging. 

Robot with Buttons

Rocket Ship with Space Junk

warm and cool

Today we experimented with warm and cool colours. 

Warm colors are based on yellows, oranges, browns and reds

Cool colors are based on blues, greens, and purples. 

We talked about how certain colours make you feel, and how they are used to describe things. E.g. Red is a hot colour, found in fire, the sun, fire engines or can describe someone feeling angry.

Blue is a cool colour, like the ocean, and can make you feel calm, or used to describe someone who is sad. 

We looked around and found warm and cool colours around the house and garden. Here are some of his paintings using the different colour palettes. 

Cool Colours 

Warm Colours

Paper Mache Robot

After Finn watched a bit of Wall-E, we thought it would be fun to make his own Robot using Paper Mache. 

Materials needed: Various sized boxes and cardboard tubes (e.g sultana box, toilet roll etc)

Masking tape, wallpaper paste, PVA glue, container for mixing, old newspaper, paddle pop sticks, and items for decorating (buttons, stickers, pom-poms, pipe cleaner etc).

Step 1: After deciding on a theme, join together boxes with masking tape. Mix together the wallpaper paste powder with water and add a bit of PVA glue. Let it stand for a few minutes. 

Step 2: Prepare the surface to work in (cover the floor with newspaper or cardboard box- it can get messy). Rip up some newspaper into small pieces, and cover the boxes. Encourage your child to use their hands to experience texture, and help them create a tight layer especially over the joins. Let dry in sun. 

Step 3: Once dry- paint with a white coat to cover newspaper print, and create flat surface. Let dry. 

Step 4: When undercoat is dry, paint and decorate using a variety of materials. 

oh christmas tree..

We set up the christmas tree at home, so decided on a christmas theme for our art project today. 

I asked Finn to draw a christmas tree, then we looked through some junk mail and cut out some christmas decorations to place on his tree. They would make sweet cards for family and friends. 

Machines

I encourage my 2.5 year old Finn to draw every day. I invite him to use a variety of drawing implements (ball-point pens, textas, chalk, pencils, and charcol) and on different surfaces (chalk board, cartridge paper, coloured paper, brown paper bags and cardboard boxes). 

Through the act of drawing, children develop a multitude of cognitive abilites including problem-solving strategies, symbolic representation, spatial intelligence and literacy skills. Drawing enables children to learn through active engagement, fostering connectivity and providing real meaning to learning.

In the early years of schooling, often children’s language skills are not highly developed making visual arts a powerful educational tool.  Children are more likely to understand and express abstract concepts such as emotions more readily through the use of images rather than through words.

Finn is very interested in machines, so this is a common theme for him. I encourage him to talk about him drawings and explain how his machines work. 

A Robot machine: it makes Robots 

A milking machine.