Pirates

The past few weeks have had a real pirate focus for our household. Finn was invited to his preschool friends 'pirate' party so there has been a lot of excitement, inquiry and preparation building up to the big event.

 I was so thrilled to see Finn closely studying an illustration of a pirate hide-out and replicating into his sketch-book, adding an amazing amount of detail.

He is really looking when he draws now- and it has real meaning to him.

He has been dressing up and roll playing..

and drawing endless pages of pirates and ships.




The party lived up to all of his expectations.

How cute are these cupcakes?

Oil Pastels

We use these Micador Oil Pastels at the Steiner School I work at, and I also love using them for the kids at home. The colour range is huge and they don't seem to break while drawing like other oil pastels and the colours glide on beautifully smooth and strong. 

They work very well when using an ink wash over the top, creating a resist painting, or using on top a black/dark coloured paper (to create a space or night scene). 

Eyebrows, Ears and Eyes

I have decided not to fight it anymore.. and have let Finn experience the Ben 10 cartoon series like the rest of his preschool buddies. So, there is not so much talk about Robots in our house anymore, but more about superheros and Aliens. With his new keen interest... I took this opportunity to do some guided drawing with him while he was drawing Ben 10 from his pencil case. First he selected all the colours he needed for the image, then set about replicating what he was looking at. Towards the end of his drawing, I prompted him to look and draw smaller details (such as looking closely at the whole eye including the whites, iris and pupil, eyebrows, ears). Children often miss these details when they are first learning to draw, and it is helpful to prompt them to look at all body parts and facial features.

I just love this drawing. The energy and freedom in his lines, and of course the gorgeous expression. We quickly framed it and now it proudly sits on his bedroom wall.

My little Inventor

Finn has for a long time been talking about being an inventor when he is a 'big man'. I bought him his own inventions sketch book so he can jot down any ideas and look back on it  (and possibly invent) when he is older. He has spent hours and hours in this book over the past week busily working on his machines, robots and factories. He has also been taking it everywhere with him which has been great if I need to keep him occupied while at a cafe or waiting room. 

What I have to do now is go through his sketches and jot down what they are, otherwise we will both forget what they are meant to do! 

A Perfect Circle

Evie (who just turned two) is mastering her 'circles'. Currently her pages of drawings and paintings are filled with circles, and circles within circles. A beautiful little milestone to watch, and she does it with such concentration and patience. 

I have posted this link about children's drawing developmental before, but it's interesting for me to read again. http://www.learningdesign.com/Portfolio/DrawDev/kiddrawing.html

Drawing Flowers

 Finn is so fascinated by robots and machines it is his main focus when it comes to drawing. We have sketchbooks full of elaborate robots and machinery which come with lots of descriptions and stories.
Today at preschool he was asked to draw a flower, and it was difficult for him to draw a flower as it was (without adding wheels and cogs). So we set about this afternoon focusing on drawing flowers, in it's true form, looking at the details and shapes.
So here we are- a beautiful flower with not a button or wheel in sight. A breakthrough in our little household.

Wax Resist Painting

My children and their friends love experiencing wax resist painting. It is such a simple activity to set up for them, and the results are instant and satisfying. All you need is a handful of wax crayons and an ink wash to paint over the top (I used edicol dye powder and water, but if you don't have access to that food colouring drops mixed with water is also fine).

Today the little ones were drawing with white and pale yellow crayons- almost blindly, when they added the ink wash they were excited and surprised to see their image magically appear.

Bookmarks

Finn has started reading chapter books before bed, and we can never find enough bookmarks around the house. So our solution was to make our own, and give any extras away as gifts.

I folded an A4 piece of paper four times and re-opened it. I asked Finn to draw separate images on the inside of each crease.

When he was finished we signed, named and dated the back of each image, cut them out and placed them through the laminating machine (I bought mine from the local newsagent for around $29). Finn also discovered if you can turn it into a puzzle by matching up the right parts of the drawing.

Painting

I gave Finn a quality sheet of A3 size paper, and a permanent black pen to start drawing his outline.

Then when he was satisfied I gave him a selection of block paints (already selected into colour themes- sans black). Found on the link below.

http://eshop.zartart.com.au/webstore/index.wsp?session01=b0051aa592d678ad&page01=category&category01=2238.583

He had a great time blending and mixing colours, and filling in his all his robot drawing parts. 

By giving children a black pen, they can create an outline, define their work and create more detail than they could by using paints alone. 

x-mas calendar

we started off by creating a A 4 sheet of paper with 2012 dates down the bottom of the page- with a space for a child's drawing at the top. You can download calendar dates from the internet- an example is here: http://www.blankcalendar.org/yearly_calendars/2012_calendar_vertical.jpg

Then on a seperate sheet of paper I asked the children to draw a special drawing (or collage, or both), then we glued it in place and put it through the laminator. 

For hanging, we punched a hole in the top and thread some ribbon through it. 

A simple, personalised gift for friends and family.

Dot Stickers

We visited mum's art class recently and out of all the amazing materials available, Finn chose the dot stickers mum uses to colour-code the children's art work into class groups.  Lots of fun and great for fine motor skills! 

collaboration

Sometimes I find children need a little kick start with their drawings, and so helping them start with a little shape, or body part can help them find inspiration.  Here I drew the pink circle with a hat and ears, and Finn finished it off, turning it into 'inspector gadget'.  

Drivers Licence

We are buying and selling properties at the moment, and spending a lot of times talking to mortgage brokers which Finn finds incredibly boring. During a recent discussion as an attempt to keep Finn entertained, I came across a photocopied drivers licence which had been enlarged about 300%, and had my face mostly blurred out. I asked Finn to draw me my portrait in the blank spot and this is what he came up with. 

Birthday Card

I woke up last saturday morning to find the best birthday pressie- a gorgeous drawing from Finn titled 'Mummy and The Robot'. 

Ashe had found a watercolour painting that Finn had previously made, and requested Finn to draw with ink over the top.  It created a lovely effect which I will be proud to hang on my wall. 

Nanny McFee

Finn has been enjoying reading chapters from Nurse Matilda before bed at night so we hired him a copy of the DVD Nanny McFee (the movie which is inspired by the book). 

Yesterday he drew a gorgeous illustration of Nanny McFee from memory.

Super-indelible-never-come-off-till-you're-dead-and-maybe-even-later colouring markers

Finn and I have had fun reading a book called "Purple, Green and Yellow", by Robert Munsch and Helene Desputeaux, about a little girl who asks to draw with some permanent markers. I decided it was a great time to bring out my own set for Finn to experiment with.

The brand I have are 'texta', but the 'sharpie' brand in a variety of colours would be just as good. 

I gave Finn a couple of sheets of good quality card stock.





He created a whole gallery of portraits, he was on such a roll he drew on a paper bag when he ran out of the card stock.
 

This little character is a 'ballerina'. A collaboration between Evie and Finn. 

The lovely thing about using permanent markers is the lines are so sharp, and unlikely to fade like other water based markers. You can also work over the top with a ink wash without them bleeding. They are not so great for getting off furniture, walls etc, so keep them away from very little hands.

Working with the ink blot

Last wednesday the children revisited their dry ink blot paintings, and I asked them to think about what they might see in the different shapes, and what they could turn them into (encouraging imagination and creative thinking).  Some saw birds, others saw machines. I gave them a variety of drawing implements and they worked into their blots.

If they seemed stuck with their drawing, I gently suggested things they might want to add (e.g. What do you think the bird might eat, could you draw some food for her?).

Sometimes a blank sheet of paper can seem intimidating for children, so having a starting base is sometimes helpful to get ideas flowing.

drawing as a form of communication

I've mentioned before how drawing can be a very powerful form of communication for young children when their language skills are still developing. I was very excited to witness a perfect example of this the other day, when Finn was trying desperately to explain a playground we visited on a recent trip to Canberra. I couldn't understand which one he meant, so he asked for a pen and paper and drew it!  When he was explaining it along with the drawing, I understood exactly what he meant (for those who know Canberra, it was a drawing of the castle playground in Commonwealth park). It was really exciting for me to witness this from Finn.

Rocket Ship Fire-Engine

We seem as a species to be driven by a desire to make meanings: above all, we are surely homo significans - meaning-makers (Chandler, 2002, p. 17).

Finn (3) draws everyday for pleasure. I see improvements every time he draws. The more children can recoginise objects and shapes in their drawings, the more encouraging it is for them to keep practicing.

My biggest advice for parents is to have blank paper and good drawing materials (permanent markers, good quality crayons, and pencils & textas) easily available and accessible for children.

I have an solid art table (we chopped the legs down to size) set up on the deck, with a big pad of paper, and drawing implements ready for him when ever inspiration strikes.

I also have a beautiful artist book (made by one of my dearest friends Sarah) with blank pages to store and treasure all of his drawings, on the dining room table. When I'm on the phone or busy in the kitchen- I hand him the book and off he goes.

Talk about your child's artwork-  talk about what shapes they are drawing, ask them questions, suggest what things may look like to you (e.g that looks a bit like a wheel, is it?). Encourage and praise them for any efforts. Finn loves it when I watch him draw, and he loves it when we discuss his drawings and the stories behind them.

The Giraffe and Finny and Me

I've been reading Finn (3) The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me  by Roald Dahl for the last few nights, and today as I was putting Evie to sleep Finn comes tapping at the window proudly displaying his wonderful Giraffe drawing. I found one of Evie's squeaky Giraffe toys for Finn to compare his own drawing against.



I pointed out that Giraffes have ears and horns, and large spots. He set about refining his drawing.

I set him up at the easel with some watercolour paints (limited to browns, white and greens) and he painted the Giraffe, some trees and some insects.

 

At the end he proudly announced "I'm an artist, like Nono" (his grandmother). I think he might be right.