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Hi!
This is a fun post with lots of arty ideas for kids and a peek at what other children are doing. You will even find a link to see what elephants are painting these days! Yes! Real elephants! First of all though to get in a creative mood, how about creating your own garden here…
This is something to see. Have no idea how it works, but it’s beautiful.
http://www.procreo.jp/labo/flower_garden.swf
Click on the above link.. You will get a black page. Click your mouse anywhere on the page & see what happens! Better yet, click & drag your mouse over the black page.
How was that? Did you make a beautiful garden on your page?
Art can be a very messy experience! Lots of kids do it outside with a bucket of water for hand washing and an old towel and its good to wear old clothes or an apron.
IMPORTANT! ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOU ARE USING SAFE NON-TOXIC ART MATERIALS BY CHECKING THE LABELS.
Here are my 2 grand-daughters ready for hand printing in my Studio!! Help!!! They chased me around pretending to put hand prints all over me! The didn’t do it, but they had me worried for a moment!
NOW HERE ARE SOME CREATIVE GAMES & CRAFT IN THIS POST – FOR WET DAYS , HOLIDAYS, PARTIES OR ANY TIME YOU FEEL LIKE HAVING FUN.
STICKER STORIES (A NON MESSY CRAFT)
Create a story using stickers. Keep an eye out for sets of stickers in the shops that can lend themselves to a story. (e.g. various animals, dinosaurs, fairies, etc.) Keep them aside for a rainy day – then bring them out with a blank pad and make up a story and illustrate it with the stickers, leaving a page free at the beginning for a story title. You can do some drawing along with the stickers as well as story writing. Each story will need:
A TITLE, CHARACTERS, A BEGINNING, AN (EXCITING!!) MIDDLE AND AN END. MOST STORIES ARE ABOUT A PROBLEM AND THE END IS FINDING A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM.
IT’S FUN TO JUST START AND LET IT HAPPEN – YOU WILL BE AMAZED WHAT COMES UP AND OLDER CHILDREN CAN HELP YOUNGER ONES WITH IDEAS IF THEY GET STUCK. ITS BEST TO KEEP THE STORY SHORT, SIMPLE AND CLEAR. IF WRITING BECOMES TOO TIRING, JUST TAKE TURNS TO WRITE A LINE. IF TOO YOUNG TO WRITE YET, TELL THE STORY WITH PICTURES ONLY.
Here is a sticker story where we used a bought sheet of sticker characters (you might know who they are from the TV!) and put them into our own story with writing and extra drawing…
PET ROCKS
NOW JULIA IS GOING TO SHOW YOU SOME PET ROCKS SHE MADE FOR PAPER WEIGHTS… BY PAINTING SOME SMOOTH RIVER STONES TO LOOK LIKE INSECTS, ADDING STICK ON EYES AND PIPE CLEANER FOR LEGS. I WONDER WHAT YOU WILL MAKE FROM YOUR STONES?
FOOD SCULPTURE
If you can spare a little bit of food at your house for craft, you could try making some FOOD SCULPTURES. Wash your hands well first in case they need to be eaten later and only use a knife if you are allowed to…then be VERY careful. I made this slideshow into a kaleidescope one – see if you can guess what each picture is going to be! Be patient – there are only 6!
THIS NEXT ONE IS A TALKING GAME:
“PROGRESSIVE STORIES”
THIS IS FUN TO PLAY IF YOU ARE STUCK SOMEWHERE WITH NOTHING TO PLAY OR DRAW WITH. ACTUALLY THIS HAS BECOME A FAVOURITE GAME MY FAMILY LIKE TO PLAY AROUND THE TABLE AS MEALTIMES. IT GOES LIKE THIS…
ONE PERSON STARTS … “ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS A …………………AND” THEN THEY WAVE THEIR HAND TO THE PERSON ON THEIR LEFT TO ADD THE NEXT BIT…AND SO ON, ALL THE WAY AROUND THE TABLE UNTIL THE STORY FINDS ITS OWN CONCLUSION. THAT WAY, EVERYONE HAS AN INPUT INTO THE IMAGINATION AND NOBODY KNOWS HOW IT WILL GO OR END UP. TRY IT! ITS FUN!!! TO MAKE IT EXCITING, TRY TO CREATE “CLIFF HANGERS” BY LEAVING A DIFFICULT SITUATION FOR THE NEXT PERSON TO SOLVE AS YOU GO ALONG.
”CHINESE WHISPERS” (ANOTHER TALKING GAME)
ANOTHER FUN ONE WHERE YOU ONLY NEED YOUR VOICES, IF THERE ARE 3 OR MORE WILLING TO PLAY. SOMEONE STARTS BY WHISPERING A SHORT PHRASE TO THE PERSON NEXT TO THEM. THIS IS THEN WHISPERED JUST ONCE TO EACH PERSON IN TURN AND THE LAST PERSON SAYS WHAT THEY HEARD OUT LOUD. USUALLY IT IS NOTHING LIKE THE ORIGINAL THING SAID AND THIS CREATES A LOT OF LAUGHTER.
(JULIA CALLS IT “CHINESE WHISKERS” WHICH IS VERY CUTE!)
SCRIBBLE-MANIA!
FOR THIS YOU JUST NEED A SHEET OF PLAIN DRAWING PAPER AND TEXTAS OR COLOURED PENCILS. YOU CAN HAVE FUN DOING THIS ON YOUR OWN AND YOU DON’T NEED TO BE ABLE TO DRAW AT ALL! JUST HOLD THE PAPER IN PLACE WITH YOUR SPARE HAND AND SCRIBBLE FREELY WITH A BLACK TEXTA WITH YOUR OTHER HAND ALL OVER THE PAGE. EASY? OF COURSE, BUT YOU HAVE TO DO IT WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED! (IT’S A GOOD IDEA TO PUT A SHEET OF NEWSPAPER DOWN FIRST IN CASE YOU GO OFF THE EDGE OF THE PAGE WHILE YOUR EYES ARE CLOSED – OTHERWISE YOU MIGHT GET TEXTA ON THE TABLE.)
DONE? NOW OPEN YOUR EYES AND LOOK CAREFULLY AT YOUR DESIGN, TURNING THE PAGE AROUND. CAN YOU SEE ANY PART OF IT THAT LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING? ARE THERE SOME NICE SHAPES TO COLOUR IN? THIS IS A GREAT WAY TO CREATE DESIGNS, EITHER ABSTRACT OR NOT, IT DOESN’T MATTER. HERE IS ONE OF JULIA’S DESIGNS DONE THAT WAY…
PEG PEOPLE & PLASTICINE PETS
Here are some characters made by dressing up dolly pegs like the plain on at the left of the picture. You can use all sorts of bits and pieces with pipe cleaners for arms. The little folk and puppies are made with coloured plasticine and the green dog has tooth picks for legs.
BOX CRAFT
Our girls also like making things out of boxes…what can you think of to make from boxes? Maybe a bed for your doll or bear?
HEAD, BODY AND LEGS – A DRAWING GAME FOR MORE THAN ONE PERSON
Last year, my partner Tony and I visited Hong Kong and met up with a lovely art teacher who, with her sister, runs creative classes for children. The studio is called ARTIVE KIDS. We really love what they are doing and especially the sign in the display window which says something like ”There is no right way to draw, only the child’s way”. Here are some of the children there, enjoying their creativity….
When we got back to Australia, we decided it would be nice to share creative ideas with Artive Kids in Hong Kong. One idea was a drawing game my family calls “Head, body and legs” which is great fun and a really cool game. Here is how to play it…
This is a great game to play anywhere – if you find you are somewhere like in a waiting room or on a bus or train, all you need is a pad of paper and a pencil each. If you only have one pen or pencil, just take turns. Tony and I played it on trains in Europe with children who spoke another language. It meant we could share a laugh without needing to communicate with words.
The children at Artive Kids, Hong Kong did BIG drawings using this game and COLOURED THEIR FINISHED DRAWINGS with paint! Here are their results…………….
Are’nt they GREAT! They are all so original! When it was time for Chinese New Year, Artive Kids sent us a picture of their window display created by the children. They have some terrific themes but this one is very traditionally decorative and beautiful…
Now here’s a slide show of the story book my grand-daughter Julia and I made up from the crazy drawing game “Head, body and legs”. We called it “The Loopy Gang” and changed the images on Photoshop to make it look as though the characters were in an earthquake! Maybe you could make a story this way too. To begin slide show, press the right hand top X.
CIRCUS CRAFT
NEXT, I WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU SOME MORE WONDERFUL ART AND CRAFT FROM ARTIVE KIDS IN HONG KONG -THE THEME THEY HAVE BEEN WORKING ON IS “CIRCUS” – FULL OF COLOUR AND FUN…ENJOY THE SLIDE SHOW! YOU MIGHT LIKE TO DO SOME CIRCUS CRAFT TOO. YOU WILL NEED LOTS OF COLOURFUL BITS AND PIECES – OTHERWISE, JUST DRAW A CIRCUS SCENE AND COLOUR IT IN.
Thankyou Artive Kids! I am having fun at home with Amelia and Julia doing CIRCUS CRAFT too…
Once again, Artive Kids in Hong Kong have shared another projec with us – painting a SUNFLOWER! Here are some of the results of this happy subject!
Thankyou Artive Kids! They are beautiful!
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ELEPHANTS PAINTING PICTURES
Now remember I promised you could see ELEPHANTS PAINTING didn’t I? YES! REAL ELEPHANTS! Well here they are – JUST CLICK ON THIS LINK…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He7Ge7Sogrk
AREN’T THEY FANTASTIC!!!
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Here is another trick drawing – CAN YOU TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A FROG AND A HORSE???
Now it’s time to look at some other kids’ ART…
Actually I have always loved elephants. Here is part of my story “Jim the Elephant” when I was 9. My mother had told me “an elephant never forgets”. My first soft toy was a red felt elephant and I remember getting in trouble for drawing elephants like this one with great big toenails in my brother’s schoolbooks! Sorry the paper is so brown, but like me, it is getting a little bit old.
and here’s my story and picture about being kind to butterflies…
Way back in the 1950s in Primary School, as you can see, if we made a mistake we put a bracket around it and kept writing. Do you still do that? We were writing with an old fashioned pen with a nib which we dipped into an inkwell to pick up enough ink to write about 3 or 4 words. Then we had to dip it in again. We had to be careful not to smudge the ink until it dried and used a sheet of blotting paper to help it dry. When the ink was dry it could not be rubbed out with a rubber the way you can with a pencil, so we had to try to be VERY careful! We only used a pencil until Year 3 and printed separate letters then. Using a pen and “running writing” (letters joined together) was really “grown up”! Sometimes we used a slope card under our page to help us get our writing to all slope the same way.
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Next is a portrait of me by a little friend of mine called Marijke. I think it is very good. She wrote the “J” around the wrong way but think most of us do that when we are learning don’t we?
When Marijke last came to see me, we did the “Maori hello” of pressing our noses together. She said “Oh Nanna you only have one eye!” (if you’ve ever done this, one eye is all you will see!). Then Marijke drew me that way! How about you look at someone at your house with your noses together – then draw a picture of how they look? That would be so funny!
Here is a great illustration of Jack and the Beanstalk by Marijke. The giant in the sky is booming out ”Hooooo R You” and Jack, who is shown half way up the beanstalk replies “My name is Jack”. Jack’s house and his worried mother are below. Would you like to do a drawing about your favourite story too?
Here is Amelia painting, aged 3. It’s great if you have somewhere you stand up at an easel and work BIG!
I love art and craft with children because fresh young minds and imaginations always come up with the unexpected, throwing new light on a view of the world through their eyes and fresh discoveries.
Back in the 1970s/80s I took great pleasure in formulated and teaching Childrens Art Classes for the Central Coast Art Society, Gosford. Since my studio was situated at a beachfront, the first activity for the kids on arrival from school was to go for a run on the sand to release some of their pent up energy before settling down to more concentrated painting and drawing! Here’s a picture of Seagal Studio at MacMasters Beach where the classes were held and a few of the kids who attended… (click to enlarge)
My own fascination with fairies shows up pretty early in this little painting at age 8. The dark blue dancing “Sprite” was copied from my Brownie badge and the “Green Grocer” was a name for a local cicada in the bush around Gymea. I guess, like most little girls, I dreamed about a fairy queen being taken over the rainbow in her chariot and lovely things like that! I heard a little girl say the other day “Toadstools grow where it’s wet, that’s why they’re shaped like umbrellas”. I had never thought of that before.
Would you like to draw a picture of Fairyland too? Perhaps you could send it to me and we could put it in this Post. Just leave a comment in the box at the end and I will tell you how to do it.
Now I’m a grandmother and having great art and craft fun with my grand-daughters, Amelia and Julia. No doubt their new little brother Kyan will join in as well when he’s older! They’ve made all kinds of things from basic materials and learned so much about painting and craft in the process, as you can see. They were abut 5/7 yrs. old when they did these drawings and older when we made the dolls.
If slideshow need activating, click on the X at the top RH corner.
Do you like Amelia’s little bush fairies? We call them “Sprites”. I love her helicopter too and the action drawings with so much happening. How about you draw an action scene too with lots of things happening!
Here is a picture Tony’s grandson, Liam, drew after we spent a day in Killarney National Park with the family. He spotted a leprochaun more than once on our walk. We asked him to draw what he saw…
and here is a wonderful design by my step-grandson, Adon…
Next is our latest beautiful drawing from our little World Vision sponsored girl, Jenovevah, who is 9 this year.
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More recently, Amelia watched the film “Vincent and I” by flm-maker, Mike Rubbo at my house. It’s a delightful story about a young girl who identifies so closely with Vincent Van Gogh that she manages to travel through time and actually paint with him. Together they feel the juicy thick texture of the paint and explore the lines that represent the life energy in the landscape around them. Vincent really painted ENERGY in and around everything!
The moment the film ended and the credits rolled, Amelia rushed out to the artroom and grabbed charcoal and paper, drawing furiously! Then she wanted to paint with thick oil paint to see what it felt like. I happily encouraged her to use all she wanted and this was the result below…
Actually, she declared it was finished before adding the happy face on the sun and it is based on one of Vincent’s paintings in a book I have about his work. When I said she should add something to make it hers, she added the happy face! Have you ever tried painting with thick paint? It takes a lot of paint so maybe you had better do a small one if you try it – then put t somewhere to dry because it might take a long time.
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So whatever you do in your art and craft, I hope you really, really have fun! Don’t forget, if you would like your picture to be in this Post you can send me a picture by email. Just write to in the comments box and I will tell you how to do it.
Attention teachers: If you have screen printing equipment I have put up a post about simple printing on fabric.
Cheerio for now
Julie
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