Popcorn, Pasta and Cheerios!

A quick craft to keep the kids busy at home on yet another rainy day.  The results aren't the best and I think we will paint them next and add glitter etc.  The kids had a blast doing this craft but ate as much as they used in their pictures.  If I were doing this at school, I would bring lentils and some more colourful cereal.

We started by drawing a picture in black marker.  This one is outerspace:

Then we went over the black lines with white glue:

I raided the cupboard for a popcorn, pasta and cheerios!

Then we covered the glue. 

The next step will be painting our masterpieces and adding glitter :)

If this rain keeps up, we will be finishing it tomorrow....

Funky Crochet Coasters



I decided to make some funky new coasters out of some left over cotton yarn.  They look very cute and would make a creative hostess gift.  This pattern is very easy.  If you are new to crochet, it is easiest just to keep it a solid colour.  I have added the colour changes that I used but they could be changed in any rows you choose.

FUNKY CROCHET COASTERS

chain 3,   slip stich in first ch to form a ring.

Row 1:  8 single crochet (sc) in ring

Row 2:  2 sc in each sc (16 st)

Row 3:  *1 sc in next sc, 2sc in next sc* repeat 7 times (24 st)

Row 4:  *sc, sc, 2 sc* repeat 7 times (32 st).  Sl st in next stitch.  Ch 1 to hold stitch.  Cut leaving about an inch and a half length of yarn.

Row 5:  Join next colour  *sc, sc, sc, 2 sc* repeat 7 times (40 st)  Sl st in next stitch.  Ch 1 to hold stitch.  Cut leaving about an inch and a half length of yarn.

Row 6:  Join next colour  *sc, sc, sc, sc, 2 sc* repeat 7 times (48st)  Sl st in next stitch.  Ch 1 to hold stitch.  Cut leaving about an inch and a half length of yarn.  Turn coaster over and tie off loose strands. 



Fat Frogs on a Skinny Log

I love finding fun art projects from books we've read.  I have a great book called "Fat Frogs on a Skinny Log" by  Sara Riches.  If you don't have this book you could read another frog story or simply ask them to imagine what would happen if a bunch of fat frogs all tried to jump on the same slippery log.

We began with a large piece of white paper and coloured it in with light and dark blue pastel.



Next the kids were given a brown piece of construction paper and were to cut out a log.  They coloured it in with brown, black, orange and green pastels.

I handed all the kids a white square of paper for drawing their frogs.  I took them through a simple drawing of the frog but let them be creative and make changes if they wanted to make it more unique.

I let the kids make 2 to 5 frogs to put on the log.  I told them to vary the expressions of the frog.  One could be happy to be on the log, the other could be angry to have to share the log.   Once the frogs were drawn, they outined them in black marker and coloured them in with pencil crayons.  When cutting the frogs out, I showed the class how to cut around the frog leaving a little bit of white so that the eyebrows and toes weren't accidentally cut off and showed up better with a little edging to them. 

The next step was to glue the frogs on the log.



Then I had the kids add a lilypad (draw a heart with a rounded bottom).  they drew it on white paper and coloured it in with pencil crayon, then added some yellow pastel.  I showed them how to make water drops and shading under were the log tipped up from the weight of the frogs.

 

Eric Carle Flowers

I found some fabulous discarded wallpaper sample books to use for my Eric Carle collages.  You could also use painted paper, wrapping paper etc..   We started by reading The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. We discussed collage and how the pictures were made. 

 Then the kids made a rough drawing of their flower and went to work digging through the wallpaper books to find cool paper for their picture.  I had no idea how much they would LOVE flipping through wallpaper books showing each other the funky colours and textures.

This is a fun Spring project that fit in well with "April Showers Bring May Flowers!".  You could also make butterflies, caterpillars etc..  A fun art project!

Valentine Flowers

Yet another idea from Deep Space Sparkle: http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/2010/02/valentines-day-paint-and-paper-collage/

This photo is of the quick example that I did with the grade 1 class before they went off and made their own terrific creations. We started by painting a vase and the stems and leaves. Next we cut out flowers from construction paper, wallpaper books, doilies and tissue paper. I had a glitter station set up for kids to add a little sparkle to their flowers.

The kids had a lot of fun with this and are excited to bring their Valentine flowers home to Moms and Dads.

Giraffes CAN dance!

I found this very fun art activity from http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/?s=giraffe

I love the book Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae but had never attempted doing an art project based on this rhyming book before. I gave it a try after reading Patty's lesson at Deep Space Sparkle and it was great fun!


We made our girafee by starting with an oval or round belly, adding a long neck, arms and legs and the an oval head. Some of the kids had the legs doing the splits, others had him jumping up in the air. The results were quite cute and funny. A great display for the classroom or hallway. We traced over the facial features and hooves with fine black marker then coloured with yellow and brown pencil crayons.

We painted the background on 12" by 18" white paper. We painted a white moon and mixed blue and purple paint for the sky. We used green for the grass with a little yellow put on top after. We used our pencils overtop of the wet paint to add textured look to the grass.

We glued the giraffe on with glue sticks. The kids were really amazed with how well their pictures turned out and were quite proud.

Valentines Day Stained Glass

This is a really pretty stained glass heart that looks so beautiful when it is in a window. It is REALLY easy and turns out well everytime! I used this with pre-school and kindergarten but can also be used in grade 1 (but I make the kids fold, trace and cut out their own hearts)

Materials:-red or pink construction paper

-waxed paper

-squares of red, pink, white, green tissue paper

-white glue

STEP 1:

Fold paper paper together and cut out big heart and then smaller one inside

Step 2: Place waxed paper under your heart and put white glue all over waxed paper and edge of heart.

Step 3: Cover inside of heart with little inch squares of different colour tissue paper 9red, pink, white, light green).

Step 4: Let dry overnight then pull waxed paper off