Turn, Turn, Turn Top - Little Kid Art Project

Turn, Turn, Turn Tops

Age: 18 Months - 8 Years or older (younger ones need more supervision)

Time: 15 min (+ lots more time playing with them!)

Theme: Color Mixing, Games

Books: White Rabbit’s Color Book by Alan Baker, Color Dance by Ann Jonas

Materials:

8” Round Cake Board (the cardboard base that bakeries use under their cakes)

Crayons*

Glass Beads (also called gems – they ones that are flat on one side)

Adults get to us a Hot Glue Gun

Prep: Set out the materials and plug in the hot glue gun safely out of reach

Activity: Each child gets a cake board and crayons. Decorate it any way you like! The ADULT then glues a glass bead to the center of the bottom. As soon as the glue cools, spin your top!

Notes/Tips: Ask you child what happened when their design was spinning. Challenge bigger kids to create a design that creates an optical illusion (like a spiral) or to experiment with the placement of the bead.

*The waxy surface of some cake boards resists crayon. If you want more vibrant colors try a student grade oil pastel (cray pas) or Crayola Construction Paper Crayons.  

Letter Recognition Activity with Water Colors

One of the things we have been working on this summer is letter recognition - by sound, sight and name. 

An activity we tried that was a lot of fun was an Alphabet Seek and Find that I designed (sort of like the activity I wrote about here).

I prepared a 12 x 18 paper by dividing it into 2" squares in white crayon, then entered the letters of the alphabet, her name, numbers 1 - 12, etc. also in white crayon. Then she used watercolors to 'discover' what was hidden on the paper.

As she went along we came up with words that started with each letter, guessed what letter could be found next - sometimes skipping ahead a few spaces and guessing what letter and numbers would be there - And of course it was great practice for fine motor skills and color mixing too.

Things That You Can Paint With - Creative Discovery Toddler Style

 

Painting has been the Figlet's art activity of choice lately.
To keep things interesting, she has been testing out the
marks she can make with all kinds of things....
 

Feathers

 

Sponge, Onion Bag, Marbles & Beads

 

Fingers & Fake Flowers

 

Spool, TP Tube, Brushes

 

Foam Sticker Stamps

 



Brushes & Burlap

 

There is such joy in discovery!

 

"When my daughter was about seven years old, she asked me one day what I did at work. I told her I worked at the college - that my job was to teach people how to draw. She stared at me, incredulous, and said, "You mean they forget?" Howard Ikemoto

 

 

Rainbow Me - Toddler Art Project

I have been volunteering at our local library with the little kids for about 10 months. We read books, sing songs, do crafts, wiggle around, and generally having a good time. I ran the Toddler Story Time during the 5 month gap between Juvenile Librarians, and now that they have a Kids Librarian again, I am a general helper and lead all of the art projects. I plan to share a 'how to' for some of the more successful projects that we do. When I remember, I will let you know what books we read with them too.

Rainbow Me!

Age: 18 Months - 5 Years (younger ones need more supervision)

Time: 15 min (+ Prep)

Theme: Color Mixing

Books: Mouse Paint, Blue Chicken and Little Blue and Little Yellow

Materials:

Water Color Paper (Other paper will work - I used Blotter Paper because it is what I had on-hand - the key is that it is absorbent and does not tear easily when wet)

Permanent Marker

Silhouette Pattern

Bleeding Tissue Paper (Note - Not all tissue paper bleeds. You can test what you have or just pick some up at a craft store)

Q-Tips

Water Cup with TINY bit of water

Heart Stickers (Optional)

Prep: Cut each sheet of paper in half (1 for each child). On each (half) sheet, using the Permanent Marker trace a simple silhouette of a person - I used one from a previous project, but you can find your own online like this one of an adult and kid: http://comps.canstockphoto.com/can-stock-photo_csp5345644.jpg 

Activity: Each child gets a paper with a silhouette, a q-tip and a water cup. Rip off small bits of tissue paper, place them on the silhouette, then dab them with the wet q-tip. The color from the tissue paper will 'bleed' onto their person. Add a heart sticker a finishing touch.

Notes/Tips: If you use 2 paper plates - one for dry tissue paper and one for the wet scraps - your clean-up will be easier. The tissue paper will stain little fingers, but it washes off after a soapy scrub or two - and it a LOT less messy than paint!