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Arthur School of Art
Making Art at Home
Arthur School of Art
Project Ideas, materials and Instructions
Fireworks! Materials: Washable markers, white paper, paintbrush, snow
1. Draw multi colour fireworks shapes on paper. Younger artists might find it easier to make a dot and then turn the page to add lines all around the dot. 2. Colour the background around the shapes in black marker and fill in.
3. Sprinkle snow over the drawing and then bring it inside to melt. We used cookie sheets and stones to hold our drawings. They can also be placed facedown in the snow instead of sprinkled. 4.Place wet drawing on a rag or towel to melt and dry. The towel might absorb some marker. 5. When dry, the drawing will look very different. Re-draw the fireworks with marker on top of the originals, and also add in new ones! This step is all about layering to create depth so add lots of shapes and colour! We added circles of yellow around our fireworks. 6. Use a paintbrush and water to make circles around the fireworks, letting the markers blend together to create the appearance of smoke dissipating. Use the brush gently and be sure not to over scrub the delicate wet paper.
Holiday Blocks
I like to break down big projects into 20 minutes per day for younger kids to keep up interest and to generate creative thinking for next steps. Day 1: select blocks and paint with acrylic or latex paint in green for trees (triangles) and any colours for presents. Day 2: draw decorations (snowflakes, ornaments, lights, garland etc.) using sharpie. Draw bows and patterns on presents using sharpie. Use white acrylic or latex paint to fill in the drawings. Use a small detail brush (younger children might need help with this part). Day 3: glue triangles together for trees (if needed) and glue on plain blocks at base for trunks. Use multicolour sharpies to colour in white painted drawings. Use glitter, sequins, beads, collage (from old greeting cards), ribbons, stickers, buttons and anything else you can think of to decorate. Add a star to the tree! We used a hot glue gun for all our gluing. White glue would work too, but needs a longer drying time.The completed blocks can be arranged, stacked and played with!
Robot with 4 faces - spin the arms to change the expression!
T-shirt Stuffies : Need: old T-shirt, fabric scissors, white glue, needle/thread, safety pins, stuffing (or newspaper or cloth strips).
Steps 1 - 3: Cut both sides of fabric and then turn fabric image side facing in.
Steps 4, 5: Use a small line of glue or dots. The glue can be stiff to get the needle through, try to use only a little to hold the two pieces together.
Steps 6, 7: Mark the sewing line with a marker to help guide the needle.
Steps 8, 9: Use safety pins to hold the pieces together to sew the opening left for stuffing.
Warning: The needle might cause a few ouchies. A thimble helps, and younger crafters will need extra help from parents.
Family Drawing Game: Pass the Doodle - Materials: Wax paper, 2 sheets of white paper, permanent marker, markers.
1. Cut paper into smaller squares (any size) 2. Draw a doodle (any doodle!) on paper 3. Place wax paper over doodle and trace. 4. Trade doodles and trace onto your wax paper 5.Continue trading and tracing doodles until you have everyones doodle on your wax paper. Note : everyone will have a different drawing depending on where they place the doodles. every drawing will have the same parts with different results.
For extra fun, tape a sheet of white paper over your wax paper drawing and place it in the window to colour in the shapes of the drawing. When you are finished, you can layer the colouring page underneath the wax paper to have a 2 layer drawing.
Planet drawings with pinhole stars! Draw planets using chalk, pencil crayon or wax crayons on black or dark coloured paper. Use a pin (with a round head) to poke holes in the paper around the planets. Hang your drawing in the window to see the light shine through. A great way to learn about the planets and their various sizes and textures!
Snow Flowers - Materials: watercolour paint, paper, markers, salt, water, paint brush
1. Paint a watery watercolour wash 2.Sprinkle salt on wet paint 3. Let dry completely 4. Wipe off salt with hand or rag 5. Draw and colour flowers
Brian's Barns - Materials: Watercolour paint, Flat brush, low-tac tape, cotton balls, markers
1. use tape to mark off the shape of the barn roof 2. paint in lines that follow the shape of the tape 3. remove tape and add tape for bottom side of barn, paint stripes following the shape of the tape. 4. remove tape and add the final side of the barn, paint and remove tape. 5. Use the cotton ball as a stencil for the clouds, then dip it in paint and use it make marks for the grass 6. Use markers to draw details of the barn and add to the landscape
Note: A low tac- tape must be used otherwise the paper will tear.
shadows and recyclables: Materials: Permenant marker, assorted clear plastic sheets/packages (lids, bottle tops, containers, bags, and any other clear plastic!), Wood skewer/chopstick or straw
1.Draw various patterns/shapes on plastic items 2. poke holes in items and place on skewer/stick 3.Find a good spot for shadows and play with how the shadows change in the directional light. Spin and rotate the stick to change the shapes and lines.
Note: Take-out clear plastic lids work quite well (existing straw hole), and can reflect a series of gears that spin when turned!
Paper flowers: Project inspired by two books "The Paper Garden" by Molly Peacock and "The Tiny Seed" by Eric Carle.
Materials: Fun foam scraps, paper from previous projects (dyed paper, paintings, drawings, pages from colouring books, school art projects or work sheets), wrapping paper, tissue paper, recyclables (including old greeting cards, wrapping paper, packaging from cereal boxes/tissue boxes, paint samples, plastic lids etc.), beads and buttons, decorative edge scissors or regular scissors, hole punch, pipe cleaners/straws, twigs/sticks, glue, hot glue gun.
Simple Flower steps: Use Scissors or Decorative Edge Scissors to cut out 2 or 3 round shapes in paper. Use a hole punch (or scissor tips) to make holes in centre of all papers. Place pipe cleaner in all centre holes and stack the papers. Secure the end of pipe cleaner through paper with a button or bead. Cut a leaf shape in paper and create hold on outer edge, wrap pipe cleaner through the hole.
Below: 1.Cut fringe on folded tissue paper, then roll and pinch gathered tissue, wrap in pipe cleaner, slide straw onto pipe cleaner, cut leaf shape in paper and add hole in centre, slide onto straw below flower base. 2. 'Cereal box flower' with buttons on stem and 'Superman colouring page flower' with buttons on stem. 3. Roses cut from tissue box, strung onto pipe cleaner with a straw added to base. 4. Two more examples by 7 year old artists!
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Changing wooden flower Garden: Materials: Wood scraps of various shapes and sizes, fine sandpaper (I glued strips of sandpaper to strips of cardboard so that it is easier to use for little hands.) Permenant markers (or paint, pencil crayons, paper or cardboard collage).
1. Sand all the surfaces of the wood until smooth (young artists enjoy comparing the rough and smooth surfaces) 2. Draw, paint or collage various flowers on all sides of the woood. 3. Play with arranging and stacking the wood flowers to have a new garden everyday!
D.i.y No-Sew Stuffies: Materials: Old T-shirt (any light colour), hot glue gun, stuffing material (pillow stuffing, leftover bits of cloth, newspaper or tissue paper (shredded) etc), permanent markers. 1. Draw design on t-shirt - I drew the outline and the artists added details and colour. For the reverse side: hold the cloth with the drawing up to a window (for transparency) and trace the same design on a second piece of material so that you have 2 sides to the stuffy. Note* you can also have 2 totally different sides if preferred! 2. Cut out the 2 drawings on the cloth at the same time, leaving approx. 1 inch around all sides. 3. Face the drawings in to each other and then hot glue around all edges, leaving a 3 inch gap to allow for stuffing. 4. Reverse the fabric so that drawing is on the outside. 5. Fill with stuffing and hot glue remaining opening.
We followed the same steps for the donut. Drawings can also be added to when the stuffy is complete! For younger artists, it can be coloured over a longer time!
Mono-print Paper Sculptures using dinner plates and washable markers:
Materials: Dinner plate (with smooth surface on back), washable markers, paper (printer/construction), scissors.
Draw a design with washable markers on the back of the plate. Wet and then blot the paper on a kitchen towel. Press the paper onto the drawing, then remove and let dry. When dry, cut out print into a circle (or any shape). These prints are 2-sided and look great in a window! We decided to cut the circles into spirals and combine them to make a hanging paper sculpture!
Cactus craft: Materials: foil sheets, tape, containers with pebbles (for extra weight and stability), green tissue paper (light, dark or both) cut into 2 inch squares, white glue (with brush), and plasticine.
Make a cactus shape by squishing and bending foil sheets. Use tape to hold the shape in place. Cover the foil shape with 1-2 layers of glue and tissue, use the brush to push down the edges, and apply glue to entire surface. Let dry for several hours or overnight. If you would like the plasticine details to remain solid on the cactus, carefully apply a final layer of white glue (with brush) over the entire surface and let dry overnight.
Tool Drawings Inspired By The Work of Jim Dine: Materials: 2 or 3 tools, markers, white or coloured paper. Trace around the tools using markers. Keep the tools in place and use as stencils to make marks around all sides of the tools. Draw the inside details of the tools by looking at the tools and copying the missing parts (bolts, screws, seams, handles etc.). A fun and simple project for all ages!
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