We only use the Crayola ones for now (between a dog and a kid that chew anything it seems like the better financial option) but there are also more professional ones that are not terribly more expensive if your family can care for them nicely!
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Watercolor Pencils
Have you ever used these with kids? They are A-MA-ZING! The control of a pencil combined with the beauty of watercolors. We have been big into them around here the last couple weeks, using them for all sorts of things. Caleb did the background for his report on sea snakes with blue watercolor pencil and then after it dried drew the snakes on top. Both Kylee and Caleb have experimented with the science puzzles, tracing and coloring in watercolor pencils and then painting with water.
We only use the Crayola ones for now (between a dog and a kid that chew anything it seems like the better financial option) but there are also more professional ones that are not terribly more expensive if your family can care for them nicely!
We only use the Crayola ones for now (between a dog and a kid that chew anything it seems like the better financial option) but there are also more professional ones that are not terribly more expensive if your family can care for them nicely!
Purposeful Space
Our daily schedule isn't the only thing starting as a blank slate, our home is as well. You may or may not be aware, that I did not actually see our house until the day we closed on it. Tim travelled to Minnesota on his own (over Mother's Day of all times) to look at houses and just fell in love with this one and he was sure it would be even more than we ever would want. As I set up our rooms and organize our belongings, that is turning out to be true in ways I am sure he never imagined!
This is our front porch, a place for creating...
...and exploring
The opposite side of the front porch is a mirror image and while right now all I have is a lawn chair with my book, I imagine a day when instead I have a comfy chair or swing with an end table. I'd like to cover the ledges with potted plants to add a little privacy. (We actually live on an acre, but it is a long, narrow lot.)
The best part (other than keeping these messes out of the house and cleaning up with the hose), is that it is completely covered. You can't tell, but all of these pictures were taken when it was raining outside and we were completely dry!
I know this is Minnesota and this outdoor space won't be as enjoyable a few months from now, but for this moment, I am in love with the practically and functionality!
Exploring Art Technique
Over the years, we have done a fair amount of art history and art appreciation through picture study. One thing we have not done much of is art production or art technique. Granted we do little seasonal projects and include drawings with (or in place of) narrations, even a fair amount of exploration of different materials, but not a lot of actual learning about colors and lines and different ways to make a picture.
We have been ordering some of our language materials from Catholic Heritage Curriculum for awhile and this winter I looked a little deeper into some of the supplemental areas. For each grade, they offer an ArtPac. There are 8 levels, but I decided since none of the kids have had any art production type experience it would be something fun to do together so I bought 3 of the 1st grade book (For a PreK/K, 2nd, & 4th).
Obviously each of the kids has different strengths with this approach and I can see differences in their work, but I have been pleasantly surprised how well they work together. It has really been an opportunity to learn together something that was new for everyone. We have been practicing complimenting each other's work and I'm hearing more positive comments in general from the entire group (even outside of art).
Although the primary material needed for ArtPac 1 is crayons, I have incorporated a few other things where appropriate, such as oil pastels. While crayons can be blended, the oil pastels blend much more cleanly and for some projects (such as the sunsets we are working on in these photos) they make sense. I generally pick up this sort of material from Discount School Supply. (I also buy all of my construction paper and glue from DSS, because lets be honest with 4 now doing projects we use it fast enough to justify the bulk purchases!)
I hesitated to use a prepackaged curriculum like this for art, because I worried it would focus on product more than process, but I think these pictures clearly show the opposite. In learning technique there is still plenty of room for individual variation and choice. Plus the kids are proud of having neatly finished projects, something that rarely happened when I only did open ended art projects. (Not them being proud of their work, but being neat and taking their time....not something my boys have previously highly valued.)
Logan likes to color on paper while we do art, but Lucie just likes to be cute. She especially enjoys eating triangles.
We have some exciting news to share soon, which is part of the reason for my sporadic blogging behavior. We know some changes are coming we just aren't exactly sure which ones yet. I will definitely be back the minute I know for sure! Either way, the changes should give me more time to return to blogging as I have in the past.
Walk The Line with St. Lucy (and the Star Boys)
In honor of the feast of St. Lucy, or Santa Lucia as she is known in Scandinavian countries, I set up a special twist on the traditional walk the line activity today.
First Kylee made a St. Lucy crown and the boys made Star Boy hats. (More St. Lucy ideas)
Parades of girls in white robes and candle wreaths and star boys are commonplace in traditional celebrations of St. Lucy (Good basic description of St. Lucy's feast day). We were inspired by these parades to walk to the line carrying various items that represent other St. Lucy traditions.
In order of difficulty/safety
Carrying nothing
Carrying an empty tray
A glass of water without spilling to represent the coffee or hot chocolate
(This was as far as Logan made it.)
A tray with a glass of water (See Above)
A votive candle without blowing out the flame (Not Pictured)
A tray with a candle (this one made me nervous, but they wanted to try so we did)
Happy Feast of St. Lucy!
Saint Lucy, pray for us!
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Backyard Vacation Bible School
What is a mom to do when her parish Vacation Bible School costs $90 per child, does not have an option for preschoolers, and is not (on paper at least) very special needs/adaptations friendly?
Well obviously, she should call up her friends and plan their own event!
Our planning process went something like this:
"Hey, I think we should do this." ... "Hey, I think we should too!"
Here is a more elaborate version of what we did and how you can easily run your own backyard VBS.
Planning Meeting: I suggest a minimum of two. One to hammer out initial details and one to touch base and finalize plans.
Honestly, our planning meetings looked like play dates with 15 minutes of planning thrown on the end. You really could do a lot of this by email.
Initial details to Hammer Out:
How many days?
How long?
Location?
Topic/Theme?
Types of Activities?
Our plan was 3 days for 1.5 hours in the morning, plus a 4th day attending daily Mass at the nursing home as a group. Location was easy since my backyard was the most accommodating for a group.
We went through a few ideas for topics including the Rosary, Super Hero Saints, and Old Testament Bible Stories (which we eventually settled on). We had an age range of 2 months to almost 9, with the heaviest concentration of age 3, so we decided on a typical preschool type schedule of activities. Music & Story time, Snack, and then Activity/Craft time. This is about where we were after the first meeting and planned a second meeting to look at ideas/resources and narrow things down further before our final planning meeting.
At our final planning meeting we narrowed our original list of Old Testament Stories down to the 3 that we would like to cover and gave each day a specific story. We decided that with 3 moms, 1 would lead music, 1 would present the story, and 1 would organize the craft/activity time. We decided to rotate snacks, each taking a day. We also came up with a rough daily schedule:
9:30- Music & Story
10:00- Snack
10:15-10:55- Craft and Activities (Stations- see more below)
10:55- Music & Prayer
We kept in touch via email in the days leading up to VBS to hammer out materials and last minute set up details.
Set Up:
We had distinct areas for each part of the day. A quilt on the ground for our opening and closing time, 2 quilts for activity stations, 1 low coffee table for art/projects, and our picnic table for snack time. Since I was hosting and also in charge of craft and activities, I set up these areas before everyone arrived. Music, story, & snack added their materials as they were needed at the time. We used the play area in our backyard as something to do while we waiting for others to arrive and also as an additional option during activity time. The house was open but only for hand washing and potty.
Since all kids in attendance also had a mom in attendance we didn't give much time to rules or discipline other than being responsible for our own kids. For the most part this worked great, the kids were (by in large eager) to move together and cooperated! Since every mom had a 2 or under there were a few times when we were leading that our little ones also needed us, but it really did keep work. I did take advantage of my 8 year old's responsible hand to run a few errands and help with Logan (2) when I needed it. With a bigger (or older) group, however, I think we would have needed to be a little more clear about rules and expectations with the kids directly instead of just between the moms.
Music:
For music we used the opening and closing songs from the Making Music Praying Twice program, we use for our music curriculum. We also sang classics such as Jesus Loves Me, This Little Light of Mine, Father Abraham, and at least one theme related song each day. At closing, we also used chunky rhythm sticks with one song before we prayed and sang goodbye.
For affordable rhythm sticks for a large group- purchase dowels in the desired thickness (we used 1.5 inch), cut to preferred length (8-12 inches is ideal), and sand smooth. For about 16 dollars Tim cut 10 sets of rhythm sticks perfect for little hands.
Story:
Our group chose to use the Godly Play approach to biblical story telling for each day. I own several of the volumes (you can see some of our previous presentations here) and already had the outlines for each of the stories we chose. Our story teller gathered the materials and did an excellent job of presenting, even though she had never even seen a Godly Play presentation before! This also added an extra activity station for later in the morning, which was great for older kids (who weren't as interested in some of the activities).
Day 1: Noah
The Noah Song
Rainbow Fruit Parfaits, with Yogurt Clouds
Animals in the Ark Stamping
Animal Dress Up
Animal Memory Match
(made here, follow directions and select Animals-Mammals as the theme)
Day 2: Ruth
Wherever You Go Song (This isn't the exact version we used, I couldn't find a link to those lyrics)
Bread with Honey Butter and Fruit & Cream (for the land of milk and honey)
Weaving mats
Gathering Acorns (due to food allergies and the unavailability of fake wheat- wheat would be better)
Basket Weaving
Day 3: Jonah
Who Did Swallow Jonah? Song
Fish shaped pizzas
Fish that eats Jonah craft
Ocean Animals Reading Spot
(I was planning on doing some sort of water play but it was not too warm that morning so I punted)
Let's Go Fishing Game
(could substitute Go Fish, Magnetic Fishing, Ocean Puzzles, or other Fishing Game)
In the end, a great time was had by all! There are a few things I might do differently *next* time, but honestly not much. I think it would have been nice to have 1-2 more families to spread the ages out a bit better (the 3 oldest kids all came from my clan) and also to divide snack and activities into smaller jobs. The craft & activities were a big prep job and I needed to rely quite a bit on my big kids to pull it off each morning. The day I also had snack was especially challenging.
Resources Used
This post contains affiliate links. Clicking through costs nothing for you, but helps me keep offering free resources such as this here!
Well obviously, she should call up her friends and plan their own event!
Our planning process went something like this:
"Hey, I think we should do this." ... "Hey, I think we should too!"
Here is a more elaborate version of what we did and how you can easily run your own backyard VBS.
Planning Meeting: I suggest a minimum of two. One to hammer out initial details and one to touch base and finalize plans.
Honestly, our planning meetings looked like play dates with 15 minutes of planning thrown on the end. You really could do a lot of this by email.
Initial details to Hammer Out:
How many days?
How long?
Location?
Topic/Theme?
Types of Activities?
Our plan was 3 days for 1.5 hours in the morning, plus a 4th day attending daily Mass at the nursing home as a group. Location was easy since my backyard was the most accommodating for a group.
We went through a few ideas for topics including the Rosary, Super Hero Saints, and Old Testament Bible Stories (which we eventually settled on). We had an age range of 2 months to almost 9, with the heaviest concentration of age 3, so we decided on a typical preschool type schedule of activities. Music & Story time, Snack, and then Activity/Craft time. This is about where we were after the first meeting and planned a second meeting to look at ideas/resources and narrow things down further before our final planning meeting.
At our final planning meeting we narrowed our original list of Old Testament Stories down to the 3 that we would like to cover and gave each day a specific story. We decided that with 3 moms, 1 would lead music, 1 would present the story, and 1 would organize the craft/activity time. We decided to rotate snacks, each taking a day. We also came up with a rough daily schedule:
9:30- Music & Story
10:00- Snack
10:15-10:55- Craft and Activities (Stations- see more below)
10:55- Music & Prayer
We kept in touch via email in the days leading up to VBS to hammer out materials and last minute set up details.
Set Up:
We had distinct areas for each part of the day. A quilt on the ground for our opening and closing time, 2 quilts for activity stations, 1 low coffee table for art/projects, and our picnic table for snack time. Since I was hosting and also in charge of craft and activities, I set up these areas before everyone arrived. Music, story, & snack added their materials as they were needed at the time. We used the play area in our backyard as something to do while we waiting for others to arrive and also as an additional option during activity time. The house was open but only for hand washing and potty.
Since all kids in attendance also had a mom in attendance we didn't give much time to rules or discipline other than being responsible for our own kids. For the most part this worked great, the kids were (by in large eager) to move together and cooperated! Since every mom had a 2 or under there were a few times when we were leading that our little ones also needed us, but it really did keep work. I did take advantage of my 8 year old's responsible hand to run a few errands and help with Logan (2) when I needed it. With a bigger (or older) group, however, I think we would have needed to be a little more clear about rules and expectations with the kids directly instead of just between the moms.
Music:
For music we used the opening and closing songs from the Making Music Praying Twice program, we use for our music curriculum. We also sang classics such as Jesus Loves Me, This Little Light of Mine, Father Abraham, and at least one theme related song each day. At closing, we also used chunky rhythm sticks with one song before we prayed and sang goodbye.
For affordable rhythm sticks for a large group- purchase dowels in the desired thickness (we used 1.5 inch), cut to preferred length (8-12 inches is ideal), and sand smooth. For about 16 dollars Tim cut 10 sets of rhythm sticks perfect for little hands.
Story:
Our group chose to use the Godly Play approach to biblical story telling for each day. I own several of the volumes (you can see some of our previous presentations here) and already had the outlines for each of the stories we chose. Our story teller gathered the materials and did an excellent job of presenting, even though she had never even seen a Godly Play presentation before! This also added an extra activity station for later in the morning, which was great for older kids (who weren't as interested in some of the activities).
Day 1: Noah
The Noah Song
Rainbow Fruit Parfaits, with Yogurt Clouds
Animals in the Ark Stamping
Animal Dress Up
Animal Memory Match
(made here, follow directions and select Animals-Mammals as the theme)
Day 2: Ruth
Wherever You Go Song (This isn't the exact version we used, I couldn't find a link to those lyrics)
Bread with Honey Butter and Fruit & Cream (for the land of milk and honey)
Weaving mats
Gathering Acorns (due to food allergies and the unavailability of fake wheat- wheat would be better)
Basket Weaving
Day 3: Jonah
Who Did Swallow Jonah? Song
Fish shaped pizzas
Fish that eats Jonah craft
Ocean Animals Reading Spot
(I was planning on doing some sort of water play but it was not too warm that morning so I punted)
Let's Go Fishing Game
(could substitute Go Fish, Magnetic Fishing, Ocean Puzzles, or other Fishing Game)
In the end, a great time was had by all! There are a few things I might do differently *next* time, but honestly not much. I think it would have been nice to have 1-2 more families to spread the ages out a bit better (the 3 oldest kids all came from my clan) and also to divide snack and activities into smaller jobs. The craft & activities were a big prep job and I needed to rely quite a bit on my big kids to pull it off each morning. The day I also had snack was especially challenging.
Resources Used
This post contains affiliate links. Clicking through costs nothing for you, but helps me keep offering free resources such as this here!
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