Collage and Colorful Glue

Jordan and Liam arrive to class in style!
To start off our session on 3-D art, we begin by examining collage items. The children were given cups to scoop the materials and carry them to their tray.
Once at their tray, they were offered sparkly paint and a brush to begin a collage.Soon, I introduced the squeeze bottle glue- messy but always fun!
Richie experiments with various mediums on his first day of class.
Hanna and Jordan were interested in collecting as many collage items as they could fit on their trays!
Soon, I added cups of liquid watercolor and glitter to the table. This made the gluing much more colorful!

While the older kids worked on their collages at the table, Karuna and Richie explored the studio, painting and making prints at the easels.

Here Liam makes blue glue!
A few of the finished pieces...

A New Session Begins

Our new 4 week session is all about 3-D art. To introduce this concept, we're starting off with collage making. I set up a variety of collage materials on the table for them to explore and taped the white paper underneath so that the materials would be displayed on a neutral background (rather than getting lost in the colorful tablecloth).
Once the children got a chance to check out the materials, I offered them a tray with sparkly glue, a paintbrush, and a piece of heavy paper.

After trying out the brushes, I offered them each a squeeze bottle of glue. Squeezing the bottle is definitely a skill that takes a little practice to master.


Collage is new to the children, so pretty soon they were moving around looking for something more familiar to work on... and they found it!



The freedom they have to move around the studio and explore familiar art helped them to return to their collage work with new enthusiasm.



Karuna decided to make a print of her easel painting by rubbing a piece of paper on top of the paint, then peeling it up.
She repeated this process about 10 times with various colored construction paper. Each time she peeled it off she would say "woooowww", then put it on the shelf to dry and say "another one!"
Here is Grace, still working hard at the easel.
Clean-up time!

Watercolors

To finish off our 4 week painting session, we experimented with liquid watercolors. The children were given paint, coffee filters, brushes and droppers to test it out.

The droppers are excellent for developing fine motor skills- and once kids get the hang of them, they can't get enough!

Liam and Hanna use their brushes to explore the vibrant colors.

It was fun having Mason (Clark and Jordan's cousin) here to help out!

After a little while of painting on paper, I brought out a tub of whipped cream- Calling it "foam," amazingly kept them from tasting it! Similar in texture to shaving cream, whipped cream is a great alternative if you want something non-toxic (shaving cream doesn't seem very child- friendly even though preschools and children's art books often use it for sensory projects).

Painting on the whipped cream over the aluminum foil is sooooo interesting!

The kids were interested in squeezing out the paint themselves, so I offered them some watered down paint in different squeeze bottles for them to go at it.

Clark and Mason laugh at the gobs of painted whipped cream splattered on their bodies.

A very colorful mess- how fun!

Towards the end of class I brought out the spray bottles. These kids must have had some spray bottle experience- they were masters at squeezing the trigger.

What a gorgeous day to wash up outside... at 5:30 pm...Is it spring already?