Going in Circles
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 11:30PM One thing I love about reading other people's blogs is that I get to benefit from all the creativity out there. I'm not so great at coming up with productive activities for my kids to do, so it thrills me to find easy, fun projects out there that I can reproduce here. Recently I saw a painting project on a blog that I love to read, Whatever..., which is a reference to Philippians 4:8; Meg is a mom of five, she is very creative, and very real about her life. I love her blog because it's both cheerful and honest. Anyway, she saw this idea on the Frugal Family Fun Blog and shared her own kids' experience. Like I said, it was easy and fun...what else could I want?
The project was stamping out circles with a styrofoam cup and black paint...
and then painting in the circles.
I told the kids to color in the circles however they wanted. I don't usually give them specific directions when they paint, I just tell them to go for it. They can keep themselves entertained and busy for a very long time. But this was something different, and they had a lot of fun with it.
Well, Christian did once I stamped his circles out and they had time to dry overnight...he did his painting the following day since the first attempt met with some smudges and tears. (Tears that stream down your face, not tears like in a paper...got it?) Once he had nice, dry circles, though, he was good to go. (The above picture is with the wet circles...it started out so well!)
Michaela worked meticulously. I was impressed with her precision, since she also had wet circles. They just couldn't wait for them to dry, and the great plan-ahead person that I am (NOT) had not done the stamping the night before. I have to come up with more of this kind of thing, because she really enjoyed it. They both love to paint, and having a particular thing to paint, something with purpose in a way, gave their task some weight or importance that it doesn't usually have. Although I should say they are very proud of whatever they have done!
Christian got to work after school the next day, and he too was very careful and particular about his painting. I loved to see how they chose differently in the coloring of the circles and the overlapping areas.
Suddenly he wants me to take his picture for the blog all of the time!
Christian took a couple of days to finish, which was fine with me. It was time-consuming to take such care with his strokes. But worth every minute!
Michaela finished hers that same afternoon she started it, maybe in an hour and a half. I think it's beautiful. We're going to frame them and find a fun place to display them in the house.
I loved this project and highly recommend it. I actually found myself wanting to stamp out circles for me and paint them in!
By the way, if you have any good websites for art/paint projects for kids I'd love to hear about them! I've searched a little, but I don't ever seem to get very far, or to the right places.
artsy
Reader Comments (9)
I love this idea! That looks like really cool modern art. I think we may give it a try!
my son is quite the artist and we'll have to do this
What a fun project! Is that just regular art paper?
that is such a clever idea thanks for sharing
I like this a lot, Christina. I was thinking, "You should frame those" and then I saw that you're going to! They did such nice, careful work.
We frequently do something somewhat similar just with crayons: we take a pen and draw either swirly lines all over a paper, or straight lines randomly across (to edges) and then color the resulting shapes. The kids love it.
Here's a website you might enjoy: http://www.artprojectsforkids.org/
I also get ideas from the Oxford Book of Art and an Usborne one which is similar. They both look at paintings done by great artists and give project ideas that incorporate something from the painting.
Christina, those look amazing. What a cool, simple idea.
I'm so glad that I shared this! Thanks to Meg for the idea. :)
I'm going to check out that website, Chandra.
Shannon, it is just regular paper...I think it is a pad of paper from a school supply store. It's sturdy enough for what we do. :)
Okay- there is a whole lot more "crafty" goin' on at your house than mine! I think Annie would be thrilled if I just let her get out real paint... period. Hmmm... maybe I need to start reading more blogs of creative moms. I could use some help in that arena.
Cool project!
What a great idea! My seven-year-old in particular will love it. I might even have him do it on a piece of canvas and hang it in his room.
I also wanted to mention I really like the layout of your blog, with the separate pages for your kids' quotes and pictures. It's so organized! (And I like organized. :)