Sand Casting

Today at the OKCMOA I shared two kinds of sculptures. We made relief and 3-D sculptures. They are turned out wonderful! This is a project your children will love and an idea you can incorporate with different school subjects as well. Not only is it fun for fossils and Science, but many sculpture artists use molds to create their works and this is an easy way for children to learn about how that is done.

First we started with the relief sculptures. We accomplished these by sand casting, or making molds in sand.

First we start with damp sand in a dish. The sand needs to be a little wet so it will take the imprint of the object.


I told the children to smooth the sand with their hands and choose objects that they wanted to mold. I had a variety of items; little plastic bugs and army men, pony beads, shells etc. You gently push the item into the sand and remove it.





Then I mixed the plaster and poured it over the sand tapping the dish lightly to remove any air bubbles. NOTE: NEVER PUT PLASTER INTO A SINK.

I have several portions of plaster measured out so all I need to do is add water and have the kids start mixing.





The molds need to sit for 30 minutes!

What do we do for 30 minutes?



Make more sculptures! We talked about 3-D sculptures and used scrap paper to create them.













30 minutes is up! Let's check on our sand castings.

They are ready! Gently unmold over a bucket or box, whatever you have on hand. You can re-use the sand. Use your hands and then a paint brush to lightly brush away the sand away revealing the items you pressed in the sand. The kids were amazed!



















For sand casting you will need:
-damp sand
-deep plate
-plaster of paris, water and mixing bowls and disposable spoon
-items to mold

For paper sculptures you will need:
-paper
-scissors
-glue sticks
-color tape optional

Head to Toe

This is a class I did some time ago but logged it away for another day. I remember doing this in school when I was younger. Not a new idea, but so fun and the kids love seeing themselves life size! Do you have a roll of butcher paper? This is the perfect project for you!

This class was for kids ages 3-5 years old. After we read our story and visited the gallery we got busy. I had sheets of paper on the floor for everyone. Each child laid down on the paper and was traced by an adult with a marker. If you are doing this at home, have siblings trace each other!



The younger ones focused more on selecting paint colors that portrayed how they felt while older children painted in their outlines to the likeness of what they were wearing. A great book discussing color and feelings is My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss.



One step further: My classes are one-time and only an hour long but if I had more time I would have put another sheet of paper on the back, cut out both, stuffed with paper and stapled them closed around the edges.

You will need:
-Butcher paper
-Black marker
-Tempera paints or markers to fill

Find Laugh, Paint, Create on Facebook

Happy New Year! (A little late, I know.) So, we all want increased blog traffic. Tuesday I had over 300 visitors and 1,500 this week. I thank you for that! In trying to keep this blog better updated and numbers increasing I created a Facebook Page. I actually made this last year thanks to a comment from one of you, but have decided to give it a go now that I think I have some time to devote to it. So, are you on facebook? Give me a like! I'd love for you to follow and comment here or there. I'd like to say more but honestly, I'm a bit tired from taking care of a sick little boy. Goodnight and Happy Creating, or Facebooking! :)

Oh, on the right sidebar there is a little link that will take you right to the page! :)

Do you have a FB page? Let me know and I'll like ya back!

Snowman Collage

Today I got to share this fun project with children at The Oklahoma City Museum of Art. It is part of the Tiny Tuesdays program that I am so happy to be a part of. We had a great time today creating these personalized silly snowmen. Snowman collage is not a new idea but adding a little tempera paint and a bright color of paper to mat the picture might make this old project new to you.

I did not give any templates or specific instructions on how to decorate the snowmen. We discussed how to make the snowmen unique through things a silly snowman might wear or use. We discussed things to find on a face and items to wear on the body. The children had fun!



First we glued our blue paper on our larger piece of red paper. Then we cut white scrap paper and glued it at the bottom of our blue paper. This grounded our snowmen. After that we cut our snowman shapes and used more scrap paper to decorate our snowmen.


See the top of this snowman? It's a heart and that I love this wonderful personal touch! That is part of the fun not using pre-cut forms.



When the collage was finished we used white tempera paint and q-tips to add snow!





You will need:
-9x12 blue construction paper
-12x15 red construction paper
-scrap papers
-scissors
-glue stick
-q-tips
-white tempera paint

Blue Prints

I had a wonderful day of making art with children of all ages at the OKCMOA's Drop-in Art Program this past weekend. I am honored to be on board for another season of teaching art to children. This is a great little project to learn about collage, printmaking and texture. This technique is actually called collagraph, or printmaking from collage.

We used a piece of black poster board as our printing plate. The kids went through to pick and choose from a variety of different items: yarn, corrugated cardboard, foam stickers, fabric, craft sticks, etc.

Using a glue stick, glue your collage items down. We used glue sticks because they dry fast and we were going right into printing. If you use Elmer's or similar glue, the items will likely slide out of place before having a few hours to dry.







When the collage is finished I had the kids move to a printing area. I had plexi, paint and brayers set up on newspaper to help keep the mess under control.



We just used washable Crayola tempera paint. Blue is the color we used, but you could use whatever! Cover your entire collage with a nice even layer of paint. It might take a few times.





We printed on white paper that is a little larger than the printing plate. (The size I prepared was: 9x6 cut white paper to print on and 8x5 black posterboard for printing plate.) Holding plate upside down, center over paper and press down. Press firmly all over and gently peel apart. This is the first print. You can re-paint and make as many editions of this print as you like! We had so much fun, it really kept the kids busy.

You will need:
-Poster board
-white paper
-tempera paint
-foam roller
-collage items
-glue sticks
-scissors
-plexi or something to roll paint out on