In Georgia's Garden

Creative little ones ages 2-5 joined me today at the OKCMOA to create bright beautiful flowers inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe.

First we looked at some examples from the books I brought with me.



We started by cutting one BIG flower and glued it down on white paper.



Cut or tear details like leaves and glue them down. We cut one more smaller flower and place it in the center.





Next crumple small bits of tissue paper and glue to the center of the flower. Add more details with crayons, torn or cut paper to make it special!



Finish by gluing the entire piece on top of a larger piece of construction paper to create a colorful mat.

You will need:
-White paper
-Construction paper (we used Spectra Fadeless art paper)
-Scrap paper
-Tissue paper
-Scissors
-Glue
-Crayons

Here are some of our creations!

In my neighborhood

Children enjoyed creating colorful neighborhoods and cities with me at the OKCMOA last weekend for Drop-in Art.

We talked about architecture and our neighborhoods and immediately began to get to work.

Think about what is in your neighborhood: houses, apartment buildings, sky scrapers, dog houses, schools, hospitals, museums, trees, parks, etc.

Cut your buildings from colorful cardstock.



Arrange cut buildings, trees, etc and glue down in three levels.





We use oil pastels to add details to our buildings. Oil pastels can be messy. Don't take too much paper off the pastel at a time and try to keep the back of your hand off the paper to avoid smearing.



So much fun. They are all so different, I love them all!

You will need:
-Cardstock
-Oil Pastels
-Scissors
-Glue sticks
-Pencils and erasers optional

Shape Stampede

Shapes and Stamping were all the rage last week at Tiny Tuesday at the OKCMOA. I had plenty of supplies for little ones ages 2-5 to stamp their hearts (or squares) out!

This is really simple and fun. I gave the children a few choices for paint color and we used paper plates as our palettes. Their workstations were set up with corrugated cardboard, stickerback foam shapes, big lids from laundry detergent, forks, q-tips and 14x11 white paper.

This was all about experimenting. I gave little instruction and let the kids have fun. First we peeled the paper off our foam shapes and stuck them on the flat side of our corrugated cardboard. We painted the foam shapes and stamped them on our paper. If you don't have cardboard use what you have. I have used wood blocks, floral foam, even gluesticks as stampers.







From here we keep stamping and use some of our other supplies to fill our page. We like to paint the cardboard too as it leaves us with cool stripes!



Laundry detergent lids are great for little hands. Stamp, stamp, stamp...





When one paper was full I replaced it with a new one. We had a great time creating a bright piece of artwork all while learning about shapes!

You will need:
-Heavy white paper
-Tempera paints
-Sticker back foam shapes
-Corrugated cardboard
-Paintbrushes
-Detergent lids
-Fork
-Q-tips
-Paper plate

So much fun! If you create this project feel free to share a photo of your finished piece with me on Facebook! Have a creative day!

Painted Paper Lanterns

Children ages 3-5 made these beautiful painted lanterns with me at the OKCMOA. We gathered together to take a look at the George Nelson exhibit and read a book under his bubble lamps.

In the classroom we used his lamps as an inspiration and took our paper lanterns a step further by covering them with watercolors.

Paper lanterns are pretty economical and can be purchased online or found in craft stores in a variety of shapes.



Workstations are set up with newsprint, watercolors, brushes, paper towels and washbowls.



Before we paint we talk about painting gently. I have each of the children use their brush without paint on the back of their hand to show me a gentle brushstroke. We are gentle so we don't break through the paper.

I removed the black and brown paint from their options and we get busy.



We also talk about washing our brush between changing colors. We found that sometimes the paint dripped down our lanterns and that looked really neat.





To finish we tied yarn to the top and they were ready to take home to hang up! We had so much fun.

You will need:
-Paper Lantern
-Watercolors
-Brushes