Cupcake Collage

I have been creating all sorts of cakes recently with children at the OKCMOA to celebrate the new exhibition, Poodles & Pastries (and other important matters): New Paintings by Franco Mondini-Ruiz. We are taking inspiration from his paintings and sculptures to create our own unique works using different mediums.

Yesterday we focused on collages in a class for 3-5 year olds and in Drop-in Art where children of all ages come to create.

In the class we talked about sweet treats, especially cupcakes! We visited the gallery to view the new works and read the book, If You Give a Cat a Cupcake by Laura Numeroff.

We shared our favorite paintings and talked about our favorite type of cupcakes.With all of this information in mind we headed back to the classroom to cut, tear and glue our own cupcake creations.

We went over our steps but I have reminders on the board.



Supplies are ready to go:


Tables were supplied with baskets full of scrap paper, tissue paper, sequins, hole punches, glue sticks, yarn, scissors, background paper, 3 pre-cut cupcake bottoms and 3 icing tops. I explained that the tops for the icing could be covered and decorated or used as a template to trace on scrap paper and then the scrap paper could be cut out and used.

The children were instructed to decorate all 3 cupcakes differently. I think we succeeded! So much fun!

First ground our cupcakes with a semi circle. Then glue cupcake bottoms:



Now we start to top our cupcakes and decorate our papers!





You will need:
-9x12 heavy paper for background (we used tagboard)
-Various scrapbook papers
- Brown cardstock for cupcake bottoms (I pre-cut)
-White cardstock for icing tops  (I pre-cut)
-Tissue paper
-Scissors
-Hole punches
-Glue Sticks
-Yarns, sequins,other embellishments

Here are some of our finished creations! Are you hungry yet? :)

Big Bugs

I created "Big Bugs" with children of all ages at the OKCMOA recently for Drop-in Art. We focused on symmetry, line and pattern.

First we looked at examples on the board of symmetry. We also looked at bugs and parts of a bug's body which includes a head, thorax and abdomen.

To get started we fold our large drawing paper in half and use a black oil pastel to draw HALF of our bug's body. We draw the body parts and add other things like legs, wings, antennae, patterns and designs to create our own unique bugs.

We FOLD the paper closed and rub all over our design. This will transfer the oil pastel using the heat of our hands to the other side of the paper and give us perfect vertical symmetry. Now we go over those light lines with our black oil pastel to make it complete.









Now we jump into paints. For this project we used Crayola washable tempera paints. The kids really enjoyed watching their creations come to life through color! This project is very adaptable for different ages.



You will need:
-Big white drawing paper
-Black oil pastel
-Tempera paints, brushes, washout bowls
-Examples of bugs and symmetry

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