Cat on a Mat, An Artsy Corgi Art Activity

Let’s have fun making a cat on a mat. We’ll paint wet-in-wet with the light-filled colors loved by the Impressionists and weave the painting into a mat for a happy cat! You’ll discover how to draw a cat and learn a basic tabby weave.

In this post you’ll find:

• Supply list
• Step-by-step directions
• Helpful hints
• Creative variations and adaptations for different ages
• 4 Vocabulary and art and design principles children will learn
• 4 ways this activity aids children’s mental, physical, and social development
• Clean-up tips
• Cute Molly Photo

Let’s have Fun Making Art!

Supplies:

The Mat

• 9X12 “ Watercolor paper (smooth or rough is fine). You can find inexpensive pads or packs at craft stores and in the craft section of places like Walmart.
• Choose your favorite color of construction paper for the loom.
• A larger white piece of paper as a background for the mat
• Crayons or oil pastels
• Watercolor paint set and brush

The Cat

• Pictures of cats
• Drawing paper
• Pencils, erasers, scissors
• Crayons to color the cat
• White glue

Directions:

The Mat

1. With crayons draw curvy and straight lines, dots, spirals, etc. in different colors all over the watercolor paper. Leave lots of white space for the paint. These marks have to be crayon or oil pastels.
2. Mix several puddles of watercolor paint. Your puddle should flow, but have lots of pigment.
3. Use a large wet but not dripping brush or rag to wet paper with clear water. The paper should be a more than just damp, but no standing water.
4. Start adding watercolors, allowing them to flow and mix . Paint right over the crayon or oil pastel. The wax resists the paint and stays bright.
5. Allow to dry.

The Cat  (do this while your painting dries)

• Really study pictures of cats. Notice these details:
• the roundish shape of heads
•  the oval shape of bodies
•  the rounded triangular-shaped ears that are more on top of their heads
•  the shape are eyes and pupils
• the thickness of tails
• cats often wrap their tails around themselves so you can’t see their paws

1. Before drawing, picture in your mind where the cat’s head and body will be. Use your fist to help you imagine where to put the head that will leave room for both the ears and the body.
2. Draw lightly, sketching, so you can erase a line you don’t want.
3. Color your cat. You may want to color it in a Tabby pattern, which is stripes in any color.
4. Cut out your cat

The Loom and Weaving

1. Cut the painting into 1 inch strips the long way.
2. Make a paper loom  (See pictures)
3. Use masking tape to temporarily hold the loom on the white paper
4. Weave the 1^st watercolor strip through the loom—under, over, under, over
5. Start the 2^nd strip the opposite–over, under, over, under
6. In tabby weave each strip should be opposite to the previous strip
7. Keep gently pushing the strips together and up toward the top of your loom, until you run out of room for more strips

Putting It All Together

1. Glue your mat to the white paper
2. Glue your cat on top of the mat
3. Draw and color cat-related designs around the border of the mat

Now display your happy cat on its colorful mat for everyone to see! Enjoy how the crayon glows through the watercolor!

More Ideas and Tips to Make Your Cat on a Mat

Helpful Hints:

• As you paint, pick up your paper and move it around to help colors mix
• Don’t mix too long, or colors become muddy
• If your painted paper curls, flatten it with a book after it’s dry
• When drawing lines for the loom and watercolor strips, do these on the back so they don’t show later
• Masking tape holds the loom in place but can be removed without as much damage as cellophane tape

Variations and adaptations for different ages:

• Cut wavy lines for the loom
• If you don’t have watercolor paper, sponge paint some sturdy paper with tempera paints
• Add ribbon or yarn bows to your cat
• I do this project with 1^st graders, and I cut the watercolor strips and make the looms, but they love doing everything else!
• If children aren’t sure whether they want their painting to be cut, number the strips so they can weave them in order.
• Color your cat in wild colors

4 Vocabulary and art and design principles children will learn

1. Crayon resist—crayon’s wax content resists water-based paints and remains bright. Oil pastels work the same way.
2. Sketch—to draw an object with short, light strokes, sometimes lightly redrawing a line before erasing the unwanted line.
3. Pattern—the repetition of a design. Tabby cats have a striped pattern.
4. Tabby weave—the over and under pattern that is opposite in each row.

4 Ways this activity aids children’s mental, physical, and social development

1. Weaving helps children develop fine motor skills.
2. Drawing helps children take time to look carefully, seeing details as well as the overall picture. Important in every subject, but especially in learning to recognize individual letters and word patterns for beginning reading.
3. Making choices with colors, patterns, etc. enhances problem-solving skills.
4. Making art enhances creativity and refreshes minds and eyes tired from screens.

Clean up Hints:

• Plastic table cloth or large paper under your work
• Paper towels
• A plastic dish tub holds things to be washed
• A wastebasket for paper scraps
• After washing and rinsing brushes, reshape bristles and lay them flat to dry. Store with bristles up in a container.

Check out these Great Freebies Before You Go

Watch for a special thank you gift for our newsletter subscribers coming in early December. Molly the Artsy Corgi has some Christmas art ideas you and your children will love. These fun and easy projects will provide shared moments of calm and invite Jesus into your busy holidays. Don’t miss out. Sign up for our newsletter today!

If you sign up, you’ll right away receive a free guide to 5 Ways Art Benefits Children’s Cognitive, Physical, Spiritual, and Social Development, with a Few Fun and Easy Activities for each Benefit. And once a month more activity ideas for art, history, and nature, curriculum connections, and links to more resources will come to your inbox.

Visit our website to get free downloadable puzzles, how-to-draw pages and coloring pages for kids and an updated list of my hands-on workshops, chapels, and presentations for all ages.

Molly the Artsy Corgi hopes you enjoy making a happy cat on a mat! You can read our first post about Renoir here, and Molly and I hope you’ll come back next time for a devotion based on our cats on a mat art activity.

And finally a cute Molly Photo

She thinks she’s helping me get ready for our walk!

 

Advertisement

An Artsy Corgi Art Activity Based on Lighthouse Paintings

Ahoy, Matey, let’s make a seascape with a lighthouse and lots of fun details! In this Artsy Corgi art activity, you’ll discover an easy way to draw a lighthouse, learn several fun painting techniques, and finish up with some 3-D effects. We call this type of project a mixed-media activity, because we use several different art mediums.

In this post you’ll find:

• Supply list It looks a little long, but most of it is stuff you may already have
• Step-by-step directions
• Helpful hints
• Variations and/or adaptations for different ages
• Vocabulary and art and design elements and principles children will learn
• 4 ways this activity aids children’s mental, physical, and social development
• Clean-up tips
• Cute Molly Photo

Let’s Make a Seascape!

Supplies:

• Sturdy light blue paper for a background (with light blue paper, you can paint clouds and water on an already sky and water colored background)
• White foam plates make great paint palettes and can rinse off easily for reuse or be thrown away
• Tempera paint in white, black, blue, green, and purple
• Clean damp rags to paint with
• White drawing paper for the lighthouse
• Pencils, erasers, scissors
• Colored pencils, crayons, or markers to color the lighthouse
• Tan or white paper to spatter for sand
• Watercolor set and 2 brushes for spattering
• A fork or old plastic card to make sea grass
• Small sea shells (gathered yourself, or available in craft stores)
• White glue

Directions: (I’ve split these into sections for easier use)

Sea and Sky

1. Lightly draw a horizon line to divide the sky and water
2. On the palette, pour a small puddle of white and a very small puddle of black, leaving space between each puddle
3. Scrunch up your rag or hold it over your index finger to paint
4. After looking at clouds outside or in photos, use the rag to paint clouds. They can be fluffy or straight. You may swirl the paint to suggest movement. See the picture at #7.
5. If you wish to add gray to clouds, put a little white in another spot on your palette and mix in a tiny bit of black to make different grays. Always mix just a little of the darker color into the lighter color. The opposite way takes way more of the lighter color to change the darker color.
6. Add blue, green, and purple to your palette.
7. Use these colors or mix together to make the ocean. You may make a calm sea or big swirling waves. Add white to the top of waves for foam.

Sand

1. Sand comes in all colors, so use a sheet of white or tan paper.
2. Swirl a wet brush into the brown pan of a watercolor set.
3. While holding it over the paper, tap the brush against the handle of another brush to spatter paint. Use other colors if you wish—maybe some yellows and even a little green and blue for beach glass.

Lighthouse (The camera has distorted some of the lines)

1. Look at a glass or towel tube and help children draw a cylinder’
2. Look at a picture of a lighthouse and see that it’s a tower, which is a cylinder.
3. Some lighthouses taper towards a narrower top, but they are still cylinders.
4. Encourage children to look at other details, such as the rounded top or roof and the balconies with railings that often go around the outside. Keepers needed to get outside to keep the glass clean. These railings should curve.
5. If children wish they can add some out buildings around the lighthouse tower. Don’t worry about 1-point perspective, unless they’re older and want to learn. There are lots of online tutorials for it if they do.
6. Color the lighthouse and cut out.

Putting it all together

1. Cut out stretches of sand and glue in place over the water.
2. Glue the lighthouse somewhere on top of the sand.
3. Use a fork or old plastic card to make sea grass.
4. Glue on seashells.

And there you have it–a beautiful seascape with a lighthouse.

More Helpful Ideas and Tips for this Activity

Helpful Hints:

• Painting with rags and spattering paint is fun and easy for all ages, but it is messy, so if the weather cooperates, you might want to do these parts outside in one session.
• You may spatter paint with an old tooth brush and a popsicle stick, but remember to scrape towards yourself. It’s a little counterintuitive, but the other way just spatters you!
• Paint shirts are a good idea !
• To help prevent globs of glue, pour a small glue puddle on a plate and have children use their finger to spread the glue.
• Place waxed paper under things as you spread glue. It keeps things from sticking in the wrong places.

Variations and/or adaptations for different ages:

• Paint a sun setting over the horizon
  

  sunset over Higgins Beach, photo by author

• Use gray paper and paint lots of black clouds over a stormy sea
• Use black paper and use thick yellow tempera paint to show the lighthouse’s beam of light
• Draw and cut out small ships to sail out in the ocean
• older children may want to get more detailed with their lighthouse drawings.
• Sometimes children get discouraged if their drawing efforts don’t look just as they’d like. Remind them that drawing is a skill just like playing soccer or making a cake. It takes practice and time. Encourage them to try and praise their efforts!
• Younger children may need help cutting and gluing all the parts together.
• You may need a glue gun to make the shells stick.

4 Vocabulary and art and design principles children will learn

1. Seascape—a painting that has views of the ocean
2. Color: tint=a color plus white, shade=a color plus black—in this activity children learn how to mix tints and shades for the clouds and water. They also learn how to mix just a little darker color at a time into lighter colors.
3. Texture: how something feels to the touch, rough, soft, etc. In painting we often simulate texture by spattering, etc.—as children use this different painting technique and spatter paint, they learn about putting texture into paintings.
4. Perspective: the ways artists create the illusion of depth in a painting, creating a foreground, middle ground, and background—without getting technical, children can discover 2 ways (differences in size and overlapping objects) to create the 3 distances in paintings.

4 Ways this activity aids children’s mental, physical, and social development

1. Using pencils, brushes, scissors, etc. helps children develop fine motor skills.
2. This activity helps develop visual/spatial skills as children create a picture with 3 distances.
3. Making choices in creating art enhances problem-solving skills.
4. Making art enhances creativity and refreshes minds and eyes tired from screens.

Clean up Hints:

• Be sure to put a plastic table cloth or large paper under your work
• Have paper towels handy
• A plastic dish tup is great to hold tools you will keep and wash
• Keep a wastebasket handy for trash
• After washing and rinsing brushes, reshape bristles if needed, and lay them flat on paper towels to dry. Store with bristles up in a jar.

Before You Go, See Molly’s Photos and More about Lighthouses

If you’d like more activity ideas for art, history, and nature, curriculum connections, and links to more resources, be sure to sign up for my newsletter and receive a free guide to 5 Ways Art Benefits Children’s Cognitive, Physical, Spiritual, and Social Development, with a Few Fun and Easy Activities for each Benefit. You can also learn more about us and see more fun activities on our website

Photos of Molly the Artsy Corgi with a few ocean things

Molly was a little worried at first

then she decided a shell might be good to eat.

Finally she settled down for a good photo. She knows it means a treat!

Visit my website where you’ll find free downloadable puzzles, how-to-draw pages and coloring pages for kids and an updated list of my hands-on workshops, chapels, and presentations for all ages.  

Molly the Artsy Corgi hopes you enjoy making a mixed media art project of the sea and a lighthouse! If you missed them, be sure and go to earlier posts about lighthouses this month—Shipwrecks and Lighthouses and Lighthouses Tall and Small, A Kid-friendly Devotion about Lighthouses.

Next week in our newsletter you’ll discover connections to other subjects, a museum gem with activities for kids online, freebees, book reviews, and links to continue learning about lighthouses!

Molly and I hope to see you back here soon for a new Kathy the Picture Lady art series.

 

 

 

Just Have Fun, An Artsy Corgi Fun and Easy Art Activity

Summer is winding down in some areas, and before long we’ll see school supplies in the stores. So try this last messy Artsy Corgi Fun and Easy Art Activity and just have fun! Molly gives it high paw rating!

In this post you’ll find:

• Supply list
• Step-by-step directions
• Helpful hints
• Clean-up tips
• Variations and adaptations
• 6 Ways the activity aids children’s mental, physical, and social development
• And as always, a cute photo of Molly the Artsy Corgi

Let’s get started!

Supplies:

• Sturdy paper in various colors
• Tempera paint
• water
• Recycled squeeze and spray bottles

Directions:

1. Thoroughly wash the recycled bottles
2. Add different colors of paint to the squeeze bottles
3. Add different colors of paint to the spray bottles. You will probably need to add some water too. Experiment with how much is needed to get them to spray.
4. Squeeze and spray different colors to create abstract designs on the different papers

Helpful Hints:

Experiment and have fun!

Clean up Hints:

• Cover your work surface with a plastic table cloth
• Wear old clothes or paint shirts

Variations and adaptations:

• This activity is fun for all ages
• Try adding water to the paint in the squeeze bottle for a different effect
• Try different color choices, such as using only warm or cool colors
• Try different types and colors of papers

6 Ways the activity aids children’s mental, physical, and social development

1. This activity encourages experimentation with colors and designs
2. Using these spray and squeeze bottles encourages large muscle development.
3. Making art enhances creativity and refreshes minds and eyes tired from screens.
4. Making choices in creating art, enhances problem-solving skills.
5. Discussing their art and the choices they made builds vocabulary and social skills.
6. When children make choices in creating art, it enhances problem-solving skills.

Cute Molly Photo

Summer is often thunderstorm weather, and here Molly sports her thunder shirt, which helps a little to calm her fears.

Before You Go

If you’d like more activity ideas for art, history, and nature, curriculum connections, and links to more resources, be sure to sign up for my newsletter and receive a free guide to 5 Ways Art Benefits Children’s Cognitive, Physical, Spiritual, and Social Development, with a Few Fun and Easy Activities for each Benefit

Visit my website where you’ll find free downloadable puzzles, how-to-draw pages and coloring pages for kids and a list of my hands-on workshops, chapels, and presentations for all ages.

Molly hopes you just had fun with this Artsy Corgi Art Activity. In August we go back to our school year schedule and hope you’ll join us for our monthly series about art. Each series includes:

1. Fun ways to learn about artists and their artworks.
2. Kid-friendly devotion based on the artwork
3. Art activity based on the artwork
4. Newsletter with curriculum connections to the artwork and reviews of related children’s fiction and nonfiction books. And freebies!
5. We also frequently do interviews with children’s authors.

To receive these blog posts by email, click on the subscribe button above. To also receive the newsletter, click on the newsletter button, too.

We will never share your email with anyone else.

 

 

Blowing Colored Bubbles, an Artsy Corgi Fun and Easy Art Activity

Everyone likes blowing bubbles! In this Artsy Corgi Fun and Easy Art Activity you’ll add food coloring and catch those colored bubbles on paper to make pretty designs for bookmarks or cards.

In this post you’ll find:

• Supply list
• Step-by-step directions
• Helpful hints
• Clean-up tips
• Variations and adaptations
• 6 Ways the activity aids children’s mental, physical, and social development
• And as always, a cute photo of Molly the Artsy Corgi

Let’s get started!

Supplies:

• Paper
• Food coloring
• Bubble blowing mixture and wands
• Plastic containers for bubble and food coloring mixture

Directions:

1. Pour some bubble mixture into as many containers as you have colors
2. Add a food color to each container and stir gently
3. Lean over paper as you blow different colored bubbles. Watch them burst and make designs.

Helpful Hints:

• Start with small amounts of bubble mixture, and experiment with how much food color to add

Clean up Hints:

• This is best done outside as bubbles can sometimes float off and burst in unexpected places, leaving color behind!
• Wear old clothes or paint shirts, because as you blow, some liquid spatters back on your face and clothes.

Variations and adaptations:

• This activity is fun for all ages
• Try different color choices on different papers
• Try different types and colors of papers
• Make it a game: lots of people like to run to catch bubbles. Instead while someone else blows colored bubbles into the air over a lawn, the other person tries to catch the bubbles on a paper.
• Chose favorite parts of the designs to make bookmarks and cards to give as gifts.

6 Ways this activity aids children’s mental, physical, and social development

1. This activity encourages experimentation with colors.
2. Making art enhances creativity and refreshes minds and eyes tired from screens.
3. Making choices in creating art, enhances problem-solving skills.
4. Running to catch bubbles is a fun activity to enjoy together.
5. Comparing the colored spatters on everyone’s faces provides lots of good laughter!
6. Making something for others encourages compassion and care for others.

Cute Molly Photo

Molly got into the 4^th of July spirit this past week!

Before You Go

If you’d like more activity ideas for art, history, and nature, curriculum connections, and links to more resources, be sure to sign up for my newsletter and receive a free guide to 5 Ways Art Benefits Children’s Cognitive, Physical, Spiritual, and Social Development, with a Few Fun and Easy Activities for each Benefit

Visit my website where you’ll find free downloadable puzzles, how-to-draw pages and coloring pages for kids and a list of my hands-on workshops, chapels, and presentations for all ages.

Molly hopes you enjoy blowing colored bubbles, and will come back soon for our next Artsy Corgi fun and easy art activity!

 

 

 

Splat Goes the Paint in this Fun and Easy Art Activity

Grab a wooden spoon and splat some paint! It’s messy, but so much fun, and summer’s perfect to put on some old clothes and head outside to make a colorful art masterpiece . . .  or 2 . . . or 3!

In this post you’ll find:

• Supply list
• Step-by-step directions
• Helpful hints
• Clean-up tips
• Variations and adaptations to extend the activity, make it more challenging, or simplify it for younger children.
• Ways the activity aids children’s mental, physical, and social development

Let’s get started.

Supplies:

• Large paper, any color
• Tempera paints in various colors
• Wooden spoon

Directions:

1. Lay large paper on a firm, flat surface
2. Squeeze puddles of various colors of paint around the paper
3. Splat down on the puddles with the flat side of the wooden spoon
4. No need to clean the spoon between colors, just keep splatting the puddles, allowing colors to mix. I did wipe the spoon off between different sheets of paper.
5. Repeat the process with other sheets of paper and colors if you wish

Helpful Hints:

• If it’s at all breezy, you’ll want to weigh the table cloth and papers down. This is what happened before I did that.
• The best splash effects happen if you splat up and down and don’t mush the spoon around

Clean up Hints:

• Tempera paint is washable, but if it’s your patio or deck, you may want to put a large plastic table cloth under the splatting area. Paint does fly around and may not completely rinse off wood or concrete
• Keep paper towels handy for cleanup as you paint
• A wastebasket or plastic dish tub is great for keeping trash picked up and ready to throw away
• The paint is thick and dries slowly, so find a safe place for your creations to dry

Variations and Adaptations:

• If you put a sheet of paper over the paper with the puddles before splatting, It’s less messy, but doesn’t make the splash design as well. I kept splatting and the design improved.
• If you put two or three different colors close together, you’ll get colorful mixtures.
• Do papers with just cool or warm colors plus white
• Do papers with just the primary colors—red, yellow, and blue
• Wear your bathing suit for this activity, then run through the sprinkler to cool and wash off
• Cut papers into smaller pieces for cards, posters, or keep large pieces to use to cover your books in the fall.

4 Ways the activity aids children’s mental, physical, and social development

1. When children make choices in creating art, it enhances problem-solving skills.
2. Art gives children opportunities to explore their interests and talents.
3. Making art enhances creativity and refreshes minds and eyes.
4. Creating colorful art reminds us of the beauty God has given us in the world

Before You Go

If you’d like more activity ideas for art, history, and nature, curriculum connections, and links to more resources, be sure to sign up for my newsletter and receive a free guide to 5 Ways Art Benefits Children’s Cognitive, Physical, Spiritual, and Social Development, with a Few Fun and Easy Activities for each Benefit

Visit my website where you’ll find free downloadable puzzles, how-to-draw pages and coloring pages for kids and a list of my hands-on workshops, chapels, and presentations for all ages.

Molly hopes you enjoy splatting paint. She had to stay in during the splatting, but here she is inspecting my painting.

Molly and I hope to see you right back here soon for another Fun and Easy Art Activity. Sign up for our blog, and never miss our art activities!

 

 

Easter Painting Activity for Children

Here’s an Easter art project for children that uses fun and easy water color techniques to make a colorful cross picture for cards or framing.

The cross design reminds us that on Good Friday, Christ died for us so our sins can be forgiven, and we can become part of God’s family.

So let’s get started!

Supplies:

• Watercolor paints, brushes, and small containers to hold mixed paint
• Watercolor paper is best for the special effects
• Heavy white paper still allows a nice design (I’ll show you how)
• Coarse salt
• Wax paper torn into small shapes
• Plastic wrap
• Other techniques to try: paint spattering, drops of lemon juice or rubbing alcohol, grains of rice, leaves

Directions if using watercolor paper

Note: once your paper is wet,  you have to have everything ready and work pretty quickly

1. Work in a place where you can leave your painting to dry before moving it. Put a plastic table cloth under your work.
2. Before wetting the paper, use masking tape to form a cross on your paper (keep it a little rough looking). The masking tape allows you to paint right over it. When the paint dries, and you remove the tape, you’ll have a white cross, with beautiful paint patterns all around it.
3. Choose and mix 3 or 4 colors for the background in the small containers  (I thought mine were dark enough, but would probably make them darker next time. Watercolors dry lighter than you expect)
4. With a large brush wet your watercolor paper all over with clean water  (don’t make it sopping wet, just a light layer or sheen)
5. Brush the colors around your paper; drop some in with a brush or right from a container
6. Let the colors move around and swirl together for a couple moments  (too long makes colors muddy and you need wet paint for the next steps)
7. Sprinkle salt or rice around your paper
8. Place a few pieces of wax paper or leaves around, overlapping them
9. Scrunch up pieces of plastic wrap and place on areas of paint

Leave everything to dry (it may take several hours if you had lots of paint puddles). Once dry you can try spattering paint.

   Directions if using heavy white paper

1. Form a cross on your paper with masking tape as before
2. Decide what design you want for a background
3. Choose and mix 3 or 4 colors as before
4. Do Not wet your paper, but you’ll still need to work pretty quickly
5. With your brush paint your design., allowing colors to mix and blend
6. The salt, wax paper, etc don’t work well or even much at all on this paper, but spattering works just fine. 

Leave everything to dry an hour or more depending on how wet your paint was. Once dry you can try spattering paint. Old toothbrushes work well for spattering.

Once either project is dry remove the tape, and any papers, leaves, etc,. Brush off the rice and/or salt and enjoy your creation!!

Now mount your creation on colored paper for all to admire or on cardstock to send Easter blessings to family and friends,

AND remember, Jesus didn’t remain on the cross or in the grave, but rose from the dead on Easter morning!

Hallelujah!!

Before You Go

Molly the Artsy Corgi and I hope you enjoyed this project. We’ll be back soon with more great art, devotions, and art activities! Sign up so you don’t miss any of the fun. And you can have even more art fun if you sign up to receive our monthly newsletter.

Children’s Art Activity Based on the Painting The Milkmaid

Let’s take the 6 main rainbow colors, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple and arrange them in a circle to make a color wheel. Color wheels help children learn a lot about mixing colors and how colors work together for paintings.

In this post you’ll find:

• Supply list
• Vocabulary
• directions
• Helpful hints
• Variations and adaptations for different ages
• 2 art and design elements and principles children will learn
• 3 ways this activity aids children’s mental, physical, and social development
• Clean-up tips
• Molly Photo

Let’s get started!

Supplies:

• White paper and 8 white 3X5 cards
• Red, yellow, and blue tempera paint
• White paper or plastic plate for a palette
• Brushes
• Pink yarn
• Thin black marker
• White glue, scissors, pencils (glue sticks may not hold the mice in place)

Vocabulary

• Primary colors,  the 3 colors—red, yellow, and blue—from which we make other colors
• Secondary colors,  the 3 colors—orange, green, and purple—we can make from the primaries
• Palette,  what artists use to mix colors on. Can be made of wood, plastic, or paper, and come in many shapes, but the kidney shape is kind of classic!

Directions:

Paint the Primaries

1. On the palette, pour small puddles of red, yellow, and blue paint, leaving space between each puddle
2. Take 3 index cards and paint one red, one yellow, and one blue. Clean your brush in between colors. Explain these are the primaries from which we make other colors.

Now let’s mix the primaries to make the secondaries:

1. With a clean brush, add a very little red to some of the yellow on your palette. Mix to make orange and paint another index card.
2. With a clean brush, add a very little blue to some of the yellow to make green and paint another index card.
3. With a clean brush, add a very little red to some of the blue to make purple and paint another index card.
4. Allow the 6 cards to dry
5. Now for some fun mixing—mix all the colors left on your palette to make a brown! Paint a 7^th card brown.

Putting it all together

1. On the 8th index card draw a drop shape as a pattern for your mice. Cut out.
2. On the large white paper, draw a palette shape and cut out.
3. Use the pattern to draw 6 mouse shapes on each card and cut these out.
4. Cut 6 tails from the pink yarn
5. Glue the mice in place on the palette with the secondaries between the primaries that made them. I like to have the pointy nose end of the mice facing in, but you don’t have to.
6. Before the glue dries, tuck one end of a piece of pink yarn under the rounded end of each mouse and press down. Leave most of the yarn out for a tail.
7. A little dab of glue on the end of each tail will keep them curled around
8. Use marker or crayon to give the mice eyes, ears, noses and whiskers.
9. Cut a brush handle from the brown paper, bristles from other scraps, (or use marker to color a rainbow on the bristles) and glue onto the palette.
10. Glue the palette to a sheet of your child’s favorite color for display. And to keep as you learn more about colors!

Helpful Hints:

• The painted cards may curl as they dry. Just flatten them under books.
• To help prevent globs of glue on the mice, pour a small glue puddle on a paper plate and have children use their finger to spread the glue.
• I’ll often put colored dots with marker for where to glue or print the primary mice, so there’s enough space between each for the secondary mice.

Variations and/or adaptations for different ages:

• Younger children may need extra help with drawing, cutting and gluing the mice, but encourage them to do as much as they can. Don’t worry if their mice look too thin or aren’t the exact right shape.
• Many children enjoy seeing the different greens, oranges, and purples they can make by mixing differing amounts of the primaries. Encourage them to experiment. It’s lots of fun just to mix colors!
• With younger children (preschool-2^nd) I sometimes make a color wheel by painting children’s hands to print the colors. Start with the primaries, then mix these to make the secondaries. Messy but fun and a great keepsake!

2 art and design elements and  principles children will learn

• Color—in this activity children learn basic information about primary and secondary colors. They also learn how to mix just a little darker color at a time into lighter colors.
• Balance—as children place their mice on the palette, they learn to think about spacing these so their “picture” is balanced.

3 ways this activity aids children’s mental, physical, and social development

1. Using pencils, brushes, scissors, etc. helps children develop fine motor skills.
2. Discussing art builds vocabulary and social skills.
3. This activity helps develop visual/spatial skills as children place the mice on the palette.

Clean up Hints:

• Be sure to put a plastic table cloth or large paper under your work
• Have paper towels handy
• Wax paper under the mice while spreading glue on the back of them keeps them from sticking in the wrong places
• Keep a wastebasket handy for trash
• After washing and rinsing brushes, reshape bristles if needed, and lay them flat on paper towels to dry. Store with bristles up in a jar.

Before You Go

If you’d like more activity ideas for art, history, and nature, curriculum connections, and links to more resources, be sure to sign up for my newsletter and receive a free guide to 5 Ways Art Benefits Children’s Cognitive, Physical, Spiritual, and Social Development, with a Few Fun and Easy Activities for each Benefit.

Next week our newsletter will have lots of fun ideas, projects, freebees, book reviews, and links to continue learning!

Visit my website where you’ll find free downloadable puzzles, how-to-draw pages and coloring pages for kids and an updated list of my hands-on workshops, chapels, and presentations for all ages. Add link

Molly hopes you enjoy making a mouse color wheel! and we hope to see you back here soon for a new Kathy the Picture Lady art series.

Molly checked out the mice but her nose said they weren’t real. She’s real sorry she got the paper wet!

Art Activity for Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflower Paintings

This paint activity based on Vincent van Gogh’s sunflower paintings is all about experimenting with color.

When van Gogh began painting he used dark colors. But when he moved to Paris and saw the colorful, light-filled paintings of the Impressionists, he began to lighten his palette (the paints he used). Some of his sunflower paintings were painted during this time, and they were experiments in using lighter colors.

Have fun mixing different colors with yellow. Think of your papers as pages from an art sketchbook, and label the mixtures. Make notes of what you like and what didn’t work.

In this post you’ll find:

• Supply list
• Step-by-step directions
• Helpful hints
• Clean-up tips
• 5 Variations and/or adaptations for different ages
• 6 Ways this activity aids children’s mental, physical, and social development
• Vocabulary
• Molly photo

Let’s get started!

Supplies:

• Sturdy paper
• Tempera paints work best for mixing
• Brushes in a variety of sizes
• pencil
• White paper plate for mixing tempera paints

Directions:

Paper preparations

• Draw a big sunflower, or part of one in one part of the paper, leaving space for the color mixes
• Draw separate petals or boxes for trying the color mixes

Tempera Paint Experiments

1. Pour several small puddles of yellow on your paper plate.
2. Add just tiny drops of red to one yellow puddle, tiny drops of brown to another yellow puddle. Mix before adding any more of the darker color.
3. If you want a lighter yellow, (a tint) pour a small puddle of white paint and add just a few drops of yellow. Mix.
4. Label your color swatches with what you did.
5. Paint your sunflower with the mixtures you like best.
6. Use lots of paint and let your brush strokes show like van Gogh.

Hints for Tempera Paints

• Always add just a little of the darker color at a time to the lighter color and mix in between each addition. You may be surprised how little of the darker color is needed.
• Don’t wet your paper before painting.
• Tempera paints dry quickly, so if you want to blend different colors, you’ll need to work fairly quickly. Experiment.
• To create a textured center, use a small piece of sponge or round-tipped brush to paint the center of the sunflower. Go up and down with the brush or sponge.
• Don’t have any brown paint? No problem. Just mix a little yellow, red, and blue (the primaries) to create brown. Experiment with different amounts of the 3 colors to make different browns!

Clean up Hints:

• Be sure to put a plastic table cloth or large paper under your work
• Have lots of paper towels handy
• Have a wastebasket close for paper plates and paper towels
• A dish washing tub is great for gathering all supplies for washing
• Lay brushes flat on paper towels to dry so they keep their shape

5 Variations and/or adaptations for different ages:

1. Some children may prefer to just paint swatches of their color mixtures all around their papers, without drawing boxes. Many artists do that as they experiment.
2. Older children may really enjoy seeing how many different color mixtures they can create.
3. Paint a sunflower on another paper  and make it into a card or poster.
4. Paint the background around your sunflower a bright blue.
5. Children may want to experiment with mixing other colors, too.

6 Ways this activity aids children’s mental, physical, and social development

1. This activity will give children lots of ways to experiment with color and show them why artists do these experiments to decide which mixtures best fits their projects.
2. Children will also develop fine motor skills as they mix and paint.
3. Discussing the colors they choose and why builds vocabulary and social skills.
4. When children make choices in creating art, it enhances problem-solving skills, and helps them see that trying different colors and paints can be fun.
5. Art gives children opportunities to explore their interests and talents.
6. Making art enhances creativity and refreshes minds and eyes tired from screens.

Vocabulary

• Palette—what we mix paints on—such as a paintbox cover or a paper or plastic plate
• Palette can also mean the colors that an artist uses for a painting. We might speak of a light palette for many Impressionists, but a darker palette for an artist like Rembrandt.
• Hue—an undiluted color
• Tint—a hue plus white

Before You Go

Molly and I would love to know if you enjoyed this art activity and any variations or other ideas you came up with!

If you’d like more activity ideas for art, history, and nature, curriculum connections, and links to more resources, be sure to sign up for my newsletter and receive a free guide to making art museum visits a fun masterpiece for your whole family!

Visit my website where you’ll find free downloadable puzzles, how-to-draw pages and coloring pages for kids and an updated list of my hands-on workshops, chapels, and presentations for all ages. Add link

Molly hopes you enjoy mixing color combinations and painting a large sunflower! We hope you’ll come back next time for the beginning of a new series on a great artist!

Molly thought you’d like the gold rabbit brush against the dark green cedars in this photo taken today.

 

Butterfly Creations, A Fun and Easy Art Activity for Creative Kids

Butterflies are colorful creations, that we like to draw or paint in our own pictures. But it’s hard to make their wings exactly the same on each side of their body. In this project you’ll have fun making a butterfly that’s colorful and also exactly the same on each side!

In this post you’ll find:

• A supply list
• Directions to make the butterflies
• Clean up hints
• Variations and extensions
• How this activity helps children develop mentally, physically, and socially
• A related and kid-friendly devotion

Supplies

• Sturdy paper
• Paint in different colors
• Markers or crayons

Directions

1. Fold the paper in half and then reopen it.
2. On one side of the paper only, squeeze out drops of paint where an upper wing and a lower wing would be. You may use more than one color, but don’t mix them yet.
3. Refold your paper to cover the drops of paint.
4. Use your fingers on top of the paper to move the paint around, swirling colors together and creating an upper and lower wing. You may need to help children move the paint outward to make wings.
5. Open up your paper to see your colorful butterfly with identical wings on each side.
6. Notice that this process creates veins like on a real butterfly’s wings.
7. When dry, use crayons or markers to draw the butterfly’s body.

Variations and Extensions

• Make smaller butterflies and use them as cards for friends and family
• Make smaller butterflies all over large sheets of paper and use as book covers or wrapping paper
• Cut out some smaller butterflies and use as gift tags

How this activity helps children develop mentally, physically, and socially

• Mixing colors is fun and relaxing and teaches children to be better observers
• Choosing colors aids problem solving skills
• Making cards or other things to send to friends and family fosters kindness and thoughtfulness for others

Clean up hints

Use a large sheet of wax paper under your painting, because the paint often squishes out as you move it around.

Devotion

Bible Verse:  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV).

Butterfly caterpillars aren’t very pretty. They crawl along plants chomping leaves, and they can’t see well at all. But when it’s time, they form a chrysalis, and God creates a beautiful new creature. He gives them new eyes to see all around, new straw-like mouths to sip nectar from flowers, and beautiful wings to soar through the sky!

Sometimes we do things we shouldn’t. We may say unkind things to friends or disobey our parents. The Bible call those things sins, and they aren’t very pretty. But God loves us so much He gave us His Son Jesus, who died so we can be forgiven for our sins. When we believe that Jesus died for us, and that God loves and watches over us, we don’t get new eyes or wings, we get something much better. God gives us a new heart that loves and wants to please Him.

If you would like to become God’s child, you just have to ask Jesus to come into your heart and forgive your sins. When you do that, you receive a new heart to follow Jesus. Like a butterfly you become a new creation, and God helps you soar to be all He has planned for you.

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us Your Son to die for our sins, so we can become part of Your family. How wonderful that You make us a new creation to love You and live with You forever. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Before You Go

If you’d like more activity ideas for art, history, and nature, curriculum connections, and links to more resources, be sure to sign up for my newsletter. Just click the sign-up  button above on the right. You’ll receive a free guide to making art museum visits a fun masterpiece for your whole family. Even if your family isn’t into museums, the quarterly issues have lots of fun stuff for kiddos!

Visit my website where you’ll find free downloadable puzzles, how-to-draw pages, and coloring pages. There’s also an updated list of my hands-on workshops, chapels, and presentations for all ages.

Molly and I hope you enjoy making colorful butterflies! Our August posts will be favorite summer paintings and funny vacation photos.