Tag Archives: A Fun and Easy Art Activity for Creative Kids

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

Fold the paper in half and then reopen it.
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.
Refold your paper to cover the drops of paint.
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.
Open up your paper to see your colorful butterfly with identical wings on each side.
Notice that this process creates veins like on a real butterfly’s wings.
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.

Sailing Over the Bounding Waves, A Fun and Easy Art Activity for Creative Kids

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Sailboats skimming over a lake or breezing through ocean waves are colorful parts of summer. In this art activity you’ll make a mixed media, 3-D project with waves and boats that look like you could sail away in to catch the cool summer breezes!

In this post you’ll find:

Supply list
Step-by-step directions
Helpful hints
Clean-up tips
Adaptations for various ages
Variations to extend the activity or make it more challenging
6 ways the activity aids children’s mental, physical, and social development
A short kid-friendly devotion
AND as always pictures of Molly, the Artsy Corgi!

Supply list:

Sturdy white paper for the waves and for the background paper
Tempera paint for the waves—blue, green, and purple
Watercolor paints for the sky on the background paper
Large brushes
Colored paper or cardstock for the sailboats
White glue—glue sticks aren’t strong enough for this project
Scissors

Step-by-step directions:

I’ve divided the directions for this mixed-media activity into 4 parts to make it easier to understand, and because each part needs some drying time. Each part only takes 15 to 20 minutes depending on individuals. Each section takes more time to explain than to do!!

Part A: Creating the ocean waves

Put largish puddles of blue, green, and purple tempera paint on a paper plate or a plastic tray. Don’t worry if they get mixed.
With a large, flat brush paint these colors across the paper from one side to the other.
Don’t try to fill in every little space.
Don’t clean the brush between colors.
Do mix colors together on the paper as you add new ones.
Have fun and paint in a slappy,dappy manner, letting your brush stokes show.
Set aside to dry. When dry you may need to flatten it under some books.
When the tempera paint is completely dry, slowly tear across the painting to create jagged strips of ocean waves.
Don’t tear quickly, make zig zag dips and points like waves.
Don’t cut these—tearing creates the white edges that look like foam on breaking waves.

Part B: Creating the sky

Mix up largish puddles of water color paints in whatever sky colors you’d like. I chose a couple blues and a yellow.
With clean water and a large brush, wet your background paper. Don’t soak it—just give it a light sheen.
Paint and drop in your sky colors in various places and allow these to mix freely. Move the paper around to let the colors flow into each other.
Don’t worry about leaving some white–these can be cloudy areas.
Set aside to dry.
When dry you may need to flatten it under some books.

Part C: Create the sailboats while the waves and sky dry

Cut and glue together sailboats of various sizes out of colored paper (look at the pictures for ideas) Cardstock paper is stiffer and will stand up better, but you can use a double layer of colored paper.
Set aside to dry.

Part D: Putting it all together

Choose where the ocean will meet the sky and lay a strip of ocean waves across the sky background. Have the white edge of the strip uppermost.
Do not glue yet.
Overlap more strips of waves across each other until you reach the bottom of the background paper. Work with these until you have a number of layers of waves and colors, always keeping the torn white edge showing.
To begin gluing, pick up just the bottom strip and put a line of glue along its bottom edge. Then place it down so its edges are even with the bottom edge of the background paper.
Pick up the next strip, add a line of glue along its bottom edge, and tuck it under the strip you just glued.
Repeat this with each strip until you reach the point where you want the sky to show.
By not gluing down the tops of the waves, you now have waves that stand out and look more real.
Decide where you want the boats to be and put just a line of glue along the hull. Then tuck the boat down into the waves.

Ahoy there, matey! Now you can enjoy your easy, breezy ocean picture to send to a friend or put up on the fridge!!

Helpful Hints:

It takes quite a bit of tempera paint for the wild ocean wave paper.
When you mix your watercolors for the sky, start with a puddle of clean water for each color and add enough pigment to make your colors bright. Remember that watercolors fade as they dry, and when mixed wet-in-wet, they get diluted even more.
You may want to tilt the boats so they look like they’re riding the waves.
To give your picture a sense of depth, put larger boats up closer than smaller boats.
Try curling the flags around a pencil first so they look like they’re flapping in the wind.

Clean up Tips:

Use an old plastic table cloth under your work.
Use wax paper under the tempera wave painting and your watercolor background. That way you can paint right over the edges on both sides and not worry about cleanup.
Use wax paper under the sailboats as you assemble them with glue. They’ll peel right off.
Have a plastic dish tub handy for all paper trash.
If using plastic containers for paint, use the brushes to clean these under running water. The containers get clean, and your brushes may only need a little more cleaning.
But brushes that have had tempera paint need soap and water. Put a little liquid soap in your palm and swirl the brush around. You’ll be amazed how much more paint comes out. Rinse well and dry flat.

Adaptations for various ages

Once the papers and paints are prepared for the waves and the sky, little ones should only need a little demonstration to be able to enjoy doing these 2 parts.
Little ones will need more help tearing the waves, making the boats, and assembling the scene, but use your judgement about your children. And remember to let them create as much as possible. It doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s.

Variations to extend the activity or make it more challenging

Instead of watercolor, use blue paper for the background and cut out paper clouds or dab clouds on with white paint and cotton balls.
Instead of blues for the sky, use blacks (these will be gray to black, depending on how much water is added) to make a stormy sky. Add lightning zigzags with yellow tempera paint or marker when the water color is dry.
Make different kinds of boats, such as cruise ships, navy ships, tugboats, etc.
Go online and find directions to make origami sailboats.
Follow this link to Winslow Homer’s famous painting, Breezing Up, a painting of ocean waves and sailboats and enjoy together. https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.30228.html

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

Using paint brushes and scissors helps children develop fine motor skills.
Discussing their own art and/or the painting, Breezing Up, builds vocabulary and social skills.
Discussing zig zag lines and places you may see these (as in the letters A, K, M, N, R, V, W, Y, and Z) will help young children become more observant of small differences—helpful in learning letters and in reading.
This art activity also helps children develop visual/spatial skills, which is important in learning to interpret photos, graphs, maps, etc.
When children make choices in creating art, it enhances problem-solving skills.
Creating art enhances creativity and refreshes minds and eyes from all those screens.

A short kid-friendly devotion about when Jesus calmed the storm:

Jesus and His disciples were in a fishing boat when a big storm came up.

Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. the disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord save us! We’re going to drown!” (Matthew 8: 24-25 NIV)

Then he [Jesus] got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm (Matthew 8:26 NIV).

Have you ever been in a boat and felt it rocking on the waves? Did you feel a little afraid?
But we don’t have to be in a boat in a storm to feel afraid. What are some things that make you afraid?
When Jesus awoke, He spoke to the wind and the waves, and they became completely calm right away! Jesus was with the disciples, AND He was completely in control of the storm!
God is in control of everything! He holds the sea and the mountains in the palm of His hand (Isaiah 40:12). He is mightier than the waves of the sea! (Psalm 89:9)
When we’re afraid and call out to Jesus as the disciples did, we can trust that He is always with us to calm our fears and that He is in control of what’s happening. Memorizing this verse may help you remember God loves you, is with you, and He is always in control:

One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you, O God, are strong, and that you, O Lord, are loving. Psalm 62:11-12a

These verses may be helpful, too:

Psalm 139:9-10
Joshua 1:9
Psalm 4:8
Psalm 23:4
Psalm 62:1-2
Hebrews 13:6

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, that we can always run to You when we’re afraid. We praise You that nothing is outside Your control, and we know You’ll understand and help us, because You love us. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Molly, the Artsy Corgi

In this activity we made zig zag lines for the waves. In our last art activity we made lots of circles, and Molly decided to get in on the fun! Here she is sitting in the middle of a hula hoop after some lessons on jumping through it!

And here she is all tired out from jumping through the hoop.

But You don’t have to jump through hoops and get all tired out to have even more summer fun!! Sign up to receive these posts by email.

AND If you’d like more activity ideas for art, history, and nature, curriculum connections, and links to more resources, be sure to click the button to sign up for my newsletter, and receive a free guide to making art museum visits a fun masterpiece for your whole family! Sign up now and you’ll be all set to receive my summer newsletter, with lots of ideas for summer fun–inside and outside!

Visit my all-new website to get free downloadable puzzles, how-to-draw pages and coloring pages for kids and see an updated list of my hands-on workshops, chapels, and presentations for all ages. http://www.kathy-oneill.com/

Circles of Fun, A Fun and Easy Art Activity for Creative Kids

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School is out, but before you and your children jump into summer activities, take some time to wind down together. Enjoy sleeping in. Soak up some sun. Watch clouds sail overhead. And try this Fun and Easy Art Activity for Creative Kids, called Circles of Fun.

It doesn’t take many materials or time, and it’s neat enough for indoor fun—have I said fun enough? It also encourages some quiet creativity, without screens!

Circles of Fun is a printing project, simple enough for preschoolers, but with a few variations and suggestions, can easily challenge older children.

The only thing you need to think ahead about is to save cardboard tubes!!

In this post you’ll find 6 things:

Supply list
Step-by-step directions for the activity
Easy clean-up tips
8 Variations to extend the activity or make it more challenging
4 Ways the activity aids children’s mental, physical, and social development
A short kid-friendly devotion

Supply List

Paper
Paint (tempera or acrylic; watercolors won’t work well)
Paper plates or recycled plastic containers for paint puddles
Cardboard tubes
Crayons or markers
Find other circular-shaped items around the house, such as pencil erasers, bottle caps, glue stick covers, etc.

Directions

Spread thin puddles of different colors of paint around your plates or plastic containers
Set cardboard tube up in each paint puddle
Demonstrate how to go up and down with the tubes on their paper—explain that they are printing, not painting

Hint:

Some children like everything very orderly, while others like to mix things up. No one way is correct or better. Some children will want to return each tube to its color before changing to a new color, but if they end up mixing colors on one tube, that’s an opportunity to see color blends and talk about how that happens.

If you have children of both types, try this solution to prevent arguments: provide a separate plain container for used tubes. As these dry they can be used again, and since cardboard tubes are pretty abundant, provide a stash of new ones, too.

Okay, Let ‘em loose! Have fun!

Easy Clean Up Tips

Put an old plastic tablecloth down to collect spills
Have paper towels and wipes handy to wipe fingers
Have an old plastic container, such as a dish-washing tub to dump all disposables in
Use cheap paper plates for the paint puddles and then toss

8 Variations to extend the activity or make it more challenging

Suggest children see how many circles they can make before the color gets too faint. Ask which they like better—the bright colors or those that are lighter.
If you have large enough stamp pads, children can try these instead of paint. Neater, but not as bright:)
Create a pattern of different size circles or colors and encourage younger children to repeat your pattern.
Use crayons or markers to color in the various shapes created by the overlapping circles. Whenever they cross a line, they must change colors. They could use all the colors or just cool or warm colors. I dare you to stop, once you start this!!!
Use some of the circles to create people or animal faces.
Use circles to create things, such as a caterpillar or a bike.
Use the cardboard tubes and other circular objects to create designs and patterns.
Print the random circles or designs on large sheets of paper and use as wrapping paper for presents.

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

Circles of Fun helps develop visual/spatial skills and how to understand and use visual information—important in learning to interpret photos, graphs, maps, etc.
When children make choices in creating art, it enhances problem-solving skills.
Discussing their choices builds vocabulary and social skills.
Children improve fine motor skills as they print up and down.

A Short Kid-Friendly Devotion

When you printed your circle masterpieces, you probably printed many to overlap or cross over each other to make interconnected designs. Sometimes at home or school, we’re part of a group playing a game or working on a project. God created us to enjoy these special times with family and friends.

But brothers and sisters and friends may disagree about how to play a game or how to complete a project. How does that make everyone feel? What can we do when that happens?

In the Bible, God has given us the very best way to get along with others and settle arguments so everyone can have fun. He tells us we are to love each other (John 13:34-35). God also wants us to treat others the way we want to be treated (Matthew 7:12).

What are some ways you can show love to brothers, sisters, and friends when you disagree about something?
What are some ways you could treat your brother, sister, or friend when you have a disagreement? Would you like them to listen to what upset you?

Prayer: Thank you, Lord for giving us our friends and family. Please help us love them and treat them the way we want to be treated. In Jesus’ name, amen.

________________________________

Molly and I were soaking up some sun this week, and we found a sprinkler just her size. She didn’t want to drink from it, but she cooled off as she bobbed for cheerios! What kinds of fun do you enjoy with friends and family in the summer?

Before You Go

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

Saving Summer in a Bottle, A Fun and Easy Art Activity for Creative Kids

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Do you and your children save summer treasures—shells and driftwood from the beach, pinecones from a hike in the woods, a special rock, or a perfectly preserved dragonfly? Sometimes we put those items in bottles to remind us of summer fun on a cold day in January.

Today you’ll learn to draw bottles! You’ll learn 2 tricks you can use to draw any shape bottle you might use to save summer treasures. It’s so easy even younger children will catch on quickly. Then you can draw or print out pictures of treasures to put in your bottles.

Then . . . in the Variations part of this post you’ll use your imagination to draw fantastic bottles that can capture even the most fantastic summer memories! Like the special smell of hotdogs and hamburgers sizzling on the grill, the fizzy feel of cold soda hitting your tongue, rainbows lighting up the sky after a summer storm, birds song as the sun comes up, or peddling your bicycle through cool evening breezes that smell of honeysuckle!!

Let’s get started, but wait . . .Don’t miss the 2 sections at the end of this post that show how this art activity can:

5 ways this art activity can contribute to your children’s mental, physical, and social development
Help your children learn more about God: What does God want us to remember?

You’ll need a few

Supplies:

Bottles and vases of various shapes and sizes
Pencils and erasers
Crayons, markers, etc. for adding color if you wish
Paper to draw on

That’s it. Now we can get started!

Directions

The Looking part—very important in art!

Look down at the top of your bottle or these photos. Notice the shape is a circle
Do the same thing with the bottom of the bottle—also a circle
If you could cut your bottle off at any level and looked down at it—again, all up and down, you’d see a circle
This is important to see, because many people who try to draw a cylinder (which is what a bottle is) forget those circles and draw a straight line across, especially for the bottom edge.
Now look at what happens to those circles as you begin to turn the bottle away. What do the circles become? YES, ovals
Notice they don’t ever become straight lines or a football shape with pointy ends!

The Drawing Part—even the simplest bottle or vase has some ins and outs, but it’s still easy to draw, using the following 2 tricks: ovals and a central, straight line or axis. Here’s what you do:

Draw an oval for the top of your bottle
Lightly sketch a straight center line down from the middle of that oval to where you think the bottom of your bottle should be.
Draw another oval at the bottom with the vertical line going through its middle. Pay attention to whether the bottom oval should be the same size as the top opening or is smaller or larger. Draw your bottom oval to match the relative size you see
Now move up and down your vertical line, lightly sketching ovals wherever you see a change in size.
Now connect your ovals with curving in, curving out, or straight lines depending on what you see on the bottle’s sides.
Finally erase your center line and all but the top and bottom ovals
Here’s another type of bottle to draw and fill with with drawings or photos of summer treasures!
Add color and Enjoy!

Hints:

Don’t erase the bottom or top ovals, because we’re drawing glass bottles. If you were drawing a non-see-through container, you’d also erase the back of your bottom oval.

Variations:

Here’s where you can let your imagination go and draw fantastic bottles to hold fantastic treasures!

Turn your paper so it’s vertical or what we call portrait orientation
Starting at the top draw an oval of any size you like
Lightly sketch your center line down the length of your paper and draw another oval of any size at the bottom.
Next, up and down the center line draw more ovals of different sizes—some wide, some small—lots of variety
Connect your ovals on the sides with some curving-in lines, some curving-out lines, and some straight lines. Whatever you’d like to make your very own fantastic bottle!!
Now fill them with pictures or drawings of special memories of your summer.

How do you draw a special smell or sound? Perhaps draw the flower, food, or bird and draw someone sniffing or listening.
How do you draw a rough or soft texture? Find some sandpaper, smooth cloth, or even sand or small pebbles and glue these down to give the feeling of roughness or smoothness.
I’m sure you can come up with even more creative ways to show your memories.

5 ways this art activity can contribute to your children’s mental, physical, and social development:

Using pencils and crayons, etc. helps children develop fine motor skills.
This art activity helps develop visual/spatial skills and how to understand and use visual information—important in learning to interpret photos, graphs, maps, etc.
The opportunities to make choices in this activity enhance problem-solving skills.
Discussing their choices of things to put in their bottles and why aids in vocabulary and conversational skills.
Creating fantastic bottles and how to illustrate a smell or a feeling encourages creative and imaginative thinking

This art activity can help your children learn more about God:

When I visit the beach I always come home with shells, drift wood, and beach glass. Why do I save treasures from the beach? Because when I feel the ridges of the shells, the velvety softness of the driftwood worn smooth by sand and water, or see the colorful sparkle of the beach glass, it brings back the memory of that special time.

Have your children hold a pinecone or other treasure they have saved. Ask them to describe how it feels, smells, looks. Then ask what they remember about when and where they found the treasure and how they felt at that time.

While summer memories are special, God tells us it’s even more important to remember how He has cared for us in the past and the blessings He gives us each day.

“Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced” Psalm 105: 5 NIV

“Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” Psalm 103:2-5 NIV

The Lord knows that just as shells remind us of the beach, things that engage our senses also help us remember His care. In the Old Testament, He commanded the Israelites to celebrate Passover, (Deuteronomy 16:1) wear phylacteries, and sometimes build memorials of stones, because things they could touch and taste and see helped them remember God’s deliverance and promises so they could trust Him in the present. verses

Now we have the Lord’s Supper and baptism, also using everyday items we can feel and smell and taste to do in remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice (1 Corinthians 11:24). We can use our voices to sing praises to God and our eyes and ears to take in God’s word. We might wear a cross or make a colorful bracelet to remind us of God’s love.

All these remind us of God’s grace in Jesus who died for us and of our heavenly Father’s continuing love that provides for our daily needs. Keeping God’s deliverances and promises fresh in our memories, keeps our faith and trust in Him fresh in the present.

An Activity to Remember God’s Loving Care:

Take one of the bottles you gathered for this activity (maybe decorate it as I did with ribbon) and try one or both of the following activities:

Draw or find photos of times when you saw how God cared for your family. Perhaps keeping you safe in a storm while camping, seeing a sunset that reminded you all of God’s creativity, or a neighbor finding your dog when it ran away. Roll these up and tie with a ribbon or fold and put in the bottle.
In your Bible and find and write out promises God has made to care for you, such as Deuteronomy 31: 8 when He tells us He’ll never leave us or forsake us. Decorate these with pictures if you wish, and add these to the bottle also.

Now when someone in the family is feeling down or is worried, they can take out one of the papers and remember how God has cared for your family in the past or be reminded of His promises and be refreshed to trust God today.

____________________________________________________________________________

Molly wasn’t interested in these bottles until I filled one with cheerios and dog kibble. Then she decided they were worth a second and third and fourth look! And then a GOBBLE!

Molly and I hope to see you right back soon for Another Fun and Easy Art Activity for Creative Kids!

Painting with Frozen Paint, A Fun and Easy Art Activity for Creative Kids

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You and your children will enjoy painting with frozen paint on a hot summer day. Paint popsicles are fun for everyone and can lead to discussions about the water cycle God created to give us water, and how Jesus used water to teach something very important about Himself.

You’ll need a little advance preparation to freeze the paint, but once that’s done, dress in old clothes, grab some big pieces of paper, and head outside for fun and discovery!

Don’t miss the 2 sections at the end of this lesson that show how this art activity can:

Help your children in other areas of learning:
Help point your children to God:

Supplies

Tempera paint in assorted colors
Small paper cups or old ice cube trays in which to make the paint popsicles
Craft sticks or plastic forks or knives
Large sheets of somewhat heavy paper, such as rolls of shelf or craft paper
Large rocks or other weights to hold the paper flat

Hints for Clean Up:

If you plan to paint on a deck, patio, or outdoors table, an old plastic tablecloth will protect from stains and speed cleanup
A large plastic container such as an old dish tub is helpful to hold the paint popsicles until you’re done and ready to throw them away. The popsicles last quite a long time.

Directions

In the ice cube trays or paper cups mix different colors of paint with a little water and freeze until slushy enough to hold up craft sticks or plastic forks. Then continue freezing until solid
When you’re ready to paint, take the paint popsicles outside and let them begin to melt
Turn your kiddos loose to choose their colors and PAINT!

More Helpful Hints:

It’s difficult to say how much water to add to the paint because some paints are very liquid right from the container and others aren’t. Half water is probably too much. The following picture shows some popsicles I made with less water. They were brighter, but didn’t move around very smoothly. They were good for producing texture.
Also, some colors, such as red are intense pigments and will still be bright with more added water than green or yellow, which can lose color with too much water.
As always, be willing to experiment a little and try not to be a perfectionist. Your children will have fun even if some of the colors aren’t as bright as you’d like!
If you made your paint popsicles in paper cups, let the paint melt a little before trying to remove them from the cups
If the paper cup still sticks to the bottom of the popsicle, give it a little more melting time, then peel the paper away

Variations:

Place a paint popsicle on the paper in the sun and watch what happens as the ice and paint begin to melt. You can point out to children how the icy part begins to slide on what’s melting underneath. Somewhat like how glaciers move!!
What kind of designs can you get if there’s a little incline?

This art activity can help your children in other areas of learning:

This activity is called process art. It focuses on being in the moment, helping us relax and enjoy experimenting with the medium. We don’t need to worry about producing something recognizable.
It can provide many fun moments of discovery with colors and materials
It’s good for little hands that may not be able to hold and control pencils or paintbrushes yet
The following activity can improve observational skills and vocabulary: explain the following Elements of Art, and have children find examples of these in their paintings.

Line straight; curved; wavy; zigzag; slanted; standing up; lying down. Introduce the more grown-up words diagonal, vertical, and horizontal only if your children are ready.

Shape formed by several lines. These don’t have to be exact geometric shapes—encourage creative descriptions

Space we call empty space negative space in art

Color cool and warm colors and complementary color pairs—red and green; blue and orange; and yellow and violet.

Pattern any repetition of shapes, lines, colors. I couldn’t find any patterns in my creations, but you could encourage these as your children paint.

Texture some paints produce a grainy texture you can see and feel

This art activity can help point your children to God: Why not make or buy some good-to-eat popsicles to enjoy while you talk about God’s wisdom in creating water—a substance necessary for life on this earth! And Our Savior, Jesus Christ who gives us living water for eternal life!!

Did you know?

The water you drank today may once have been part of a big, gray elephant leading its baby to a waterhole in Africa or a blue and yellow macaw flying through the Amazon rain forest.
Water is the most common substance on earth
80% of the earth’s surface is water
Water is the only substance on earth naturally occurring in all 3 states-liquid, solid, gas
When water freezes its molecules move farther apart or expand. So ice is lighter than liquid water and able to float—ice cubes in your drink or icebergs in the ocean.
75% of a living tree is water—think of all the water it takes to carry nutrients around a giant redwood tree that can be taller than the Statue of Liberty
66% of the human body is water—water carries oxygen and nutrients to our cells, it helps protect our joints, organs, and tissues, it keeps our temperature even, and carries away wastes
A person can live about a month without food but only about a week without water

We and all creatures and plants need water to live! And yet, the same amount of water has been on the earth since God first formed the earth. But we don’t run out of water, because God, in His wisdom, created the water cycle:

The sun’s heat melts ice to liquid water and evaporates that as well as water from ponds and lakes and oceans.
This water vapor or gas rises high into the cooler air and condenses into a cloud.

Note about clouds: You’ve seen miniature clouds when boiling water produces vapor that condenses into a cloud of steam as it hits the cooler air outside the teapot. Or you’ve seen your warm, moist breath condense into a little cloud when you breath out on a cold winter day. And don’t forget about dew. It shows us there’s always water vapor in the air, which condenses on the cooler leaves or flower petals in your garden.

From the cloud water falls to earth again as rain or snow or hail.
In this cycle water changes from a solid to a liquid to a gas over and over again.

God was the first and best ever recycler!

Read Psalm 19:1-6 together. It tells of the general revelation of creation that we see all around us and points to a wise and loving God. Talk about other things in creation that point us to God, our Creator.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies [including the wonderful water cycle] proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.

Read about the woman at the well in John 4, especially verses 13-14. The Bible is special revelation, and in these verses Jesus uses water to reveal something very important about Himself. Discuss how He is our savior who gives us eternal life.

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Read also John 8:37-39a and discuss how the Holy Spirit lives in us and helps us live fruitful lives for our heavenly Father.

…. “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Spirit ….

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Molly hopes you enjoy painting with paint popsicles and learning about God’s wisdom in creating water and especially His love for us in Christ!!

Molly loves cool blues on hot summer days!

Molly and I also hope to see you right back soon for Another Fun and Easy Art Activity for Creative Kids!

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Bubble Painting, A Fun and Easy Art Activity for Creative Kids!

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Bubble painting bubbles over with fun for all ages and is just right for a summer activity outside! Try it with your children, and you’ll find it’s hard to stop blowing these colorful bubbles!

Don’t miss the 2 sections at the end of this lesson that show how this art activity can:

Help your children in other areas of learning: in addition to 5 other benefits, this type of painting activity encourages experimentation, creativity, and lots of relaxing fun!!
Help point your children to God: follow the simple outline to discuss with your children how special and unique each one is.

Supplies

Tempera paint in various colors (See safety Notes below)
Small plastic containers such as yogurt containers in which to mix paint, liquid detergent, and water (I used a paper cup for one color, and it didn’t hold up well)
Straws, plastic ones will hold up longer
Liquid dish soap–any brand (Not dishwasher detergents)
Plastic spoons or forks for stirring
Heavy construction paper or watercolor paper
A wide plastic dish tub for cleanup, but not essential

Safety Notes before you get started: This is a safe activity, but here are some things to do and some things to avoid so it stays safe:

I prefer tempera paint since children will be blowing into it with straws, and some may forget and inhale. Children’s tempera paint is nontoxic. There will still be liquid dish soap so especially with young children, you can poke a hole in the straw near the top with a pin, and that will make inhaling harder.
Most children have blown bubbles in their milk or other drink ( often, to your dismay, in a restaurant!!) But to be sure, if you have young children, you may want to have them practice blowing out with a cup of plain water. And this time you won’t tell them to stop!
For additional safety, you could buy children’s bubble mixture to use instead of liquid dish soap. If you use this, you won’t need as much water in your paint mixture!!
While acrylics or liquid watercolors (an intense, pre-mixed form of watercolors, not watercolors you mix yourself, which wouldn’t be bright enough) do produce brighter colors, they aren’t as safe.

Directions

1.In each plastic container, mix a blob of paint with some water—enough to be runny. Then gently stir in several drops of liquid dish soap. You don’t want it to be frothy.

Hint: There are lots of recipes for how much of each, but every tempera paint is different and it’s best just to experiment a little. Mix one color and try blowing bubbles in the mixture

(my paint is pretty thick and the blob was about a tablespoon, which gave me good color. I did keep adding dish soap and water throughout the process as needed. Remember, if you’re using pre-made bubble mix, it won’t take as much water.)

2.Gently blow bubbles in the mixture until the bubbles round up over the top of the container Don’t blow in hard bursts. Blowing in a steady, gentle way produces the most bubbles , and the most interesting patterns as they each pop against your paper.

Hints: The bubbles themselves won’t look very colorful, but don’t worry, they’ll look colorful on the paper!

The more bubbles you get, the more interesting the patterns. Here’s a container with very few bubbles, and it didn’t produce a very interesting painting:

3.Take your paper and gently touch it on top of the bubbles. If you push down hard, you’ll get mostly just a ring of color, like in the above painting. This is because you’ve broken the bubbles before they could adhere to the paper. Experiment until you get the hang of it

Hint: If your paint/bubble mixtures stop making bubbles, add a little more water. Another drop of dish liquid may also help, but again, experiment!!

That’s it. Your mixtures will make lots of bubbles and give you many paintings, so have fun! Enjoy the process!

Notice how this bubble splattered paint as it burst:

One More Helpful Hint:

You can use one straw throughout. Just wipe the paint off the end with a paper towel before changing colors, and it won’t affect the next color.

Clean up Hints:

The paint mixture in the containers could stain your patio or deck, so it’s a good idea to put down an old plastic tablecloth to catch spills
Drips will happen, so old clothes are a good idea, especially if your children may be tempted to blow a little paint in the direction of a sibling J
When finished, put all plastic containers and utensils in the plastic tub and rinse away most of the paint outside with a hose, leaving only a little cleanup for inside

Variations and Extensions:

Try making a trail of bubbles
Make some bubble designs in just warm or cool colors
Find shapes in the bubbles and draw around these to complete a figure. Can you see the baby donkey’s face in this one?
Cut out areas you especially like and use to decorate cards or posters
Use bubbles to create flowers—just draw or paint in stems and leaves

How this art activity can help your children in other areas of learning:

First of all—this type of painting activity encourages experimentation, creativity, and lots of relaxing fun!
Opportunities to make choices as in this activity, enhances problem-solving skills.
Learning to blow gently and lowering the paper gently over the bubbles helps children develop fine motor skills.
Discussing with your children why they chose certain colors builds vocabulary and social skills.
Enhance their observational and verbal skills by rephrasing words and adding new vocabulary. Help them see nuances of color in the layers of bubbles
Encouraging children to find objects or shapes, colors, patterns, etc. in the bubble paintings improves their observational skills.

How this art activity can help point your children to God:

We are able to make beautiful art because we are made in God’s image, with the ability to be creative and think and plan Read Genesis 1:27 together.
He has given us hands that can hold a straw or a pencil and eyes that can see colors and patterns
He has given us mouths so we can talk and share about our art with others
And just as no two bubble paintings ever look alike, so God has created each of us to be unique and special Read Psalm 139:13-15 together.
Ask children to share how they’re unique—their eye color, hair color, their laugh, their favorite foods, their favorite things to do, etc.
Our unique and beautiful bubble paintings can bring love and beauty to family and friends. God has breathed into each of us to make us His unique and beautiful painting to show His beauty and love to the world.
Ask children some ways they can be a beautiful painting in the world for God.

End with a prayer thanking God for making each of us unique, with special ways to make the world a more beautiful place.

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Molly loves how the colors of this sunset are spread over her, and she hopes you enjoyed blowing colorful bubbles!

And Molly and I hope to see you right back here soon for Another Fun and Easy Art Activity for Creative Kids!

A Fourth of July Fireworks Painting, A Fun and Easy Art Activity for Creative Kids

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Even if your Fourth of July fireworks is cancelled this year because of the pandemic, this fun and easy art project will help your children paint their own fireworks display!

All ages can enjoy this activity!

Be sure to look at the 2 sections at the end of this lesson to help you extend art learning into other areas:

How this art lesson can help your children in other areas of learning:
How this art lesson can help point your children to God:

Supplies

Tempera or acrylic paint
Flat lids or other wide and shallow containers for paint
medium paintbrushes
black and dark blue paper for the “sky”
cardboard tubes such as paper towel tubes
scissors
old but cleaned toothbrushes
paper towel

Helpful Hints:

Children may get a lot of paint on their hands with this project
This is a good project to do outside, especially if you decide to spatter paint at the end
If you do it inside, put down plenty of old paper or an old plastic tablecloth

Directions

Cut narrow bands or flaps around one end of each cardboard tube (if your child is young you will probably need to do this)
With your fingers push the flaps up so they can rest flat on the paint and on the paper
With a paintbrush spread each color of paint on a lid or other container
Swirl the cut bands around in the paint (you may also choose to use the brush to make sure all edges of the bands get covered)
Holding the unpainted part of the tube, gently push the tube’s flaps down against the blue or black paper—up and down, up and down in a printing-type motion (you will probably need to push down on the flaps themselves) Add more paint as needed
Repeat with other colors,
Spatter paint on top of the tube designs to finish up your fireworks painting

Helpful Hints:

Cut your bands as narrow as you can without making them too easily broken
Cut one or more tubes for each color, depending on how many children are painting
If you want a fireworks-looking design, don’t mush the flaps down too hard on your paper or swirl them around
When temporarily done with a tube, set it on wax paper so it can be reused or set it on the lid with the same color paint
Toothbrushes work best to spatter paint, but you need somewhat runny paint. To get your runny paint AND help with cleanup, just add a little water to the paint left on the lids and mix with your brush. This will give you runny paint to spatter!!
And contrary to all reason you need to pull bristles back toward you to spatter away from you! If you push the bristles away from you, you’ll just end up spraying your own face!!

Clean up Helps:

Having an old plastic tablecloth to use as a drop cloth is helpful when spattering paint
If you’re doing this project inside and need to get children to a sink without too much mess on the way, give your child a wadded-up paper towel to hold in each hand while they walk to the sink. This also gets rid of a little excess paint on the way!!
Use your paint brushes to clean the plastic lids or pans. This helps to begin the brush cleaning process also.

Variations:

Use the tubes to make flower designs. Use lighter backgrounds and cut some flaps so they’re wider. After printing the designs, use a brush or cotton ball to paint the flower centers. Add stems and leaves and grass or a vase to make a garden or bouquet!
Use the tubes to print wild hair and fill in the middles with faces of people or animals
Swirl and mush the cut flaps instead of using an up and down printing motion and see what other types of designs you can make

How this art lesson can help your children in other areas of learning:

Looking at how overlapping some designs and printing some partly off the paper creates a sense of depth and movement, which develops vocabulary and observation skills
Using these tubes is easier for small hands to hold than paintbrushes, but still helps develop fine motor skills.
Opportunities to make choices as in this activity, enhances problem-solving skills.
Discussing their choices as they work aids in vocabulary and conversational skills.

How this art lesson can help point your children to God:

Creating art helps us relax, and sometimes this leads to great discussions about all sorts of things. It may help children open up about their fears and anxieties during this difficult time with its many unknowns. If so these verses may be helpful: Psalm 94:18; Psalm 18:1-3 and 30-31; Psalm 4:8; Philippians 4:4-9;
In addition, a holiday like the 4^th of July is a great time to discuss with children how wise leaders in government at every level can help bring justice and peace to people. Ask them what makes a wise and compassionate leader? Look at Proverbs 1:1-7 and James 1:5
It can also lead to discussions about the responsibilities of citizens: A. to pray for our leaders, and especially this year, for health care workers and first responders, and for justice and peace for all peoples. B. to treat others as we would want to be treated. Jesus call us to love our neighbors. Matthew 22:37-40. Peter tells us to live peacefully with our neighbors. 1 Peter 3:1-4
Finally you may want to help children see that no earthly government will be perfect. But when Jesus returns He will rule with perfect love, peace, and justice for all. Isaiah 42:1-4; Psalm 45:6.

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Molly is back in her thunder shirt for the Fourth of July, in case she hears the boom of fireworks! She really hopes many of you will just enjoy making these painted fireworks! Do you see her spiky ball? It’s a favorite, and one reason she loves this lesson. She thinks the fireworks pictures look a little spiky, too.

Molly and I hope to see you right back here soon for Another Fun and Easy Art Activity for Creative Kids!

Leaf Prints, A Fun and Easy Art Activity for Creative Kids

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This a great time of year to make leaf prints! Leaves of different shapes and sizes are all around us, and printing with leaves produces unique and beautiful designs.

This activity can be adapted for all ages! Let younger children just enjoy the fun of printing and creating. That’s good for older children, too, and may lead to lots of fun experimenting. Or you may want to eventually encourage older children to experiment with more or less paint and to create patterns.

Don’t miss the 2 sections at the end of this lesson that show how art learning can extend into other areas:

5 ways this art lesson helps your children in other areas of learning:
this art lesson can help point your children to see God’s creativity and care for creation:

Supplies

Paper in any colors, sizes or types (this is a good activity to use up some of the odd pieces you have)
Tempera paint in various colors
Containers to hold small amounts of paint and for mixing paint
Paintbrushes (larger flat ones work best)
Lots of fresh leaves of various types
Paper towels for clean up and to put under leaves as you paint them

Directions

Get your work surface, paints, and papers ready
Go out and gather lots of different leaves ( be sure and ask permission and be sure none are poisonous)
Place a leaf upside down ( with veins facing up) on a piece of scrap paper or paper towel
Paint a thin layer of paint over it (be gentle so you don’t tear the leaf)
Place the leaf paint side down on your good paper and press it flat with your hand or with scrap papers on top of it

Helpful Hints:

Press, don’t rub, or the print will be blurred
If you make another print or two before adding more paint, the image will get more delicate looking.
If you have trouble lifting the leaf up, slide a plastic knife under one edge so you can get hold of the leaf
Leaves are reusable for a time so put them aside to reuse (it would be helpful to have an old cookie sheet or plastic cutting board to keep used leaves on)
This project can be a little messy so have plenty of paper towels or rags for wiping fingers!
If it’s not windy, this is a great project for outside (the leaves are right there for the picking and you have God’s beautiful creation all around while you have fun)

Variations:

Do this project again in the fall (before the leaves get dried) with fall colors
Experiment with how much paint and how much pressure make the prints you like the best.
Make patterns by alternating different types of leaves or colors
Get some large papers and print leaves of various colors and types all over it to use for wrapping paper
Spatter paint over leaves for a special effect

How this art lesson can help your children in other areas of learning:

This art activity is especially good to help children learn to distinguish shapes, which develops visual/spatial skills and how to understand and use visual information—important in learning to interpret photos, graphs, maps, etc.
Making patterns enhances sequencing skills, which is valuable in so many areas, such as math
As with many art activities, this one aids in small muscle development
Discussing their choices as they work aids in vocabulary and conversational skills. As you look at the different leaves, encourage children to use lots of descriptive words for the different shapes and colors of the leaves. Help increase their vocabulary with new descriptive words.
Make a game of naming all the animals you can think of that eat plants

How this art lesson can help point your children to God:

Read together Genesis 1:1-26 about God’s creation of the earth and all it contains.
While gathering and sorting different leaves, discuss the great variety of shapes and colors God has created.
Extend the discussion to include other things of the natural world, their colors, shapes, sizes, beauty.
Help your children notice the veins in the leaves when you turn them over. Once you’ve applied paint and printed a leaf once, the print and the paint left on the leaf really make the veins stand out. Notice how the veins branch out to every part of the leaf.
Ask your child what the veins are for. Help them see how God cares for each plant, providing a way for it to make food for it to grow. (you might go online as I did to refresh your memory about the process of photosynthesis!!)
Lastly, discuss how God, in His wisdom, created the sun and plants and the process of photosynthesis to feed so many creatures.
After the prints are dry, choose some as the background to write out a verse from Genesis 1:11-13

This art project can be a little messy because you have to hold the leaves as you paint them and pick them up. So Molly needed a bath after this project. She really doesn’t mind, and afterwards she sat near some plants and admired their leaves as she dried!!

Now that summer is here, Molly and I are going on a summer schedule of posting a little less often (every 2nd and 4th Friday. So our next post should be on June 26th). We hope you’ll join us those days for more Fun and Easy Art Activities for Creative Kids!