MaryAnn F. Kohl, process art and treasures of childhood

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Alexander Calder Sculpture: MaryAnn F. Kohl (from the Gryphon House blog)

Visit a recent Gryphon House blog post about how MaryAnn suggests being inspired by Alexander Calder, making Wire Sculptures!

http://blog.gryphonhouse.com/2012/04/10/wire-sculpture-for-kids-inspired-by-alexander-calder/

Wire Sculpture for Kids
(Inspired by Alexander Calder)

April 10, from the Gryphon House blog

By MaryAnn F. Kohl

Kids of all ages can be inspired by the great masters of art: inspired to create in their own ways; inspired to learn more about art, the masters, and history; inspired to discover; inspired to invent and experiment; inspired to learn more about everything; inspired to dream.

Alexander Calder is an artist that kids easily relate to because his sculptures are playful, colorful, and, well, they are SCULPTURES, and kids love to create sculptures!

Here’s some fun information about the great American artist, Alexander Calder, you might enjoy sharing with your kiddos.

 

About Alexander Calder
July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976

Alexander Calder, called Sandy by all who knew him, was born in Pennsylvania and came from a very artistic family: his great-grandfather and his father were both sculptors, and his mother was a painter. When Calder was young, he and his sister used to play with toys and gadgets that Calder made. In 1909, when Calder was in the fourth grade, he sculpted a dog and a duck out of sheet brass as Christmas gifts for his parents. The sculptures were three-dimensional and the duck was kinetic because it rocked when gently tapped. When he grew up, he continued to create such things as games, toys, jewelry, sculptures, drawings, paintings, costumes, movie sets, and more. Through his construction of wire mobiles, he became the founder of a new art form – kinetic sculpture, which means ‘sculpture that moves.’ He created sculptures in sizes from very small to tremendously large, as well as mobiles (suspended moving sculptures), standing mobiles (anchored moving sculptures), and stabiles (sculptures that do not move). Calder is the most famous kinetic sculptor in the world. 

From Page 58, Great American Artists for Kids by Kohl and Solga.
© MaryAnn F. Kohl and Kim Solga 2012

See samples of Calder’s sculptures at www.nga.gov.
Learn and see more about Alexander Calder at www.calder.org.

How to Introduce Kids to Calder and His Sculptures

First, show the kids some of his works on the Internet or in a book, or if you are lucky enough, visit his work in person at a museum or exhibit. Help the kids to take special notice of wires and see the possibility of movement in his work. Teach them the word “kinetic.” Even a two-year-old loves new words!

Examples of Calder-Inspired Sculptures

  

Kinetic Sculptures with Pipe Cleaners

For kids to try their hands at an easy Calder-inspired sculpture, you will need:

Materials:

• Pipe cleaners (or other craft-wire on-hand)
• A base (such as a rock or a block of foam insulation or foam packing. Other ideas: a can of gravel or sand, a cup of playdough, or a colander turned upside down.)
• Decorations (any items you have on hand, like: buttons, paper scraps, stickers, beads, paint chips, bottle caps, hardware nuts, macaroni noodles, etc.)
• Glue or tape for sticking things together (or other ideas like ribbons, string, or stickers)

* You can see I’m always saying “or”, “or try this, or try that, or what do you have on hand?” because there are so many options, and no right or wrong way to do these creative sculptures. Sometimes the special things you and your kiddos find together will inspire the sculpture to take on new life and design in ways MaryAnn Kohl never thought possible, so have some fun!

Basic Steps:

1. The kids push the pipe cleaners into the base, or wrap around a base such as a rock. If using Styrofoam, push the wires in deep so they will be strong and hold up well.
2. Bend the wires into designs and shapes, or leave straight. It’s inspiring to cut the wires into different lengths with scissors. Pipe cleaners cut pretty easily.
3. Add decorations! Buttons will thread right onto the wires, and it’s easy to sandwich the wire between two gluey scraps or two stickers. Pony beads thread well onto the wires as do macaroni noodles and hardware “nuts”. Have fun choosing from whatever is on hand. You can always add cotton balls or even lumps of playdough! No rules! Wide open ideas.
4. Wiggle or blow on or shake or otherwise enjoy the movement of the wires and decorations. Movement = Kinetic.

Note: One of the brain-challenges of this sculpture is bending and arranging the wires so the sculpture will not fall over.

What else?

Did you ever think of hanging the sculpture upside down so it becomes a kinetic mobile? Consider adding strings or ribbons too! This project is absolutely wide open for creativity and possibilities. In fact, I once saw a child hammer nails into a block of sculpture and then drape yarn from one nail head to another and say, “Look at my Calder!” That could work here too! Or add some golf tees or toothpicks. Or, or, or.

I love this kind of project because it is completely dictated by the materials on hand and the willingness of the child to explore.

The project above is "a twist" on the pipe cleaner idea: 
Colorful craft wire wrapped and wrapped around itself,
and stapled to a block of wood  -- Calder in a different direction!

Shown below: Kids work with pipe cleaners and Styrofoam to build Calder-inspired sculptures at the annual Art Night, Mountain View Elementary School, Ferndale, WA, 2011. Each child creates in his or her own way, exploring and discovering through the process of art. The finished product is fun too, but it is the process that captured their creativity and individual thinking.

 

 

MaryAnn and a young friend in North Carolina are shown below, each creating a Calder-inspired sculpture with wire and foam insulation (cut into small blocks). May 2011.

 

MaryAnn F. Kohl is the author of over 20 books about art for children. Her books are published both by Gryphon House and by her own company, Bright Ring Publishing. Connect with MaryAnn online on Facebook, Twitter, and her own blog!

 

A Repost From the Gryphon House Blog: Reading Scenes Photography Fun

This is a guest blog post directly
from the Gryphon House Blog,
reposted below:

http://blog.gryphonhouse.com/2012/03/13/reading-scenes-lets-take-pictures/

Reading Scenes: Let’s Take Pictures!

13 MAR

by MaryAnn Kohl

When I was a very little girl, my dad brought me a new book every week from the bookstore where he worked. Most of them were Little Golden Books, and I still own every single one. Those books brought magic into my life and lovely daddy-daughter time to me as an imaginative little girl. I treasure both the books and my time with my dad who passed away suddenly and unexpectedly at the age of 50.

One of the ways I used to like to play with my books was to set up my toys in scenes and arrangements based on favorite stories, like playing dolls, but more. I was building the scenes from my books, like setting the stage for a great play or story. I would move the characters around and make them talk, reliving the book and adding my own twists to the story.

When I was satisfied with playing, I would bring out my Brownie camera (this was film, not digital, everyone! It was in the 1950s!) and take a picture of the scene. The pictures took about a week or more to develop and be returned to me. The waiting wasn’t so hard, as there was plenty to do to keep busy during the interim.

When the pictures arrived, I selected which scenes would go into my scrapbook, really just a notebook with photos taped in, and tape them in. Though sadly I don’t have any of those pictures today, I do have the memory of my play time with my books as the inspiration and my dad smiling over me and asking me to tell him about the photographs in my notebook. Retelling the stories was a good part of the enjoyment.

So I’d like you to try this, your kids will love it! I call it Portraiture, an idea from the book, Storybook Art, authors MaryAnn Kohl and Jean Potter, and also in a different way from Great American Artists for Kids by MaryAnn Kohl and Kim Solga.

Portraiture

To Do:

1. A child (children) reads a favorite book (listen to a book or read it on their own).
2. A child (children) sets up a scene with whatever toys, figures, blocks, and so forth on hand.
3. Take a digital picture of the scene.
4. Choose to move the scene about and take a second or third picture to tell a story in sequence, but most kids are happy with one picture.
5. Print out the picture.
6. Save it in a notebook or scrapbook.
7. Take dictation about the picture from the child if they are very young, or encourage them to write something about it if they are old enough.

More:

Some kids like to actually dress-up in costumes and put together some background or props to re-enact a favorite book or one of their make-believe times. Do the same: Pose, take a picture, print it out, save it in a notebook.

These pictures show scenes as well as children dressing up and posing:

The squirrel is reading the baby frogs a bedtime story. The two children who posed the scene gave a short dictation of what was happening to the squirrel and frogs.

Jake and Sydney posed themselves in costume with props to show how difficult it is to have a cup of tea when the toys are not behaving.

Foil figures squeezed from aluminum foil can make fun characters to pose in a story. This foil man has found himself a marker and is setting out to draw his own personal story on white paper.

 

This post was contributed by MaryAnn Kohl (pictured on the left at about the age of Brownie cameras  in the 1950s). MaryAnn is the renowned author of over 20 books about art for children. Her books are published both by Gryphon House and by her own company, Bright Ring Publishing. MaryAnn enjoys speaking internationally and working with groups of children all over the US. Articles by MaryAnn can be found at the Barnes & Noble Parents’ Expert Circle as well as her own blog. MaryAnn lives in Bellingham, Washington.

 

Visit MaryAnn's Pinterest Boards

Have you found Pinterest yet? I don't know if you'll love it or never forgive me for telling you about it .... ??   :)

If you like saving great ideas from the Internet, Pinterest will help you do it.

My boards are here:  http://pinterest.com/maryann_kohl/

My favorite board is "Art for Kids from Great Blogs"

 I hope you will visit my boards to see some amazing art ideas as well as other things I'm saving to enjoy, make, or share. Click on any links in this blog post and you will be swiftly jettisoned to Pinterest! 

~ MaryAnn
www.brightring.com

PS Have you signed up for my montly newsletter yet?
Go to my webpage (lower right corner), and sign up for my mailing list.
You'll get one newsletter a month
and I'll never share your email with anyone.

 Thank you for reading my blog! Love to hear from you so leave comments! And if you have a Pinterest page with art ideas or other creative activities, I'd love to "follow you".

From the Chocolate Muffin Tree: Happy Birthday to Me! Balloon Sculpture

Hello, Blogging Friends: Today is my ... ahem ... BIRTHDAY, rather a milestone one actually, and thanks to one of my favorite blogs -- The Chocolate Muffin Tree -- I have a complete post (translate: no work for me, I'm copying hers) to share with you: Balloon Sculpture  based on my book "Storybook Art". I suppose I could write my own blog post, but this one is so great! And it's my BIRTHDAY!  And it's 4am! And so... Thanks for the post, Melissa. I promise to do a guest post for you in February or any time in exchange for posting this one.

MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2012 - My ? Birthday!

Balloon Sculpture and a Book

Would you ever think of making Balloon Sculptures?  (Besides the twisty animal kind)  Well, we made Balloon Sculptures! This idea comes from the book Storybook Art by children's art author MaryAnn Kohl (and it happens to be her Birthday today!....Happy Birthday! and with balloons too!).  This is a wonderful book filled with 100 Hands-On Art Lessons that incorporate Great Picture Book Illustrators.  This particular project appealed to my daughter immensely because she LOVES balloons and sculpture projects. We first read the book, Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm, which is the book that goes along with the balloon sculpture.  The illustrations by Mark Buehner really made the "Balloon Farm" of the character, Harvey Potter, come to life!!  The book itself with the imaginative story by Jerdine Nolen Harold and colorful illustrations was a hit for my 5 year old! I think any child would be intrigued by this book!

For the project you'll need:

all sorts of balloons

double sided tape (we used tape pockets----rolled tape)

square of cardboard or matte board

also string or rubber bands for extra support

(we just used tape and I could see string and rubber bands being helpful!!!)

Here is one of our finished sculptures:

Here are all the balloons we gathered: twisty animal balloons, water balloons, small balloons , and birthday balloons.

C wanted to play with the balloons (and we did!) You can see the joy on this girl's face before the project was ready to begin!

I had a bunch of tape pockets (rolled tape) ready in preparation for the project and used a piece of scrap matte board for a base, but you could use any kind of cardboard. To begin, C first started stacking the balloons!

She wanted to stand on the chair, because I think she imagined it to be really tall!  We found it wouldn't stack very high!!!  I talked about using the skinnier twisty balloons for support on the sides and that helped.  It would be fun to make a Balloon Hanging Sculpture too! Here is our Balloon Sculpture again.

I never would have thought to make a sculpture with balloons, but then take a look at this Google Search forBalloon Sculptures if you click here! There are zillions of them!! These will definitely inspire you to create Balloon Sculpture or at least have a n appreciation for them! Here is one Balloon Sculpture to a awe you with from Balloon Sculptor: Jason Hackenworth. Pretty Amazing, huh?

We had a lot of FUN creating this balloon sculpture and we may just do more with all this inspiration! 

Other Ideas with Balloons:

Next time we might Draw on our Balloons before we start sculpting with them!!! 

We might make some Homemade Stress Ball Balloons too!

Making a Balloon Yo-Yo  would be FUN!

A Hot Air Balloon toy has been on our list for a long time!

Printing with Balloons looks like a cool way to paint! 

We'll be creating another project from Storybook Art so stay tuned!

 

Amazing Mommy-Blog Christmas Ideas

I've chosen a few of my all time favorite Mommy Blog Christmas ideas to share. You cannot go wrong with these blogs on any day, and Christmas seems to have brought out art for children is that exemplary and wonderful in so many ways.

I cannot thank these young exciting mommy-bloggers enough for what they contribute to the world of children's creativity. Bless each and every one of you for your dedication and hard work.

~ MaryAnn

 

Painted Snowflakes from "The Artful Parent"

My comments: Cut coffee filters into snowflakes and paint. (You can also do this with flour tortillas and any variety of peanut butter, jam, or colored cream cheese for a fun snack.) You could also paint the coffee filters first and then cut the snowflake when it's dry.
Thank you, AP! 

Spin Art Christmas Tree Cards from "The Chocolate Muffin Tree"

The Chcolate Muffin Tree blog shows us a way to take spin art and cut triangles to assemble in a tree shape and then further decorate with paint dots, glitter, stars, foil, sequins, etc. Cotton is added for snow, which we know kids would love. I just love how happy these little trees are dancing in the snow. Thank you, CMT!

16 Christmas tree crafts to try from "NurtureStore"

NurtureStore shares some amazing Christmas Tree art -- these are far more art than craft, and so beautiful!

One of my favorites is the paint chip art cut into trianges to make little trees. Great gift tags!
And look at the sticks and driftwood tree.  Ooooo.

Sixteen different ideas for you, and just amazingly beautiful yet exploratory and unique for each child. 

Recycled Paint Stick Snowman from "Pink and Green Mama"
"Measure the snowfall!"

Pink and Green Mama blog shares this cute craft. I bet no two snowman sticks will look alike! Provide lots of felt, paper scraps, and ribbon or fabric strips for his scarf. Number at one inch intervals from the bottom up (from 1 to 8), and you have a measuring stick to count the inches of snowfall on Christmas Eve. (dreaming of a....)
Thank you, P&GM! 

 

Recycled Materials Christmas Tree from "The Imagination Tree"

The Imagination Tree provides the young artist with a cardboard tree shape, and then stands back as the artist paints the tree base and then adds scraps and doodads and other items from their "Jar of Wonder". Oh glorious! Check their blog to see how they fix the tree to stand.

Thank you IT! 

 

Thank you all for making Christmas merry, bright, and creative for children.

And Happy New Year to All!

 

PS. I send out a newsletter once a month with an art idea and other news and fun. If you'd like to sign up, go here.  

 

 

 

Miniature Christmas Lights craft, from the Crafty Crow!

The Crafty Crow is one of my favorite blogs, run by Cassi, an amazingly creative person.

She has shared a cute, did I say CUTE, yes VERY CUTE!!, idea and has produced a great video to share with you on how to make Mini Christmas Lights, a Q-TIp Craft.

The above video from Cassi at the Crafty Crow blog shows how she makes the cutest cute cute cutest little mini Christmas Lights from cotton buds (Q-tips®). 
 

The following URL takes you to the Crafty Crow blog where you can find out more and browse Cassi's other great craft and art ideas. Be sure to sign up to follow her blog.
http://www.thecraftycrow.net/2011/11/miniature-christmas-lights-garland-made-from-q-tips.html

The following three pictures are also from Crafty Crow to show you how cute the mini lights are for other uses.

Thanks for the great idea, Cassi!
I know my blog readers will be hopping over to your
blog to see this and all the other great ideas you have to share.

 

Shaving Cream Leaves, from the "Little Wonders' Days" blog

Shaving Cream Leaves, from Little Wonders' Days blog

* All links take you to Little Wonders' Days

Thank you, Little Wonders' Days! I'm sending all my blog friends over to visit you!

Little J was asking how many days until school started the other day. When I told him that there was about a month of summer break left he was rather quiet. I noticed later that he still seemed off. When I asked him he told me that he was going to miss having all the fun we had this summer. I reminded him of all the fun he had at school and how much he would enjoy seeing all his sweet friends again. This cheered him up some.

It really cheered him up when I suggested that we do a project together that I knew he enjoyed- shaving cream painting! 

It occurred to me that we could do something with our project to help him look forward to going back to school and let him know that while we won't have the lazy days of summer, we will still have Friday fun.

Friday fun is a little "I love you ritual" that we started when Little J was in kindergarten. With the busy weeks of school, extracurricular activities, homework, and earlier bedtimes, it's easy to miss each other.  We started doing simple things that we usually don't have time for during the other weekdays.  Things that help us spend time together and reconnect. 

When they dried, Little J and I thought of a few things together that would be fun to do this September. We wrote them on backs of the leaves (on post it notes...I'm hoping to get them back for our autumn traditions tree) and then put them on his bedroom door. 

• Take a walk on a nature trail
• Play at a favorite park
• Make ice cream for dessert
• Go to the science museum
• Go for an afternoon picnic
• Do a traveling story hour

 

Ivory Soap Amazing Colorful Microwaved Puff Ball, from "The Chocolate Muffin Tree" blog

The Chocolate Muffin Tree is one of my favorite blogs for fun creative ideas of things to do with kids. I had never seen this Ivory Soap sculpture idea, and just had to share it! Check out the Choclate Muffin Tree for further creative ideas and fun.  ~ MaryAnn 

:::::::: From The Chocolate Muffin Tree blog ::::::::
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2011

Colorful Ivory Soap Sculpture

Have you ever tried the Ivory Soap Trick? It is super easy and a Great Science Lesson! We just happened to have some Ivory Soap around and I happened to come across this idea from the weekly post 10 Ways To Make Today More Magical from A Magical Childhood. I've seen this idea many times, but it was a great reminder to try it! The instructions and Science behind it are found here, if you want more detail. We did the trick a few times (It is addicting!), but also put an Artsy twist on it! Here is our Colorful Ivory Soap Sculpture. Keep reading to find out how we  did this trick and how we made it more fun! 

Before the trick, I did a little reading about the science behind this amazing experiment here and decided to incorporate a little bit of learning about what floats and what sinks and why? We tested a bar of Dial Soap and Ivory Soap and noticed which one sank and which one floated. I had my daughter try to guess why? Then I explained that the Ivory soap has air in it which causes it to float and Dial soap has very little or no air.

To do the trick, first put a unwrapped bar of Ivory soap on a paper plate or piece of paper towel.

Place the soap in your microwave for about 90 seconds and it will puff out and grow into this amazing looking foam sculpture!!!! I didn't let my daughter watch the whole time because of the microwaves harmful rays! Interesting Information: My Father, who worked with radiation, has told me the most dangerous place to stand is the side of the microwave because that is where the harmful rays leak out! He said the front has a protective shield on it so I just thought I would pass that along since I am mentioning the dangers of microwaves.

Now you can see how the soap puffed out! My daughter absolutely LOVED this! We've done it three times and she keeps asking about doing it again! I explained to my daughter that the reason it puffs out is because there is air inside the soap that makes it expand when heated ... she seemed to understand! To make our Ivory Soap Puffed Sculpture more beautiful, I let her put drops of Liquid Watercolor (you could use food coloring) on it to paint it! Be careful because the soap is hot right out of the oven and especially in the center of the soap!

The sculpture is not at all permanent and flakes apart so it is definitely an "in the moment" activity! My daughter loved touching the sculpture and wanted to save pieces of it!!!

Here is a finished "Colorful Ivory Soap Sculpture" again! Beautiful! (or Not?) What do you think? We put the finished sculpture back in the microwave to see what would happen and there was not much difference. I appreciated that my daughter wanted to keep experimenting!

I know we will be doing this "Trick" again and again!!! My daughter keeps eyeing our Ivory soap in the bathroom closet and I'm sure it will happen soon! If you are wondering if you should try this ... it is totally worth it!!! Have FUN !

Thank you, Chocolate Muffin Tree,
for posting this wild and exciting soap sculpture!

 

Chalk on Starched Fabric: An Art Experience from "Almost Unschoolers" blog

Drawing With Chalk on Wet, Starched Fabric
from "Almost Unschoolers" blog 

Posted completely from
http://almostunschoolers.blogspot.com/2011/07/drawing-with-chalk-on-wet-starched.html 

© 2011  All photos property of almostunschoolers.blogspot.

Almost Unschoolers experimented with chalk and starch drawing today,
with an idea from Preschool Art: Drawing (preview the book in Google Books).

To quote "Almost Unschoolers" blogging mom:

"I cut a few scraps of cotton fabric into squares,
and gave them a quick soak in liquid starch.

 

Wringing the squares out...

 

... laid them flat, in pans, and had the girls color on them with colored chalk.

It worked out great, as the starch not only let the chalk blend out a bit, but really brightened the colors, and "set" it on the fabric (as long as it's not washed), so it won't rub off.

Making the dried pieces perfect for hanging - framed in popsicle sticks, stretched across embroidery hoops, or with twigs and twine, or whatever happens to be handy.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

POSTED BY AN ALMOST UNSCHOOLING MOM "

a HUGE t h a n k  y o u,  

to the
a l m o s t  
u n s c h o o l i n g  

m o m !!

From the Curly Birds Blog: Sciencey Fun (Science Arts book)

Bloggy Fun For Father's Day: ScienceArts

The following post is directly from the Curly Birds blog, showing Science Arts (my book) along with the materials for making a volcano. Thank you, Curly Birds! All credit on this page goes to you! See fullsize photos at Curly Birds.  Bloggy Fun For Father's Day: ScienceArts

Father's Day Gift - Tub of Sciencey Fun   

A thoughtful gift for Father's Day - a fun box of quick, weird and wonderful activities for dads and kids to do together. It is a tub of sciencey fun and a convenient way to have all the materials readily available for a spontaneous afternoon of exploration.

 

For clever science experiments aimed at a younger audience, I bought MaryAnn Kohl's Science Arts. I then chose 15 activities that looked like fun and purchased all the materials to make the projects. I labeled each material with the corresponding project page number and tabbed each of the chosen projects in the book. 

The girls used all the leftover stickers to decorate a big tub to keep the materials and book in. And there you have it - a tub of sciencey fun.
The girls and I made this for Eric last year and it has been used, loved, and restocked many times. Posted on June 01, 2011 at 06:20 PM in Celebrate, Create, Family, hand-made gifts  at Curly Birds

All credit for this post goes to Curly Birds

Inspiring Triptych Art for Kids (from the Angry Chicken blog)

See children's triptych art from Discovering Great Artists 

 
Visit the Angry Chicken Blog!

The owner of Angry Chicken prefers you visit her site to see her words and photos, so I won't post those here. While visiting this creative fun blog, you will easily see how a triptych painting can be inspiring and unusual and easy and just plain COOL for little kids to paint (or draw).  Please visit her blog and check it out!!

 I will share this quote:

"We have been having a lot of fun doing projects out of Discovering Great Artists: Hands-On Art for Children in the Styles of the Great Masters. This one is inspired by the triptychs by Jan van Eyck. I love this book. We checked it out from the library and now must buy a copy. It's great as a starting point for working on a particular artist, but sometimes the girls just flip though the book and choose a project to do." ~ from Angry Chicken blog

Superheroes and Princesses Had Fun with "Art with Anything"

Creating art with fingerpainting, but covered with contact paper, STICKY SIDE UP! :)  Smoosh the paint around by pressing down on the sticky contact paper. The tactile stickiness combined with the color mixing and paint spreading is a fun experience. 

When you finish smooshing the paint around, discard the contact paper and let the artwork dry!

superheroesandprincesses.blogspot.com

From the Tacoma Children's Museum: Inspiration

Inspire your budding artist - ParentMap.com.

I found this article at parentmap.com with information from the Tacoma Children's Museum. It offers some solid philosophy about why art is important for children. 

To quote: "Little artists, even those younger than two, develop problem-solving skills and open up avenues for self-expression as they experiment. Art also builds hand-eye coordination and helps them gain fine-muscle control that will help them later with handwriting." The entire article is available at the parentmap.com blog.

Enjoy this easy and delightfully fragrant Scented Playdough, 

courtesy of Children's Museum of Tacoma:

Materials: 
3 1/2 cups of flour
3 packets unsweetened powdered drink mix
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup salt
2 cups very hot water

Food coloring Instructions:
1. Mix dry ingredients together; add water and oil. Mixture will be sticky.
2. If more color is desired, add the same hue of food coloring.
3. Turn out onto a smooth surface sprinkled with flour. Knead and add more flour slowly until the right consistency has been reached.
4. Sculpt and create with fragrant dough. Keep the dough in an airtight container.

Stained Glass Melts - The Artful Parent

Note: The butterfly was a joint effort between Jan, owner of "The Artful Parent" blog, and her daughter.Here's what Jan has to say about making Stained Glass Melts:
First my daughter drew a picture on paper with a black pen. Then I placed the drawing on a cookie sheet in a warm oven (250•F). The book says to use a warming tray, but we don't have one, and we had used the cookie sheet method with success before. She carefully colored in her drawing with crayons while the paper and cookie sheet were hot. The crayon melts beautifully! After filling in the drawing with melted crayon, my daughter did a black watercolor wash over the drawing to make the stained glass pop out even more. We used lightweight paper rather than watercolor paper, since we weren't planning on using watercolors. I think the stained glass effect is more effective with lightweight paper (copier paper).

KidsArt Lessons

My friend and often collaborating author, Kim Solga, has launched a blog you might enjoy called "KidsArt Lessons": an ongoing collection of art projects, presented by KidsArt.com (on-line catalog of art teaching materials). You can subscribe to have these art lessons appear in your email. Here is an example of an art lesson from  Kim's blog: 

Paint a Rainbow

Take the kids outside on a misty morning, when the grass is wet and the sun is just peeking through the clouds.  You might be lucky enough to see a rainbow arching high through the sky.  They say there’s a pot of gold where the rainbow touches the ground, but no one has ever found this treasure.

But young artists can create a rainbow treasure with paints and white paper.  This is a great project for learning how to mix colors too.  Use just the red, yellow and blue paints in a watercolor set.  Show young kids how these primary colors mix together on a mixing tray or plate to make green, orange and violet.

Paint a picture with a rainbow in it, then paint the sky blue and the rainbow colors in the right order: violet at the bottom of the arch, then blue, green, yellow, orange and red at the top.  Look at photos of rainbows from books or on the Internet, and learn more about the science of rainbows at Science Kids.

Materials: red, yellow and blue watercolor paints, heavy white paper, paintbrushes, a jar of water, a plate or tray for mixing colors, a pencil and a couple paper towels.

Time: 30 minutes

Kim Solga and MaryAnn Kohl have written two books together: 
 "Discovering Great Artists" and "Great American Artists for Kids".

via kidsart.com

Deep Space Sparkle

via deepspacesparkle.blogspot.com

Deep Space Sparkle has art lessons of high quality and of value. In other words, these are "lessons", not open-ended explorations, but the results are wonderfully unique to each child. Currently there is a lesson based on Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" as inspiration for a tempera paint project. The blog owner Patty has six years of art lessons for you! Recommended for elementary kids who want more direction for their art.