Calendars

Sometimes I like to challenge myself when it comes to teaching. My strength is definitely not in creating flat works with kids. I prefer to use those flat works i.e. drawings, paintings and prints, in creating some kind of sculpture instead of them as a means to themselves. Sometimes they are used as the outside of a house by gluing the painting to a cardboard box or cut up to create a mobile. For our second week of Winter camp I really wanted to create a calendar with the kids. I dreamed of discussing the seasons with the kids and what images would represent those seasons. So after talking with Jillian, one of my fantastic teachers, I decided to go for it even though it meant coming up with 3 flat projects a day for the kids.

I needed to decide how to divide up the projects. Should we make the artworks according to seasons? I decided no. I decided that we should make the projects according to what it seemed like the kids would like to make that day. We did discuss a calendar and the seasons but I decided to let them interpret which project should go with which month. 

I wanted to start with something unexpected and fun, so we began with bubble prints. Bubble solution and tempera paint in a bowl and take a straw and blow. Once the bubbles are bursting out of the bowl, capture the bubbles onto a sheet of paper. 

The kids were the ones that thought this would be a good image for a summer month. I agreed. 

On the second day we did some water color painting. Instead of using water color paint I thought it would be fun to use tissue paper. By ripping the tissue paper and placing it on our watercolor paper and adding water to it, the dye bleeds onto the paper leaving brilliant color behind. The kids loved this as if the tissue paper was magic.

While the paintings were drying we went for a walk in the neighborhood looking for leaves to print over our paintings. The kids also picked some flowers, not quite knowing what they were going to do with them. 

After printing the leaves and discussing which month this one might represent ( some said fall because of the leaves and some said Spring because of the colors) we came up with a project for the other picked flowers.  My ideas was too smash them onto watercolor paper to make prints. We would use wax paper on top of the flowers to make sure the oils from the flowers went onto the water color paper. As we were doing that a few of the kids had another idea. 

The kids decided to use the tape to trap the flowers underneath the wax paper. The flower petals would dry in a day or two and make a fantastic collage. 

We also made winter watercolor paintings using wax resist near the end of the day. 

Phew that was a full day.

Another project we did was use nail polish to make paintings.

The kids dripped the nail polish in the bowls of water then dipped their paper into the water. This needs to be done quickly because the nails polish hardens quickly on the surface of the water.
The result is this beautiful marbleized paper. This project needed to be done outside because of the fumes.

On the last day we put the calendars together deciding which months go with which projects, writing the months and sometimes writing the numbers, but to be honest they got bored of that after a few months.

  

  

What a week packed with making collages, paintings, chalk drawings, and doing printmaking. 

It was so worth it and so rewarding watching the excitement of the children while showing their parents on that last day. This boy was telling his mom the process for each months image. 

Happy New Year!!!