No Kid Hunger

This morning while I was making breakfast for my kids, I began to think about all the children who didn't get breakfast in the mornings because of lack of food. By the time I got to work I decided to add my voice to the many who won't tolerate such neglect. I looked around at a few different organizations and decide to make a monthly donation to SHARE OUR STRENGTH. It then occurred to me that maybe some of you would also like to add your voice.

Valentines celebration

On Saturday morning we woke up excited to get ready for the neighborhood bake sale at the Purple Twig. In order to celebrate Valentines Day we invited a few families that have been ever so supportive of the Purple Twig to prepare something for a bake sale in front of the shop. My kids love these bake sales. It's a great way for them to earn money. My daughter, Ada wanted to bake some lemon cookies and my son, Gus wanted to bring strawberries. What a delicious Valentines treat.

Ada got started by picking lemons from our tree for the cookies. We used a snicker doodle recipe, added lemon rind and rolled them in pink sugar instead of cinnamon sugar. When the licking of the bowl began, Gus came in to help. 

YUM!

While the treats were being had outside, we were offering workshops all day inside.  We were printing Valentines and making treat boxes. Ages 2 to 52 were printing, printing, printing beautiful Valentines. 

These were made by a three year old.

It's such a simple process perfect for printing cards. We first cut printing foam to 4 X 5 inches, . Then cut different colors of card stock 4.5 X 5.5. We give the kids short skewers to draw into the print foam. Using water soluble printing ink that you can get at most art supply stores, they use a brayer to roll the ink from the ink plates ( plexi-glass) to the print foam. The rolling of the ink can be the most desirable part of the printing process especially for ages 2 and 3.  We used red, pink, silver and gold ink so that no matter what image is drawn into the foam they look like Valentines.

 Look at all these lovely Valentines. Some kids worked really hard, printing one for all 25 kids in their class.

After printing for most of the day, we ended the day with a treat box making workshop. These are perfect for little treats for your little ones. 

We offered many different types of materials for making these, ribbon, paint, buttons, jewels, little animals, fabrics and decorative papers. 

With our workshops we encourage kids and parents to work together to create. It is so rewarding to watch the families interact in such a enriching way. 

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!!!! 

Sewing with Toddlers

This week in our parent/child classes we did some sewing. We made these whimsical hanging sculptures using fabric, felt, wire and beads. It's a great exercise in fine motor skills and eye hand coordination.

        

These were made by children ages 2 and 3 along with their parents. It's such a great way to work together, choosing colors and patterns of fabrics and talking about the different color of beads.

Each child chose a larger piece of felt for the sewing and  a colored wire. Before class started I cut little holes in the felt and pieces of fabric for the children to weave the wire through. I then gave them patterned fabrics and little pieces of cut up foam (which I hole punched). Some of the children loved choosing which hole to push the wire through, taking their time. Others used the pieces of fabrics like beads, quickly placing each fabric onto the wire. I then gave them beads to string on the wire which many of the children were more familiar with, as well as, more comfortable with.

This is one of those projects that pains me to see go out the door as the kids take them home. They are so beautiful hanging in the studio.

Art Education for Children

I was interviewed by Kristen Whitehurst, who teaches at Pathways, an early children's education center, for an article she was writing about art and early childhood education. We, at Purple Twig, are proud of the article she wrote. It's a good way to start the new year. We take early childhood education very seriously. It's important to us that each child has a positive exploratory experience when they come to the Purple Twig.

http://www.examiner.com/article/los-angeles-art-space-provides-unique-experiences-for-children

Winter Camp- week 1

We do have so much fun creating full days of activities for the kids during school breaks. We did two 3 day weeks for winter camps this year. When coming up with the curriculum we really needed to figure out a way to get the kids some outside time. Since we don't have a park right near us we decided to use the neighborhood for what it had to offer. There is a patch or grass that sits adjacent to a local elementary school. We decided to hold races and play some outdoor games there, but also do scavenger hunts with objects the kids had made, hiding them around the neighborhood.  So we filled the days with art making, game playing, reading and going for walks. It's so nice to have the kids for longer ongoing days, so we can do more ambitious projects, as well as, to get to know the kids better.

Here ages 4-5 are creating little snowstorms to send through the mail. They use paper punch outs and we put them in envelopes for them to send home. They love getting things in the mail.

The outside time is important. We take walks in the neighborhood, gathering material for artworks, playing games and creating obstacle courses. 

A PARADE

During the first week we made flags and snowflake banners for a winter parade. We love a parade.

Ages 4-5 made these  beautiful winter flags made from fabric which they painted and added other smaller fabrics and colorful yarn.

 The older kids, ages 6-9 made these lovely snowflake banners for the parade.

We cut out snowflakes from paper, added some white glitter and hung them for sticks we had found on our walk. 

I brought in bells and other musical instruments for the kids to carry in the parade. We all set off down the street, waving at people and ringing our bells. Some of the parents also joined us in our Winter Parade. A good time was had by all.

A Great Gift.

Look at what my husband put in my stocking.

THE STICK BOOK is right up my alley.  I couldn't think of a better gift. It's got it all, beautiful images, ideas for outside time with kids and like it says loads of things you can make with a stick. After lounging around in the morning we went for a Christmas day hike gathering our own sticks along the way. It felt quite luxurious to not go near my computer for the entire day. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Winter Workshops

I do love the early winter here in Los Angeles. The skies are so beautiful after it rains and the hills are so green. We go for early walks in the hills, do more staying in and reading and eat a lot more soups. I also love all the ornament making and winter treat making that happens in December. We, at the Purple Twig, do believe in process over product, that the exploring of materials is how to build confidence and emphasize creative thinking with children, but I do so love to teach a craft, whether it be sewing, knitting, ceramics or printmaking. If you begin with beautiful materials, whatever the kids make will be beautiful.

Look at the wonderful holiday cheer we have been making with kids during our workshops. We did holiday card printing by using print foam that the children draw into. This is good for ages 3- 103. Some of our parents get into this one as well, which we welcome. Here are some card the kids made with a snowflake theme. Each one is individual just like a snowflake. We finished them off with a bit of glitter.

Here are a few more using different colored inks on different colored papers. I just love these Winter trees, some with snow on them.

We also had workshops for ornament making from pastas that we glued together, painted white and added glistening white glitter. 

And these little winter dioramas in a small round tin complete with fake snow that one can shake. We used stickers, stamps on small white pieces of paper and glued them into the tin and some even added little pine cones.

We also made this big winter dioramas in a jar using fake little trees, animals and lots of fake snow. I have tried doing these as snow globes but no matter how much hot glue we used they ultimately all leaked so by taking the water out of the equation they are lovely dioramas. Just hot glue your scene onto the lid of the jar. One thing to realize when making these is to first add rocks or white stones for the animals to sit on, otherwise they won't be seen over the curved lip of the jar.

Happy Winter!!!