Art Group Week 6- Color Mixing

 Art group was a sucess this week.  We talked about color mixing and read the book "Little Blue and Little Yellow."  We also looked at Itten's Theory of Color and all of the different combinations.  We examined color relationships.  The kids divided their papers up into shapes and sections and then set about trying to mix different colors for every section.  New Fish spent most of her time swirling paint on paper plates.  I think they all like experiementing with the paint to see a variety of colors.

r is for rainbows

Preschool this week is all about the letter "r", rainbows, color mixing and the nursery rhymes: "Roses Are Red" and "Ring Around The Rosies."  We started by cutting out our letter.  It was the first time New Fish was able to actually cut the whole letter out and follow the template.  She used to just slice the paper up. Either way works for me because I'm really just trying to get them to hold scissors and notice the shape of the letter. Next we traced inside both the upper and lower case R with a bunch of different colored markers. We made collages with all different colored items.

Next we started our color mixing experiments (which all had to be repeated when Red Fish and a friend came home from preschool.)  We spread globs of paint between two pieces of wax paper.  We took bowls of colored cornstarch and water into baggies and squished the colors together.  We took droppers of colored water and mixed them in ice cube trays.  Buddy B enjoyed the color mixing so much that he kept shouting: "I love it!  I just love it so much!"  It was hilarious.

We played with the rainbow parachute and sang songs.  We did file folder games on opposites and rhyming words and then we headed outside.  I planned to dance with rainbow streamers and string fruit loop necklaces but I had way too much planned this week. (Plus, I forgot to buy fruit loops.)

New Fish's creation

Red Fish's after school creation

I drew the numbers 1-20 in chalk on the sidewalk. The kids traced most of the numbers behind me.  I would call out a number and the kids would run and stand on it.  Then they would have to do 3 jumping jacks, stomp their feet 20 times etc.  It was a total hit with them.  They loved it.  Any time we can involve movement, things go well.

E is for Eyes and Elephants

 Today in our homeschool preschool we talked about the letter E.  We read some poems about elephants (One from Eric Carle's Animals Animals) and a couple of little books about directions and elephants.  We sang our songs from last week and did Jumbo Elephant while pretending to walk around using our arms as a trunk. My mother in law taught the song to my girls and they love it. We also sang "One Elephant Went Out To Play On A Spider's Web One Day" and used our parachute as the spider's web and little elephants sewn out of felt.  This was a huge hit and we sang it over and over and repeated it again before Buddy 2 went home.  We listened to the zoo track off of the LDS Primary Nusery music and movement CD.  It is awesome.  It isn't religious, just fun movement activities for little kids.  We've used ours quite a bit.  Plus, it only costs $0.75.

We also attempted to cut the letter E out of foam with a glitter glue template dried on it.  They mostly love being able to use the scissors.

 Next we talked about using our eyes to see the color, shape, size etc. of things.  We did all kinds of sorting activities.  We sorted a button collection by size and color.  Then we did a collage of big vs. little papers.  Then we had a snack and the kids wanted to do the zoo track again.  Then we did another collage sorting by shape with foam stickers.

 We used file folder games to sort by color, shape and type.  We sorted the same objects three different ways and talked more about our eyes.  We played with more file folders and used blocks to talk about using our eyes to see relationships between objects- in front, behind, above, under, near vs. far etc. 

Playing the cat in the hat game.

 Next New Fish requested we play our favorite game- "The Cat In The Hat- I Can Do That."  It is always good for a laugh.  We need a break from all of the sorting activities.  The kids wanted to sing the elephant songs again and then we played with our water table for the last fifteen minutes.  The kids mostly spent the time watering the plants in my backyard. 

Red Fish's collage

Red Fish was very disappointed that we held school while she was at preschool but that's part of the point- to keep New Fish busy while Red Fish is gone. I am going to have to start saving a few of the projects for her to do so she doesn't feel to left out.  Today she was happy with a letter to cut out and some collage supplies to use. So far- the kids are in love with our school plan and I am as well.  I am a little bit worried about running out of ideas but we have the next couple of months planned around the five senses.

Four Leaf Clovers & Shamrocks

We painted four leaf clovers with yellow and blue to learn about mixing colors.  It didn't occur to me that four leaf clovers and shamrocks aren't the same until Red Fish brought her shamrock home from preschool.  I love that she gave him a face and a top hat to hold.

Rainbow Sun Catchers

Red Fish

 We made suncatchers today with tissue paper, random collage bits and contact paper.  They look pretty festive hung in the windows.  If messy projects freak you out, a glueless collage on contact paper is the way to go.

New Fish

Rainbow Collages

New Fish's 16"x20"

Red Fish's 4'x2.5'

The girls have been working on these rainbow collages for a week, a couple of colors at a time.  Red Fish's isn't as bright because it was painted on brown contractor's paper.  The girls enjoyed working in a larger format than usual. 

Colorful Books

Painting With Children by Brunhild Muller

I couldn't get into all of the Waldorf philosophy on the emotional impact of different colors.  I did like the ideas for telling stories to inspire color based paintings.  I think the stories will make painting to learn about color mixing more fun.  We did a color story tonight and the girls loved it.

New Fish

Red Fish

This color story was about yellow having a birthday party.  He invites blue and red over and discovers a rainbow of guests. 
Colorations Liquid Watercolor Paint 8 oz.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

I had never read this delightful children's book. It is delightfully imaginative and fun. I watched the movie right afterwards and I think it does a wonderful job of adapting the book for the screen. 

Good Tidings of Great Joy - An Advent Celebration of the Savior's Birth by Eric D. Huntsman 

My awesome sister in law gave this to us for Christmas.  I was a bit bogged down by the season so I didn't get to read it as in depth as I want to.  I will definitely be reading it again next fall to get ready for Christmas.  It made me really excited to try celebrating advent with my family next year.  I had been thinking about it before but this book definitely gives it a deeper meaning.  It was a perfect read for the Christmas season- Thank you L! I want to read Huntsman's Easter book now. 

 

Drawing with Children by Mona Brookes

 I like Brooke's theories on children and art.  She says that symbolic and realistic drawing don't have to inhibit eachother.  Drawing can be taught just like playing the piano or any other creative skill.  Anyone can be artistic with the right tools.  I am excited to try some of the drawing exercises with my kids, especially Red Fish.

Stained Glass Windows

We have been hanging these transparent paintings in the windows the last few days.  We used Colorations Fingerpaint (because it isn't opaque) in between layers of wax paper.  I put a few splotches of paint on wax paper, fold the piece in half and then the girls push the paint around with their fingers.  It's great because it is totally non-messy.  They get the satisfaction of pushing paint around with their fingers without actually touching the paint.  Plus it is a great experiment in color mixing.  It ends up looking a lot like crayon melts without having to break out the iron.

Pumpkin Painting

 

More color mixing but this time I let the girls pick two colors.  They chose pink and blue and were excited to find that it made their favorite color- purple.  We painted on some pumpkins from our co-op and then they finished off on some paper. I love that Red Fish has to cover every last inch of her paper with paint. We are on a good roll the last couple of weeks with art projects that are making everyone happy and not stressing me out too much.  Halloween decor makes things pretty easy that way.  We got out all of the Halloween decorations today and the girls keep going around the house giggling about how "spooooooky" our house is now. 

Corny

 Another attempt at making color mixing more interesting.  We rolled corn on the cob to make prints with yellow and blue paint.  The girls thought it was pretty cool when it started turning green.  The corn leaves a fun texture.

When Red Fish got in the car after preschool today the first thing she said was: "I got two pieces of candy today at school so I can give one of them to [New Fishy]! "  She was so excited to share with her sister, I thought it was incredibly sweet.  I love watching them become better friends all of the time.  They still have their scuffles but for the most part they spend their time playing together and chatting.  It's really cute.

Color Mixing

 We've been doing some creative color mixing around here.  I put two primary colors on either side of a sheet of paper and the girls drive toy cars, scrape combs and use paint scrapers to bring the colors together and see how they mix. 

Neverending Rainbows

Rainbow ribbon wrist bands for music time.

New Fish

 Red Fish

I thought these would be much more like do a dot markers.  Instead they are more like bingo bottles full of paint.  Not exactly what I wanted but they will get used.  Next time I want markers, not paint so they can be used inside without so much mess.

Overtaken

 Butterflies and rainbow paintings have overtaken the house.  The Easter eggs have definitely been replaced.

Painting Rainbows

Red Fish is all about rainbows right now.  She likes rainbow clothes, rainbow songs and rainbow paints.  It's fun to see her understanding when and why she should rinse her paintbrush to change colors and seeing her trying to combine colors for a new shade.

Orange

New Fish/Red Fish
Series Completed

Green

New Fish was extra cute making this set. She got really into dipping things in the glue and went crazy.

New Fish/Red Fish

Fittingly, I am posting green collages today. Well mostly green anyway. Red Fish has decided she no longer likes my color themes. She wants to use purple on everything from now on. This project is almost over- my sister in law did part of orange today with the girls. Turns out 12 collages (well 11 for Red Fish) takes a long time to finish. I'm getting a bit bored. We'll probably finish orange over the weekend.