How to teach painting to toddlers

How to teach painting to toddlers? We recently had our 16 month old grand daughter visiting from Wichita...and I wanted her to have her first painting experience in my studio while she was here.

Important points to remember:

• Have your camera ready to catch the artist in action.
• Have several old washcloths and a bucket of water handy.
• Get everything set up before you bring the child to the painting 'center'.
• Use only non - toxic, water based poster or tempera paint!
• Don't use water colors. They are too frustrating for young kids as the colors make 'mud' quickly.
• Limit the number of colors to 2 or 3, with white, to start with. For more 'attractive' finished pieces use colors that are adjacent on the color wheel, like purple, red and blue. If you want to have the child use colors that are opposite on the color wheel, like purple and yellow, use one color then let it dry before using the second color. You may still get a little mixing (therefore brown/grays) but not nearly as much.
• Tape up a really large piece of heavy paper, illustration board or scrap mat board on a wall. Make sure it is really securely attached. And try to keep the tape only on the back or the very edges of the painting surface. Or use a child's easel if you have one...they are great gifts.
• Use chubby brushes, with short handles.
• Lids from ice cream pails work great as palettes, if you want to wash it or toss it. See below.
• Put a paint shirt on the child, and an apron on yourself and wear old clothes both of you!
• Let the child 'have at it' - show how to dip the brush in the paint and then on the paper. Give praise!
• Encourage explorations - of color mixing, line and mark making. Please don't worry about rinsing out the brush between colors. Kids will lose interest quickly and mixing paint is most of the fun...as you will see on the palette!
• Let the child paint her/his hands and 'print' them on the paper, too.
• Most toddlers will be 'finished' quickly!
• Let the painting dry. Come back to it later to add more or frame it up! Preschool paintings are especially cute framed with a photo of the child making the art work in a double mat inside one frame. One more idea: use a thick paper palette - like another piece of illustration board or mat board and frame that with the art and the photo!

Have fun!

How to Create a Sculpture Project Using Wire and a Sock: Visual Art That is Abstract and Easy to Make

My art kids were really curious about how we would turn pantyhose into sculpture (most of them didn't even know what pantyhose are - I asked them to check with their moms and bring in any old pantyhose with runs!).

We used a 3 foot length of strong yet bendable wire (it has to be able to hold its shape), one leg of pantyhose, white glue, Gorilla Glue, one inch foam brushes, a small block of pine wood (about 5 x 5 x 1), dried split peas, white rice, chow mein noodles and black eyed peas, big wood beads (you could use big bright colors ones, instead, and glue them on after spray painting) and spray paint (I favor gold and silver because they are so 'showy' for the kids). You'll also need a drill for drilling two holes in each wood base.

Before the kids arrived (actually the night before) I used gorilla glue to secure a wire (each end of it) into each wood base. Be sure to moisten the drilled hole in the wood with a drop or two of water before you apply the glue to the wire end and push it into the wood base. I pushed it all the way through the wood and bent it back underneath to secure it well.

Each student put the sock on their wire, pulling it over the top of the wire, down the length of the wire, and stretching it to pull it over the edge of the wood base all the way around. Then they pulled on the wire to bend and curve it - until they were pleased with the shape of the sculpture.

Next step: paint the whole thing with white glue. Let it dry and paint it again. Let it dry and paint it again! Lastly paint areas of it and place or throw (the most fun!) peas, beans, chow mein noodles and rice at the gluey areas. Some of it will stick. If you have too much glue some of the dried 'textures' will slide with the glue as it runs down, creating a nice line! Glue big wood beads for feet on the bottom corners - or all the way around - of the wood base. Let the sculpture dry again.

Take it outside and spray paint - voila! An wonderful abstract sculpture that was easy, messy and fun and inexpensive to make!

Australia

We went to Australia, the movie, not the country (been there, done that!) over the weekend. We all really enjoyed the movie, but I wasn't expecting it to be about Aboriginal people...I thought it was a love story, without kids! Anyway, when we were there a few years ago, we learned a little bit about the past treatment of Aboriginal peoples by white society and the government. It makes me cringe to think how often people all around the world have been and still are, treated as less than human, by the rest of us. And how dare we consider our civilization and way of life as the be all and end all of civilization? We allow our babies to be killed before they are born - how civilized is that? I just don't get it.

I did get some art done this weekend - had 10 kids here to learn a little bit about Salvador Dali (we were at the SD museum in St. Petersburg two years ago - fantastic!). Each child did an acrylic painting of a dream or dreams that they could remember...it was fun!

Our youngest daughter came home, for maybe a month or so. She's been making art in Fargo and is now busy applying to MFA programs across the country. She makes beautiful pots, check her out at amyuthus.com. We both should have shopping carts on our websites in the next week or so. I'm excited for that.

I was fortunate enough to have an etsy mentor look at my etsy shop. She gave me a lot of good suggestions that I'm in the process of implementing. I hope to get a lot more listed throughout this week!

Happy Advent all - may God bless you this week!