Luau Week!
This week was Luau Week at the Art Project! Luau Week was inspired by one of my niece's favorite books, Surfer Chick by Kristy Dempsey (which of course we read for Storytime & Craft). The vibrant colors. The flowers. The summery fruit. The beachy feel. Here are some of the highlights:
Storytime & Craft!
We read Surfer Chick, by Kristy Dempsey for Storytime and a Craft. To go along with the book, we did a surf board art project. We love oil pastel/crayon watercolor resist at The Art Project. (We might over-do the technique :)).
How to:
We had the kids first draw surfboards with oil pastels & crayons. We love Crayola's Construction Paper Crayons because they are much brighter & waxier than regular crayons, so they work great with watercolor resist. We then encouraged kids to make different patterns inside the surfboard. When finished, the kids then painted with watercolors. The oil pastels & crayons resist the watercolor and make for a fun effect.
Make a Hawaiian Lei
We made flower necklaces out of yarn & tropical colored construction paper. This is a very easy project to do at home! You will need to create a flower template & cut out lots of flower shapes. We used a flower puncher in the studio to make it easier. (Fairly inexpensive at Michaels.) Next, punch two holes in the center of the flowers with a regular hole puncher. Then string them on the yarn just as you would beads until the whole necklace is covered.
Our tip: We used a plastic large eye needle to make it a little easier. If you don't have a needle, just add some masking tape to the tip.
Paint with Parasols
We're always on the lookout for new materials to paint with. This week we decided to try drink umbrellas. This is great for the little artists. Many different marks can be made with a parasol. You can use the base to make dots, you can stamp with it open, you can twirl it around. The possibilities are endless and it is lots of fun!
Thumbprint Pineapple!
For this project, we painted pineapples using just our fingers. We used Crayola's neon paints to create bright and vibrant colors! The base was formed by first doing orange thumbprints. Once your finger is wiped clean, try yellow fingerprints on top of the orange & watch colors blend! Then add the green paint with a few little blue highlights.
