ART ATTRACTS

I have heard from many people that their child "hates" art. That may be true, but in our house art always seems to attract a crowd. Before presenting an art activity, I always try to give it a trial run. This particular activity (Lined Art Leaves) is going to be shared with my nephews, so I wanted to be sure that all systems were go. Thinking that this was going to be a solitary activity (me as the "tester"), I set up on the back porch where I could see my boys and my grandson playing in the backyard. Before I knew it, I had a crowd.

My adult daughter, Shauna, and Paul were the first to join in.


Soon Mark and James were in on it. (I was not making much progress!). Mark really went off in his own direction, but had a great time.


Shauna starts on her second leaf drawing, and Erin joined us with Nico (my adorable grandson).


Paul was the first to complete his project- he was pleased with the results.


Shauna, being the school teacher that she is, added a twist to her leaf-- all the spaces are filled in with cursive letters. Instead of "energy lines" (as per instructions) around her leaf, she wrote the alphabet.


This is mine. I am a "by the rules" gal, so mine is pretty much by the book.

*James, Mark and Erin are still working on theirs! :)

There is something relaxing, even soothing,  about these types of projects. I think part of it is that it is just about the creative process- putting color and lines on paper.

Project from Art Projects for Kids blog

Afterward---The Learning Curve:
Even though James (7yo) enjoyed working on this project with me, I found that he was a little frustrated by the process of tracing the leaves (I had fall leaf patterns to trace), outlining the leaves, and filling in such a large space. Putting this information to use, when I prepped this project for my nephews (ages 5, 7 & 9), I traced and outlined the leaves in black sharpie marker on a smaller (5x7) piece of card stock.

While I was working on this, James walked in, saw the leaf drawings and immediately asked if he could have one. I let him take it- he promptly sat down on the porch and filled in his leaves while I finished up and the whole time we were making dinner (he spent a long time on his little project).

I am still including blank paper and leaf patterns for my nephews, but I want them to have the option to complete the project whichever way works for them- draw their own or pre-drawn. And, James was happy to benefit from my "learning curve".

It is hard to see, but there is a pattern in the dark blue marker. And, James spelled his name in the red circles. :)

Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 13, 2010 at 3:15 AM

    I think my older boys would really like this! Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  2. Paula (Belgium)September 13, 2010 at 5:48 AM

    This looks lovely! It gives me an idea to make an European, Asian and African leaf with some national flags in the smaller area's.
    Great art-class.

    ReplyDelete

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