Creativity Corner: Art in the Sky.

I have always been mesmerized by clouds.  
Before I became aware that lying on my back in prickly grass would result in dirty clothes or bugs-in-hair, I would gaze for hours up at the sky.  The cloud-object game has been around forever, but to my 5-year-old, it was a completely new phenomenon.
Our recent cloud-gazing adventure was a wonderful activity and I really enjoyed sharing it with her!

Springtime is one of the best times to hunt for clouds.  I took Maddy on the front porch so we would be slightly shielded from the sun, but we also had a great view of the open sky.  This activity would also make a great field trip--literally, to a field! Or a park. At any rate, we headed to the front steps armed with several sheets of blue construction paper, a few white crayons and white pencils, and our best seeing eyes.

At first we simply sat on the porch and talked about what we saw.  The sky was so blue and the clouds were perfectly white and fluffy... it was easy to get started.  In the beginning, Maddy described the clouds without much creativity:  A bush.  A ball.  A splotch.  I tried to offer suggestions to help her use her imagination to SEE things differently and she quickly got the hang of it.  Once she figured out how to play, she couldn't get her pencil to paper quickly enough, and she was loving it! 

This activity was so interactive.  We talked about how the clouds change so quickly and why.  We also talked about our amazing Creator who makes each cloud unique and beautiful.  Why aren't all clouds the same size and shape? Why do we have clouds at all?  It was fun to see her really thinking and trying to take it all in.

**Artist Bonus**

If your child is older and interested in art, another idea would be to let them do a Contour Drawing of the clouds.  This is basically an outline of the cloud itself without filling the inside.  Another great exercise for any budding artist is Blind Contour Drawing which is a contour drawing that is done by only looking at the cloud and not looking down at the paper.  This will really work your child's fine motor skills and enhance their ability to process what is going on in their eyes and brain and eventually transferred onto the paper. Blind contour drawing is always a great way to practice drawing no matter what the object! 

Have fun with this--I enjoyed listening to all 3 kids pointing out cloud shapes all the way home from school today.  Look up at the sky, you won't be disappointed!

God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.

~Martin Luther 

Photo Fun: Make Your Own DIFFERENT PICTURE Game!

I've mentioned before that my kids spend many hours pouring over Where's Waldo and Seek and Find books.

Last week, as I was looking at some books, and some of the junky areas throughout our home, I realized it might be fun to set up the tripod and create a few Different Pictures from our own home!  This is a fun project that can be as simple, or as complex as you want to make it.  For our purposes today, I kept it simple. 

I set up the tripod in several areas of the house where there was plenty of messy detail and added an object here and there.  I chose to photograph the kitchen counter, a pile of laundry, a bookshelf, and a few things in the toy room.  If you don't have a tripod, you can still make it work but it will be difficult to take a photo in the same location without altering positions.

I took my first picture, then went in and added or removed objects.  It was fun trying to make some obvious changes, and other more discreet changes.  For example, in the kitchen I replaced a pop-tart box, opened the coffee pot, rolled down the paper-towel, flipped the banana tree, etc.  Depending on the age and observation abilities of your kids, you could add more difficult changes in your second picture.

I uploaded the pictures and put them in a collage format so that my kids could view them side by side.  If you don't want to mess with that, simply print 2 photos and let the kids view them next to each other.  Since I printed them on paper, I just let them circle the changes they observed and had them keep a tally on the side.  My big guy has been working on keeping tallies at school and they have been counting things all over the house lately. 

They had a great time observing all the differences and were especially thrilled when they caught something small that they didn't notice at first glance.  I was thinking that if you wanted to save computer paper and ink (or if you just have a lot of time on your hands!) you might even order some inexpensive prints and put your photos into a little book as a gift or for your kids to do in the car.  Another option is if you have any type of tablet, simply save the photos and let your kids make observations from the digital photos or on the computer itself.

This was a successful observation activity that the kids enjoyed and asked to do again!

All About Me: Seeing!

Shamefully I admit that I waited until today to start our "All About Me" books from Kylee's great post back in May!  It all started here.


This week I am going to start a book with my 4-year old daughter, as a way to incorporate some pre-school learning and bonding time! Kylee has all the details displayed on the blog if you want to know how to get started.  I am also working on some printables in case you are looking for some uniformity in your book, or if your child is not writing yet.


Today we are going to work on the first page of our "All About Me" book, which will include a self-portrait.  Some kids enjoy drawing more than others, but even if your child is not a budding artist, this is a great opportunity to help him/her learn about seeing and observation.  So, as we launch our 5 Senses week, encourage your child to observe and see as much as possible during this exercise.  


If you have time to head to your library or if you already have this book on hand, Brown Bear Brown Bear, What do you see? by Eric Carle is a very appropriate book for this project.  This adorable book will boost their creative thinking and help your child focus on understanding what it means to SEE.  Plus it's just a great book.


The first page of our "All About Me" book will look like this.  If you want to print your own, go here!  I have several other printables started and will continue posting them throughout this week:

To get started, I set up a mirror at the table.  Unfortunately I could only find a gigantic full-length mirror--a smaller one would have been better!  I encouraged my daughter to draw what she was seeing.  Kids tend to draw portraits based on a stick figure image in their mind as opposed to what they are actually seeing. For this project, I really wanted her to SEE her eyes, nose, mouth, hair and encouraged her to describe what she was seeing as she drew.  I would also encourage them to start with a pencil, but then use LOTS of color for the finishing touches. 

This is also a great time to introduce basic size and proportion to your child.  While she is drawing, ask her simple questions:  Are your eyes bigger or smaller than your mouth? Is daddy's face bigger or smaller than the baby's face?  This will help your child SEE, as opposed to drawing only from imagination, although drawing solely from the imagination is also a wonderful activity!

Next she drew a lovely portrait of our family! This printable is here.

The first two pages of her "All About Me" book are finished!  Next, I will hole-punch and place them in the binder.

**More Mud:
If you want to take SEEING to the next level, take your kid(s) outside and inspire them to really SEE!  Have them pick out several things, then observe them closely.

Ex. A mushroom!

My daughter asked to go get a magnifying glass. It really helped us see even more closely!

Ex. Observe all the textures in bark on a tree!

After we finished observing outside, we came back inside to finish our next page in the "All About Me" book. This page is all about seeing!  Have your child draw, describe in writing, paste or tape objects (a leaf, a blade of grass) onto this page. If you want to print this page, go here.

**In addition to all the learning that goes along with SEEING, this is also an opportunity to discuss the wonders of our created world.  Take the time to ask a few questions: Look at the details in this bark, leaf, mushroom.  Could you make that? Isn't it amazing? Suggested references are Genesis 1:1, Psalm 104:24-25, Colossians 1:15-16, Job 26:7-9, 11-14.  

Enjoy a fun time of observation with your child making your "All About Me" book this week!