Mixed Media Canvases with Kids

Thanks for your kind comments about my fingers! They are actually healing much faster than I expected.

As you might know, I am a lover of all things mixed media! I also enjoy occasionally teaching an after school art workshop for my students (I’d love to do more, but since my daughter goes to daycare it’s a bit tricky.) I thought painted canvases would be a great gift for kids to give someone in their family, so I decided to do an after school art class which I taught today. The kids in this class were in grades K-5, so I had quite a range of skill levels. 23 kids signed up!

1st grade artwork

I bought a bunch of canvases, scrapbook papers and paints on Black Friday (yep, I braved the craziest shopping day to pick up some cheap art supplies.)

5th grader

Each kid chose a 12×12″ or 9″x12″ canvas and a selection of scrapbook papers.

The kids cut out shapes and imagery from the patterned scrapbook paper. These were decoupaged on to the canvas using Mod-Podge puzzle saver glue (the kind that you can paint on to a finished puzzle to save it.) Paint underneath and on top of each shape. Smooth any wrinkles out with your fingers. When you are finished mod-podging, use a hair dryer to dry the glue.

3rd grader

The kids used acrylic craft paints to add paint and designs to their canvas. Colored sharpie markers were also used for fine details. It is very important to make sure the paint is dry (with a hair dryer) if you are going to use markers anywhere near the paint. It will ruin the markers if the paint is wet. Some students chose to write words on their picture.

Do you see the “love Marcia” at the bottom? so sweet! (made by a kindergartner)

The class ran from 3:15-5:00. The kids mostly all finished by 4:45, which was good because we had a HUGE mess to clean up. If I did this again, I might split it into two sessions. It was a long day for the littlest kids.