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Clay Hearts

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A textured, heart-shaped clay ornament tied with raffia and red yarn on a white background.

Easy Clay Hearts for Kindergarten This project teaches how to roll coils and basic glazing techniques. 1.  Step one, Demonstrate rolling coils.2.  Form the coils on a pre-drawn heart handout.  Press firmly to adhere together.  A little bit of water may be added as needed.3.  Teacher pokes hole through top.4.  After firing, glaze with clay glazes.  Limit the color choices for the little ones.5.  Tie yarn and raffia through the hole.  Voila!  A nice little ornament or wall hanging for … Read more… →

Friday Shout outs!

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A toddler dressed in an elephant costume stands next to a poodle in a kitchen.

I saw this on someone else’s blog.  I will give a few shout outs.  First, to the blog that has given me the most traffic this week: Mary Making! Next, a shout out to a blog I really really love to read: Little Imperfections And finally, a fun photograph.  Here is my baby Daria and my dog Linus.  A photo captured at the perfect moment.

New Glue bottles= art teacher excitement!

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Three new glue bottles with open caps and a plastic bag rest on a gray surface.

Any art teacher out there will be able to relate to the excitement of receiving a box of supplies you’ve ordered!  It’s like Christmas time!!  I am so excited about this new idea I read about on the Getty Art teacher listserve.  Clogged glue bottles were the bane of my existence.  The little glue bottles with the orange tops constantly got clogged and stuck and you just could not get the glue out without a long and yucky soaking process. … Read more… →

Turkeys!

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Colorful turkey craft made of paper, featuring vibrant feathers and a layered circle background, ideal for Thanksgiving.

Turkeys!I found this lesson on Mrs. Art Teacher’s blog:  http://applesloveorangespdx.blogspot.com/search/label/turkey  Thanks for the fun idea!! I don’t normally do crafty-type projects with my art classes, but these were so cute.  At the beginning of the year, the kindergartners need a lot of practice cutting, so this project helped with that skill. 1.  I had predrawn various sized circles and then photocopied them onto construction paper.2.  The children chose 5 circles and cut them out.  I passed them out one at … Read more… →

My art is imperfect.

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A close-up of a pink rose photograph with textured fabric and lace borders, featuring zigzag stitching details captures the essence of unique art.

I am not a sewer, let’s just put that right out there.  I think it is so fun though to use the sewing machine as a tool for collages.  I just started doing it and wow, is it so much more fun to use a sewing machine that actually works as opposed to a junky one that does not work half the time.  My art is imperfect.  There is no way around it.  I can’t sew a straight line, I … Read more… →

Scrap Faces

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A simple craft project featuring scrap faces made with colorful fabric and paper on a paddle stick.

To connect with the Science, the Primaries are learning about how artists can use recycled and cast off materials to make art.  We are watching a video about an artist who goes to the scrap and junkyard to find art materials.  We are making our own mask made out of scraps:  bottle caps, wood pieces, plastic parts.  Reading Rainbow Stay Away From the Junkyard  hilarious!  We used these donated medicine lids.

Clay Pocket Pots

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A clay sculpture with an open mouth and two protruding shapes resembling ears or antlers.

 Today I held an after school clay class for grades K-5.  I had 11 kids sign up and we made pocket pots.  These are so fun!  After painting them, we will attach a wire to the top and they can hang on the wall to hold items like keys or money.  I took pictures of the kids as they worked. Roll out a slab of clay.  Trace an oval template and cut out. Cut a straight line across the oval, … Read more… →

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