While on vacation (and staring at the beautiful ocean last week) I was reminded of a few really stellar outdoor installation artists and the amazing natural materials that can be used to get creative. The tot spent hours and hours finding sticks to use for drawing in the sand, and the last day of our vacation, really got into collecting rocks, checking them out, and then giving them a toss into the big collections rocks around the beach.

(which was okay because there was seriously no one else on the beach otherwise throwing rocks would have been a big no-no….)

Since we’ve been home, no one’s been really excited with our “real lives.” The beach was awesome, and who doesn’t love spending hours and hours on a desolated stretch of beach lounging about while chatting and reading and watching the tot do silly dances while loudly chanting the A,B,C’s? So the other afternoon during what should’ve been nap time (but had turned into toddler tantrum time) I got out the trusty laptop and scooped up the tot to check out a few examples of outdoor installation art by Robert Smithson.

Born in New Jersey, this American artist is not only an artist artist, but also a published author. From poems to prose to outdoor installations, Smithson was a busy guy. His famous work, Spiral Jetty, was completed in 1970, created with mud and salt crystals in Utah’s Great Salt Lake. This curving length of sometimes exposed man-made earth was one of Smithson’s final creations and took six days to complete. After the tot and I spent a few moments checking out the different images of the Spiral Jetty, I shuffled her over to the table to get started on our own Robert Smithson inspired creations.

Offer your child a sheet of white paper and a set of watercolor paints, a small container of water, and a big paintbrush. For the younger kiddies, this is a great opportunity for building color recognition skills. Invite your child to coat her paper with only blue watercolor paint. Older kids can concentrate on creating an area of blue that is representational of an ocean or large area of water, even adding details such as waves.

Once your child has finished painting, allow the paper to dry, which really doesn’t take very long. While you’re waiting you can gather what you need for creating the second part of the Smithson creation. Take a minute to discuss the outdoors and how natural objects can be turned into art – even mud! This encourages kids to think of the earth as art, developing earth science and environmental concepts

The Spiral Jetty was created using mud and salt crystals, which might get kind of messy. So, instead, gather together some glitter (I used silver and red), salt, and sand (like the stuff in the sandbox). You’ll need about 1 tablespoon of each. Have your child measure and then add the sand painting ingredients in a small bowl, which also enhances and encourages math skills.

Invite your child to get out glue and a small container. She can squeeze out a good dollop of glue and then thin with a bit of water.

Now get out that blue paper back, place a couple of sheets of newspaper underneath, and encourage your child to dip her big brush in that glue water and paint a big spiral on her paper, just like Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty. Invite her to sprinkle the sand mixture all over the glue water, totally honing her fine-motor skills.

Leave the creation flat on the table for an hour or so and then your child can carefully lift up her paper (which can get a bit messy – hence the newspaper to catch all that leftover sand) and reveal her Robert Smithson artwork.

Pour the remaining sand into a container for the next time your child feels like creating another sand painting and find the perfect spot for showcasing your child’s finished artwork.

With the Chinese New Year just days away, the tot and I revisited a fun art activity we’d done in the past – but with a spin. This is a fun project for kids of all ages – and older ones can take things a bit further. All you need are a few items, which you probably have hanging around, and some imagination and creativity.

Older kids can do a bit of research to learn more about the art of Chinese calligraphy. The art of writing and creating characters has been a large part of the Chinese culture for thousands of years. It’s considered one of the most sublime forms of art in the Orient, with artists spending their lives dedicated to the creation of beautifully drawn symbols and letters. Invite your child to search out examples of Chinese calligraphy online and print out a few examples. Or, if you’ve got a younger tot, you can have an example handy.

Gather together a toilet paper roll, some white paper, a few brushes, and some black tempera paint. You’ll also need scissors, a length of sting, and some tape. Once you’ve got everything together, invite your child to cut a length of white paper just a bit skinner than the width of the toilet paper roll cutting from one of the longer sides of the paper. This will be the paper for his Chinese calligraphy scroll.

Now your child can take a closer look at the examples of Chinese calligraphy. In Asia, calligraphy is created with special brushes made from bamboo and written on paper created specifically for calligraphy. Have your child pick the perfect brush to use for creating his Chinese calligraphy scroll.

Water down some tempera paint and offer it to your child for creating his own unique calligraphy drawing creations. Younger ones can free form lines and designs while older children can try to copy letters exactly – along with putting their own spin on things. Symbols in Chinese calligraphy go from top to bottom, so encourage your child to create his letters in a linear line.

Once your child has finished making a few marks, he can let his scroll dry while creating more marks on another paper. As soon as the paper is dry, your child can tape the paper onto the scroll and finish things off by tying the length of string around the ends of the toilet paper roll.

Find the perfect place to hang the scroll or give to friends and family on Chinese New Year!

The other day the tot was really into running her cars on everything. She raced them up and down the stairs, along the walls, and even through some paint. While I was hoping this fascination would wane, I actually was inspired by her artistic creation, which reminded me of an artist I know and love. Willem de Kooning was a Dutch born artist that lived in New York for the majority of his life creating colorful and vibrantly strong images. His technique of layering on colors sometimes with strong black lines that form a figure intrigue viewers into take a closer look.

Along with being full of color, de Kooning’s abstract creations are almost childlike in the way they are sloshed together. There are chaotic areas of color, jumbled together lines, and, somehow, an image all together in one place. I pulled the tot up to the laptop and shared with her a few of de Kooning’s creations to see what she had to say.

Because de Kooning’s artworks are a bit of a mish-mash of color and line, they are wonderful inspiration for some fun fine art creations. Invite your child to scrounge around for different types of art making tools (like feathers, big paintbrushes, tiny cars, plastic shapes), which can all be used to create expressive lines.

Along with being an exciting (and messy) activity, your child will learn more about color mixing and layering paint. Younger kids can simply mix paint along with experimenting with painting tools while older kids can try to create a form or shape hidden within the splotches of color.

Offer your child a sheet of paper and position all the painting items within close reach. If you’re not excited about mess, cover the area with newspaper and your child (and yourself) with a smock.

Go ahead and squeeze out a few drops of paint onto the paper and let your child have a fabulous time moving the different painting tools through the paint. Add more paint as you go, or swap out papers with fresh ones.

Once your child is finished, allow the artworks to dry for a couple of hours and then revisit. De Kooning often finished his artworks with the image of a person or additional areas of white to define the painting. Older children can use some black paint to bodily add more lines while younger tots can slather on a bit of white paint for extra impact. We dabbed on a bit of white paint and then ran the car over the painting a few final times with some dark brown paint.

Display your child’s finished de Kooning inspired creation in a special spot for others to enjoy!

The rains have arrived here in Northern California, which means re-discovering old toys and finding  fun things to do. I’m always looking for new ways to re-use stuff, and the corner of the room where the tots toys are looks like a big blow up of itty-bitty parts of puzzles and games (which no one is putting away).

We need some organization.

I pulled out a couple of egg cartons and knew they could be transformed into something useful and entertaining – at least for the day. With the help of some tape, tempera paint, and the creativity of the tot, we turned an egg carton into hours of color organizational excitement.

This is a perfect project for introducing color recognition to your kiddies – or for the older set, color theory. I offered some assistance helping to mix the primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) so the tot could paint green, orange, and purple cups, but older kids can be on their own to experiment and explore creating their own unique colors for painting the inside of the egg cups.

Simply cut the side off the egg carton, leaving the side with the egg cups, and use masking tape to section off the cups to encourage the kids to remember to paint each individual cup – instead of creating a big ol’ mess of color – and then let things dry.

While the paint is drying, invite your child to look through her collections of things for small items that are similar in color to the egg cups (which might also include a bit of cleaning up – yay!)

Once the paint is dry, offer your child the painted egg cups and invite her to organize her colorful items in the appropriate cups. She can see how many small toys she can fit in each cup, counting along the way, also encouraging her budding math skills.

Even if the egg carton color fun only lasts one day, it didn’t cost anything to make and was a fun and exciting way to organize (and maybe clean) your child’s toys – and encourage some color and math skills!

Since my parents have left I’ve had to get back to doing all that stuff I used to, like putting away the dishes, doing my own laundry, and playing with the tot. Needless to say this week kicked me hard in the tushi and I was in need of some serious help keeping things together – including my daughter from having a complete and utter boredom breakdown.

In the gift-opening panacea that was the holidays blended with the tot’s birthday, we got several small containers of play dough, which were played with for hours and hours while Gamma was here. The thing is, all that play dough blended together into an unappealing looking green blob – and left this chemical-ick smell on our hands.

Blech.

So the other day we tossed together some of our own handmade play dough – with a spin. Instead of going through all that work to heat and stir and cook, I simplified things by adding hot liquid to the flour and salt. And, to combat that wallpaper paste smell of flour and water, we added some fresh grated lemon zest and juice to the hot water.

What’s really fun about this play dough is you can add food coloring and some scented oil to make things different. We tossed in a few drops of lemon food coloring to add to the already yellow tinged dough. Once your child gets tired of squishing with the play dough, the finished creations can be left to air dry, or baked in the oven on low heat for about an hour, creating a nice, hard little sculpture they can paint or put on display for everyone to admire.

We used a few cookie cutter to make fun shapes, which we then put together into a mobile….

Ingredients

4 c flour

1 c salt

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 1/2 to 2 c hot water

Zest of one lemon plus its juice (optional)

Food coloring (optional)

Scented oil (optional)

Directions

Measure and add the flour and salt to a big mixing bowl.

Bring the water to a boil along with the zest and juice from the lemon.

Add the hot water to the flour and salt mixture, along with the vegetable oil (along with the food coloring and scented oil), and give a good stir. If things feel too stiff, add a bit more water. Or, if things are too watery, add a bit more flour.

Dump the dough onto a work surface and knead until everything is nice and smooth without being sticky.

It’s that simple!

*To bake finished items, place in a 250 F oven for an hour.

I’m so excited to share that Parents.com picked up some of my fine art for kids activities! This was a really exciting project for me – and something that is really near and dear. With my background as an art teacher, creating, and getting creative, with kids is something really important to me and one of my big goals is to share that with others. Sure, sometimes my projects are a bit out there or might take you out of your comfort zone (like getting over your fear of glitter). But, hey, that’s what art is all about.

Even if you don’t think you are “crafty” you might find exploring art – and getting messy – with your kids is really fun. The first thing is to realize just making the effort to attempt creativity is the most exciting and important step. Embrace that fear of finger painting with a two-year-old, offer markers to your toddler, and wield that hot glue gun with no fear! Your kids won’t have a clue you’re shaking in your boots worrying your rug will be speckled with red paint or one of those markers might wander off…

They’ll just remember having a great time while making art with you.

Head on over to Parents.com to see what we put together – I know you’ll find something you and your kids will love creating!

Before getting started, here are a couple of tips for making arts and crafts time a happy time:

-Determine your boundaries: Pick an art corner in your house and make it clear that area is where mess can be made. Finding a spot near a sink is beneficial for those really crazy moments – or if things go a bit haywire. If your home is carpeted, invest in a cheapy carpet to put under your craft table to protect your floors. Heck, if you’ve got hardwood floors, it’s also a good idea! I’ve picked up several rugs from the local re-sale shop that have had wonderful lives as craft rugs. Kids go through different stages of art development, and some can be a bit messier than others.

-Prepare: Before starting a project, prep your materials just like you do before making a meal. Have your paper and art materials out and within reach so they can be offered, and removed, while creating with your child. I’ve got a toddler and find this is a serious part of doing fun and messy projects. As soon as she is finished with the paintbrushes, I whisk them away and offer her something else. This ensures those forgotten brushes don’t get rediscovered and end up being used to paint the drapes. Once the project is finished, have a spot for the artwork to dry or rest out of reach.

-Enjoy: Sure, I know you’re going to want to take a couple of pictures of all the fun you’re having while getting creative, but put the camera/phone down and give your child some undivided attention. Art is important and this is a great learning opportunity and chance to really chat with your child. Quiz her on colors she’s using, shapes she’s making, how her day went, her hopes and dreams….

We all get caught up with stuff around us (SOCIAL MEDIA), but quality time with your child is so important.

-Share: Once your art project is finished, proudly display it in your home. Not only is kid art cool art, it also shows your child how much you value her creation, boosting her self-confidence. Art is an essential part of emotional development and when your child feels she can safety and comfortably express herself through her art, she’ll feel better about herself, boosting her self-esteem, and aiding in her cognitive and creative development.

So what are you waiting for? Head on over to Parents.com with your child and pick a masterpiece to recreate!

If your house is anything like mine right after the holidays, it’s strewn with bubble wrap, boxes, wrapping paper, and lots and lots of stuff. After I did a bit of cleaning, that bubble wrap just didn’t want to be put away. While enjoying popping most of it with the tot, I thought of a fun way to use the rest for a creative art activity.

I got out the paints, paintbrushes, and some brown construction paper, and then pulled the tot up to the trusty laptop and shared with her some images of Aboriginal dot art. You could say Aboriginal rock art is the original art with some examples dating back over 60,000 years ago. Using swirling lines, dots, shapes, and repeated designs, Aboriginal dot art is vibrant and organic – and was originally created with the use of natural pigments such as ochre and painted onto cave walls or hard sand.

These artworks also contain symbols and stories representing the Dreamtime, or explanations for why certain things are the way they are. During the “time before time” Australian Aborigines created these special stories to teach and share traditions. Take a look at examples of dot art as well as Aboriginal symbols with your child before getting started.

Encourage your child to select a theme or symbol as a base for her Aboriginal dot art creation. She can focus on an animal or one of the traditional symbols and create a couple of sketches before working on the bubble wrap.

When she’s ready, invite your child to paint her design onto the bubble wrap using vibrant colors of tempera paint just like the Aboriginals did. Now she can radiate the design by creating repeated lines around the central shape.

Once she’s finished offer her a sheet of brown construction paper and then press on top of the bubble wrap. Now she can lift the paper to reveal her own unique Aboriginal dot art.

Now your child can gently wipe the bubble wrap and continue to paint and create using different colors of construction paper and designs! She can even write her own unique Dreamtime story to go along with her creation.

Here’s how things went at our house with an almost-three-year-old…

These last couple of weeks have been a bit of a blur. We traveled over Thanksgiving, I found out I’m a finalist in the Hidden Valley Ranch Ultimate Lunchbox Competition with the Food Network, and, well, we have a toddler. We don’t get snow where I live so we’re always trying to figure out fun ways to get into the holiday spirit.

Our tot is just about three so she’s still unsure about this whole “holiday” thing. We are trying to celebrate Jewish holidays as well as, um, my stuff, which is more about tradition than anything else. So we got a tree, put on the decorations, and couldn’t find the menorah. We substituted some sparkling candles instead and then watched as the tot rearranged all the ornaments on the tree.

And some of those ornaments are real and old and special.

After moving them all out of her reach, the whole bottom half of the tree looked pretty sad.

So, with the tot’s help, we created a couple of really adorable homemade holiday ornaments using a collection of twigs from the yard. These ornaments are super easy and so much fun. And your kids can put their own spin on things by adding whatever picture they’d like or even leaving the picture out all together.

Start by collecting twigs from the yard and then grouping them according to shape and size. Your child can create big thick twig ornaments or tight-packed skinny ones – either way, the ornament looks really cool.

Now invite your child to trace around a coffee mug with a washable marker. This is the base of the ornament. Go ahead and cut out the circle or offer assistance if your child isn’t ready to wield the scissors. Help your child out by using the end of the scissors to punch a hole somewhere along the outside edge of the inner circle to use for threading a ribbon for hanging later.

Create a smaller circle in the middle by tracing around a smaller glass (a shot glass works perfectly). Offer your child the glue and encourage her to slather it on all around the outside of the inner circle. This is a great project for younger kids and introducing the concept of staying in – or outside – of the lines. If you’ve got older kids that are comfortable using a hot glue gun, they can use instead.

Encourage your child to start lining up those twigs around the outside edge of the inner circle packing them in tightly next to each other. She can continue moving around the circle until she’s got a full ring of twigs.

Now she can cut and paste a small circular picture in the middle, sprinkle things with glitter, and let things dry overnight. Or, leave off that glitter and you’ve got a totally eco-freindly holiday ornament!

Once things are all dry, gently shake the ornament over a sheet of paper to release any glitter that didn’t stick. If any twigs shake lose too, go ahead and glue back in place.

Offer your child a length of ribbon to string through the whole, give things a tie, and you’ve got a creative homemade holiday ornament!

Happy Holidays!

The other day I realized we hadn’t picked up any holiday cards and there was no way I was going to attempt trekking to the store to dig through the discards. So I figured we could make some on our own, which brought to mind one of my favorite artist/illustrators – Barbara Garrison. You’ve probably seen her work without even realizing it when reading a book she’s illustrated to your child – or maybe one of the several she’s illustrated was a favorite during your childhood.

Garrison creates her creations through making collographs, or by building and gluing different materials and items onto a base. The items are then rolled over with paint and pressed onto a paper. Additional paint can be added later to the dried print to add detail and dimension. Garrison artfully arranges bits and pieces of things together to create whimsical images that convey comfort, calm, happiness, and enjoyment. You can’t help looking at her creations and sighing just a little bit.

Head on over and check out a few of her collographs for inspiration before getting started.

I enlisted the tot in scouring our craft drawer for some small things we could piece together into a creative holiday card. I had a few foamy star stickers, string, felt, pipe cleaners, and a bunch of other stuff. Once I got them in a big pile, we started brainstorming ideas for the design.

This is a great project for kids of all ages. Younger kids can help put together the design with adults assisting if a representational image is desired – or they can just have fun gluing away. The older set can sketch out an idea and cut, layer, and glue all on their own. And, you can create any kind of image perfect for using as a front for any kind of card – or just for fun!

Start by cutting a base for creating the collograph. A piece of cardboard or tagboard works wonderfully. Your child can make the piece as big or small as she’d like.

Now invite your child to arrange her selected items and see how things look before gluing anything down. Once she’s satisfied, offer her the glue bottle and let her squeeze and press away.

Allow the finished creation to dry for several hours or over night.

Yeah, waiting is hard.

Once things are all nice and dry, cover your work area with a couple of sheets of newspaper or something else to protect from the potential mess. Squirt out some black paint and offer your child a foam roller or brush and invite her to gently roll or tap the paint all over the glued items.

Flip the covered creation onto a sheet of white paper and press, press, press! Lift up the cardboard and see what the collograph looks like. Your child can keep painting and pressing to create as many finished prints as she’d like – or until everything starts falling apart (which eventually will happen)…

Once the prints are dry, your child can add touches of color or text as desired. Cut out the collograph and glue onto the front of a card or pop into a frame!

Happy Holidays

Taking a toddler on a plane is always a challenge. It doesn’t matter if it’s a 30-minute flight or 30 hours, your tot is bound to freak out at some point. So pack some extra goodies and do a few on-the-fly art activities everyone will enjoy! Yeah, that’s right, put away that iPad and enjoy some locked in flight fun and a bit of family time.

Really.

If your kiddo breaks down after 20-minutes of being creative, pull that iPad back out and cuddle up with a movie. But making on-the-fly art is always a great way to have a wonderful time with your tot – and maybe make something fun yourself! And these fun activities hardly take up any room in your carry-on.

(These art activities would also work wonderfully in the car…)

Beaded pipe-cleaner bracelet

In a small plastic bag or lidded container place some colorful beads along with a couple of pipe cleaners. Your child can secure one end by twisting on a bead and then threading the rest. To finish the bracelet, help your child twist and hold together the ends. Voila! Cute on-the-fly bracelet. Great for boys or girls!

String wrapped headband

Pick up a plain headband and gather a small ball of string. Sure, this project isn’t really for the boys, but that’s okay. Your kiddo can skip this activity for a different one… Now help your child tie one end of the string to the headband and then start wrapping and wrapping. She can tear off lengths of different colored string and tie each section off when she’s done until the headband is all strung up or use all one color.

Night-time sticker paint

Cut a few pieces of paper until they are the size of a zip-top bag and pop them in along with a few sheets of basic star stickers, a blue and green marker, and a paintbrush. Once your happy stewardess has made a walk through, ask for a small glass of water and your child can get marker painting! Start by placing a few stars all over one of the papers and then offer your child the markers to make lots and lots of swirling lines. Then she can use that bit of water and the brush to water paint all over the paper, creating her own night-time star sticker creation.

Binoculars

Pop a couple of toilet paper tubes in with all the rest of your on-the-fly art activities and bring them out to use all the leftover bits of materials for creating a special set of binoculars for the final leg of the plane ride. Your child can stick a few star stickers all over those two tubes, use the markers to create colorful lines, add a bit of water to blend them together, and then string a string with any remaining beads to use for holding the binoculars together. Help finish things up by twisting the string around the two tubes in a figure eight several times and then tying together. The beaded string can be added as perfect on-the-fly binocular strap.

Happy flying!