Walking by the Way

Watercolor Resist

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." ~Picasso

Simon and I did some watercolor resist for one of our alphabet art things this morning. After it was done, he was completely fascinated that the paint didn’t stick to the waxy crayon area. I asked him if he wanted to do some more, and he was all for it. 

Crayon resist art is easy, and lends itself to process art. I decided to post about it in all its simplicity since I wrote that post about process art last week. 

All you need is a set of watercolor paints (we used Prang for this project), a paintbrush, a jar of water, paper, and crayons. 

Draw on the paper with crayon. White is especially nice because you will get a "surprise" or "trick" (as Simon would say) when you start painting. 

Then you just watercolor all over the crayon. The effect is really need and super satisfying for a preschooler. Simon loves contrast, and it produces that quickly and easily. 

I recommend that you sit and paint, too. You won’t regret slowing down for 30 minutes to share a few messy art moments. You might even have a few laughs like we did when I dipped my paintbrush in my coffee instead of the water jar. 

Process not Product

Preschoolers and art. Art and preschoolers. I think Mary F. Kohl is smart about these two subjects. As I’ve learned more about keeping my hands off of my son’s art, I’ve come to agree wholeheartedly with Kohl’s philosophy:  

"Art is a process, not a product." 

I want my kids to be creative thinkers. When it comes to art, I’ve realized that giving them models (your finished product should look like THIS), doesn’t leave much room for creative thinking. 




Simon creates 5-15 self-inspired artworks each week. Since he was about 2 1/2 years old, he’s had various art supplies available. He does not have to ask permission to start his work. He simply gets what he needs, goes for it, and (usually) puts things away when he’s finished.

His bucket of art supplies currently contains these items: stencils, colored pencils, crayons, glue, scissors, Do-A-Dot markers, regular markers, paper, and stickers. 

He does have a few supplies he has to ask me for– watercolor crayons, oil pastels, tempera paint, finger paint, and his box of sequins/beads (for collage making). 

He also has access to an entire drawer full of play-doh, cookie cutters, rollers, and scissors that he is allowed to play with as long as the dining room table is clean.

 

I want to encourage you to let go of the product and just let your kids enjoy the process. If you don’t, you might eventually end up with kids stressed out by the blue-print and not willing to attempt the process (ask me how I know this to be true!).

Will we still do an occasional cute craft product-based thing? Yes, we will. We do. You know we do because you’ve seen them on my blog, but I want the bulk of Simon’s master pieces to truly be his and to be FUN for him. I want them to be about the process and not the product. 

Note: None of the pictures on this page are a result of my "planned" projects. They are all Simon’s own projects–from start to finish.

Oldie But Goody ~ Crayon Cookies

I like this project for many reasons:

1. It’s easy
2. It helps keep the crayon bucket clear of too small pieces
3. You get to recycle something useless into something useful
4. It’s fun
5. Did I mention it’s easy?

Before

After



Simon brought me some old crayon cookies we’d made in the past and asked if we could do this again. I told him the deal–we can do this IF you will do all the paper peeling. He agreed. So, I dug a bunch of too little crayons out of the box and Simon peeled all the papers off. 

I gave him an old muffin tin (do NOT use a good muffin tin for this project), and he separated the crayons.

The pan went in the oven at 250 degrees. Simon kept watch and let me know when we had liquid rainbows in the tins. I turned the oven off and opened the door. I didn’t move the pan out of the oven because I didn’t want the colors to mix together more. I left it in the oven until the crayons cookies were solid (this requires much patience–especially for an eager 4 year old!). 

New crayon cookies! 

Happy little artist! 

Valentine Art

Here is a fun and easy Valentine’s Day craft you can do with your preschooler! I did this with a group of preschoolers our co-op’s annual Valentine Day Party. 

Supplies
~ small bowls of vinegar (1 for every 2 students)
~ paintbrushes (1 per child
~Spectra Art Tissue Paper (or another kind of bleeding tissue paper) cut into heart shapes
~ 1- 11"x14" piece of poster board for each child (you can buy them precut, but it’s more expensive)

Show the children how to dip the brush in vinegar and brush it on the poster board (use the matte side, not the shiny side). Then let him stick a tissue paper heart to the vinegared spot. Continue until child is satisfied with the amount of hearts on the board. 

Let it dry. After it’s dry, let your child pull all the tissue papers off and throw them away. You will be left with a beautiful piece of heart-work!

Spider Web Art

Another fun one!   This is great for fine motor skill practice as well as getting to experiment with a different medium-  chalk pastels.  The glue on Elijah’s globbed together in the middle, so we decided to add a spider.  Also, if you decide to make this, please keep in mind that it is a two day project. 

Instructions are found here.

Watercolor Crayon Resist Leaf

I saw this idea over at Art Projects For Kids, so we decided to try it out today. 

First Elijah traced a leaf pattern.  Then he outlined it in red crayon.  I gave him some textured cardboard from my scrapbooking stash and put it under the leaf.  He chose a yellow crayon and rubbed it over the leaf. 

He added veins and chose warm watercolors to paint the inside of the leaf.

We let the painting dry and then he chose a cool color- purple to paint the background.  I wasn’t sure about purple, but it was his painting…not mine. 

The finished product.  Purple was a lovely choice! 

Art Exhibit Pictures

Here is Elijah posing with his bears drawing

Close-up of the drawing

Alien Art