A Small Fox in a Big World

Week 6 :: Creative Play

We Read:


Fanny, by Holly Hobbie


Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, by Virginia Lee Burton


The Animal Hedge, by Paul Fleischman

We Made:

Marshmallow and Toothpick Sculptures!

SRP Art Class :: Masks

You will need:

Paper plates (preferably the thick ones with a bit of a lip)
Colored paper
Glue
Scissors
Tape
Paper Punch
Crayons, Markers, Colored Pencils
Beads
Feathers
Glitter
Yarn
Sequins
Tinfoil
Pipe Cleaners



Step 1: Find a paper plate and cut it in half. I prefer the thicker plates that have a bit of a lip to them. This provides a nice sturdy back drop on which to build your mask and conforms to the shape of the face nicely.



Step 2: Hold the plate up to your face to determine where your eyes and nose are. Draw openings for your eyes and a space for your nose.



Step 3: Cut out the eye openings and the space for your nose. To make cutting out the eye cavities easier, use a paper punch to make a hole for your scissors. (Hint: Punch from the nose opening.)



Step 4: Decide what kind of mask you'd like to make. I decided to make a fox for my first mask, so I gathered orange, black and white construction paper, as well as crayons and colored pencils. Gather together the supplies you will need to make your mask and then get started!



Step 5: Sport your mask with pride! To get your mask to stay on, use a paper punch to punch holes into the rim of the plate and then string yarn through these holes. You will then be able to use the yarn to tie on your mask!



While you're at it, you might as well make another!



The possibilities are endless!

SRP Art Class :: Seascapes

You will need:

Paper (preferably something thickish and with a bit of tooth to it, like water color paper)
White tissue paper
Watercolors
Chalk Pastels
Scissors
Mod Podge
Foam Brushes (for glue)
Elmer's glue
Sequins
Glitter
Google Eyes
Aqua Net Hairspray (to use as a fixative)
Newspaper (to protect your surface)

Step 1: Lay down a thick layer of newspaper to protect your surface. Then, lay out a sheet of tissue paper. Using your watercolors, gently paint the tissue however you would like. We found that it helped to cut the tissue into roughly 8x10 inch rectangles before painting, to make painting go a bit faster and to make the painted sheet easier to transfer to another stack of newspaper to dry. You will want to paint several sheets. Once these are dry, cut into roughly 4x6 inch rectangles. Set aside.

Step 2: Using your chalk pastels, draw out your desired background on to an 8x10ish inch piece of paper. A thick paper with some tooth will work best, but you can use regular copy paper as well. Remind the children that they can use their fingers to blend the colors.

Step 3: In a well ventilated area, spray your entire chalk drawing with Aqua Net. This will seal the paper and prevent the background from smearing once glue is applied. You can use an actual fixative if you want, but I don't recommend it. They are expensive and Aqua Net works just as well, if not better. See mom? I did learn something in college.

Step 4: Have the children design what kind of creatures they would like to populate their seascape and then have them cut them out of the painted tissue. Glue down these pieces by coating the paper with Mod Podge, gently patting down the tissue and then gently top coating with the Mod Podge. Let dry.

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Step 5: Once dry, you can decorate your sea scape with sequins, glitter, seed beads, google eyes, etc.  One word of advice, if you get out the glitter, be prepared!

SRP Art Class :: Drawing

In this week's art class, we had a mini drawing lesson.

The kids started out by picking a partner and then taking turns posing for each other for about 45 seconds. In this time, they were doing a quick gesture drawing, trying to capture the pose of their partner, using a simple stick figure.

Then, they moved on to fleshing out their gestures using simple shapes. We talked to the kids about how artists use these gestures to help them get the proportions right when drawing people. I was lucky enough to have Tom Siddell -- creator of the super duper awesome online comic, Gunnerkrigg Court -- send me a sample of a gesture drawing, fleshed out sketch and finished piece, which we showed to the kids and talked about how even professionals use the tips we were teaching to make their art. We taught them that a body is around 7 heads high and we also taught them about the proportions of the face. After that, we had them draw a comic, using what they had learned. At the end of the Summer Reading Program, we will be having an art show featuring all of the work the kids make in class. These comics alone will make it a success!

Week 3 :: Dance

We Read:


Giraffes Can't Dance, by Giles Andreae


Clorinda, by Robert Kinerk


Hilda Must Be Dancing, by Karma Wilson

We Had:

A guest performer! Jennifer Bicknese from the Just For Kix Dance Studio came to the library to talk to the kids about the different types of dance, about why we dance, and to teach them a few moves. She was probably the best presenter we've ever had. She told the kids that no matter what, if they just worked hard, they could do whatever they wanted. They could be whatever they wanted. She was full of energy and spunk and as far as I'm concerned, she could come back every day!

And just because I'm such a nice girl, and because it was soooo amusing, I took videos of the warm-up and the dance that the kids learned. Enjoy! I know we all did!

Summer Reading Program 2009 :: Dance from Sarah Day on Vimeo.

Summer Reading Program :: Dance from Sarah Day on Vimeo.

SRP Art Class :: Homemade Scratch Art

For the first week of art class, we made homemade scratch art. To make this project at home, you will need:

Heavy Paper (watercolor paper, card stock, or tagboard work well)
Crayons
Black Tempera Paint
Dish Soap
Foam Brushes
Things to scratch with (toothpicks, bamboo skewers, paperclips, etc)
Newspaper (to catch your drips)
Bowls (to put the paint in)

Step 1: Color your entire paper. This will create a barrier between the paint and the paper, to stop your paper from getting too soggy. This will also be the part of your image that shows when you scratch off the top layer. Bright colors, laid down rather thickly, work the best.

Step 2: Mix paint with a few drops of liquid dishsoap and then apply to the top of your colored paper. Make sure the paint and soap are mixed together well before you apply paint. Let dry completely before moving on to step 3. (Just pretend that I remembered to take a picture of this step, instead of just "painting" the last image in photoshop. It was getting kinda hectic at the library by this point!)

Step 3: Using a scratching implement, scratch off your desired image. This particular image was made by the teacher of our art class. She's a local artist. It's always nice to have the community share their skills at the library!

If you make this project at home, please leave a link in the comments so I can take a look!

Week 2 :: Music

We Read:


Jungle Drums, by Graeme Base (Great illustrations and the kids think the animals are hilarious)


The Composer is Dead, by Lemony Snicket (This mostly went over their heads, but my mother in law and I thought it was hilarious)


Abiyoyo, by Pete Seeger (This is my personal favorite!)

We Made:





Maracas and Kazoos from toilet paper tubes! For an added bit of fun, use bells in the maracas along with beads, to make a pretty sound!

Be Creative @ Your Library

It's Summer Reading Program time again! On Wednesdays or Thursdays, I'll post information about the books we read and the art projects and crafts we made, as we are having an art class this year, as well.  I invite all of you to participate.  If you do, please leave me a link in the comments, so I can see what you have created!  This year's theme is "Be Creative @ Your Library," so all of the projects and stories will be based on various creative activities.  If you have older children and still want to participate, consider reading them a bit of a novel every evening.  On Mondays, I'm reading for a half an hour from Mr. Popper's Penguins, but you could read from anything!  Just choose a book that is appropriate for your family and get reading!  If your local library has a Summer Reading Program, I encourage you to take your children and get involved!  And now, without further ado, I present to you the kick off for Summer Reading 2009!

We Read:


Ralph's Secret Weapon, by Steven Kellogg


Seven Blind Mice, by Ed Young


Harold and the Purple Crayon, by Crockett Johnson

We Made:


Paint brush name tags.

We will use these paintbrushes to help us keep track of our reading minutes this year. Each child decorated their own paintbrush, which I then laminated and hung on the wall along the baseboard. For every fifteen minutes a child reads, he or she can put up a paint splat above their brush. All of the kids are really excited to get their splats all the way to the ceiling! After we were all done with our brushes, we made our way outside and I let the kids make up games to play with each other. They love running around behind the library and playing games of their own design seems to be a big hit!