Parents, ever wonder how to display all that wonderful artwork your kids bring home at the end of the school year? The mom of one of my students shared this great idea with me (thank you, Molly Craig!) and it's so clever I had to pass it along! She created a "hallway gallery" for her son's artwork, which can be easily changed as often as they like. This simple … [Read more...]
Stay on Schedule with the Time Timer
My students and I LOVE our new Time Timer! I first learned about the Time Timer on the Art of Education site. The Time Timer is a fabulous time management tool for any classroom. It comes in three sizes: 3", 8", and 12". I purchased the 8" size from Amazon.com for about $20, and it's worth every penny! The Time Timer can hang on the wall, stand on its collapsible legs, … [Read more...]
Marker Set Storage
Crayola Markers are my go-to product when I want a lesson with bright colors and easy clean-up. Last year I experimented with Crayola's "washable" markers and now I'm sold on them! Most washable products don't have the quality I look for, but these are different. The colors are clean and bright, and my experience has been that they're "juicier" and last longer than the … [Read more...]
All You Really Need for Teaching Art to Kids…
Here are my basic supplies for teaching kids' art.... most of my lessons use just these simple materials. Pictured above are the items that I use about 90% of the time, so I try to make sure I always have a good supply on hand. (FYI - I normally use the "Sargent" brand of colored pencils, although Crayola is pictured here. The Crayola Watercolor Pencils are my newest … [Read more...]
Fight Germs… and Marker Stains, Too!
Have you ever thought about all the germs that your students share, while sharing those innocent classroom supplies like crayons, scissors and pencils?? Here's a great tip from our Kindergarten aide "extraordinaire", Michelle L.Keep a small spray bottle filled with household rubbing alcohol (91% works best) for tackling germs as well as permanent marker stains on tables and … [Read more...]
Get Ready for a New School Year!
My basic supplies for teaching "affordable" art.... most of my lessons use just these simple materials.Preparing for a new school year can be an enormous job! But like anything else, if you break it down into smaller, more manageable tasks, it's a lot less overwhelming! Here's what works for me....The first step is to get back into the classroom (or storage/prep area, … [Read more...]
Animal Sculpture with Air-Dry Clay
Kids LOVE using clay, maybe more than any other art medium, yet most schools and homes do not have a kiln for firing. If this is your situation, don't let this stop you from sharing the experience of working with clay with your students! Crayola Air Dry Clay is a good alternative to the traditional clay that requires kiln firing. We used the art of French sculptor Francois … [Read more...]
YES! Paste / BEST! Paste
If you work with kids and don't already know about YES! Paste, you need to. YES! Paste puts your traditional glue stick to shame. How many times have you used a glue stick to attach something, only to have it pop off a few days later?? Or maybe you've tried mounting art with a glue stick and then had it refuse to lay flat even after being pressed under a stack of books?? … [Read more...]
Art Demo ~ Crayola Model Magic
Here are a few scary (and sadly, out of focus!) monsters from a product demo I did yesterday for Crayola, using their Model Magic modeling material. These imaginative creatures were created by an 8 year old boy who couldn't get enough of this stuff!Before being asked to teach this demo, I always thought Model Magic was more of a pre-school type of thing, but after spending a … [Read more...]
Pink Gold – Sketching with Erasers!
Did you know that the simple pink eraser at the tip of your #2 pencil is worth its weight in gold?? (Or maybe even more, since erasers don't weigh much!) Well, it is, and here's why... I don't use these erasers for erasing (I save that for my trusty Magic Rub Eraser). I use them for DRAWING. It's a little known secret that you can sketch on almost any kind of paper using the … [Read more...]