Each month brings a new challenge with the Children’s Museum of the Arts (CMA) CIVIC KIDS campaign! Their theme for November is “Equity”…. perfect for election month, don’t you think?! equity noun 1 the equity of society: fairness, justness, impartiality, egalitarianism; objectivity, balance, open-mindedness." The challenge is open to kids everywhere… you don’t need to … [Read more...]
Most Inspiring Book of 2017
My favorite books this year have not been books about teaching art to kids, or even books about ART at all. But they are relevant to teachers and parents…. and everyone, really. The three books I’ll be sharing with you are inspiring, life-changing, and important. The most inspiring book I read this year was A Little Radical - The ABC’s of Activism, by Danica and Jason … [Read more...]
22 Ways to Combine Writing & Art to Encourage Creativity
I recently had the privilege of helping my adult daughter edit the manuscript for her first book. Her first real, published book. A book with an agent, a publisher, a release date (April 2017), and it’s own pre-order page on Amazon. A proud parenting milestone for sure! But this book of hers has been a long time in the making. In fact, we can trace its origin all the way back … [Read more...]
Haiku Tunnel Books PDF Directions
This is one of my favorite resources in my TpT store... Haiku Tunnel Books! This project uses postcards to inspire students to write their own haiku poem and turn it into a tunnel book. A tunnel book is a three-dimensional movable book that you read by looking right through the middle of it. Originally from the mid-18th century, tunnel books are enjoying renewed popularity … [Read more...]
Origami Lotus Book
Here's a fun project that both kids and adults really get excited about! The Lotus Book may look complicated, but its folds are actually very simple. Don't be intimidated by all the steps.... once you've made one you'll have it down. It's so much easier than it looks!Materials:Heavy-weight paper or card stock for pages (5 pieces, 8½” x 8½”)Heavy-weight paper or card stock … [Read more...]
A-Mazing Maze Books!
Maze books are fun and easy to make.... it’s almost magical to see 16 pages appear from a single piece of paper!Materials:12” x 18” white construction paperScissorsCard stock or heavy-weight paper, cut to 4 3/4” x 6 12” Ribbon or raffia, about 2 feet per book"YES! Paste" (or Avery Permanent Glue Stick)1” foam brush for spreading pastePencil, markers, etc. for illustrating or … [Read more...]
Haiku Tunnel Books
Tunnel books are fun and unique! We made ours using a postcard for a prompt and wrote a haiku to go with it. I've made these with grade 4 and up, but younger students could enjoy this activity in "centers", with the help of parent volunteers, or by having the various parts prepped for them ahead of time. There are lots of different directions you could take … [Read more...]
Answers to (almost) All Your Art Questions
When I discover something new that I'm really excited about, I have to share it! One of my favorite websites is About.com. I've already blogged about their Art History site, but I've since discovered two more Art-related sites that they offer.... About.com:Painting and About.com:Drawing/Sketching.If you have any interest in Art at all (and you wouldn't be reading this if you … [Read more...]