I recently shared with y'all the 3-Dimensional portion of our art show...today I thought I'd showcase the 2-Dimensional side. But before I have to do that, I must give a HUGE virtual high five and hug to Molly, Donna, Lori, Terri, Paula, Camilla and the rest of the crew for hanging EVERYTHING that you see in these photos. Without moms like these, there would not be an art show. For them, my young artists and I are forever thankful! Now, let's take a tour of the show! Almost every project you see here and in the video can be found on my blog our my YouTube channel. Feel free to use in your art teacherin' world. A shout out is always appreciated. In this blog post, I thought I'd also answer some frequently asked art show questions: Kindergarten displays. I love how fun and funny their artwork is. It always makes me smile to see what they create. All these projects can be found right here on my blog. Just use the search bar. Do you hang everything that the kids have created all year? Yes. Everything. My room is very big (it used to be the school library) so storage is not an issue...staying organized, however, is. It's just not my nature to be a Lady of Organization. And I'm cool with that...but it is a pain when it's art show preppin' time! "Where did I put Mrs. So-in-So's classes art?!" Yeah. That may happen multiple times during art show season. Kindergarten selfies and line monsters. How is your artwork hung? We struggled for YEARS finding something that works. We use deer mesh adhered to the wall with 3M's Gaffer's Tape. About three weeks prior to the art show, the moms begin hanging the mesh which we purchase off Amazon. We try to leave it up from one year to the next but sometimes it gets damaged. The teachers use it throughout the year to display the kids' work. Here's a little more about that: We've used this method for the last three years and there is no going back, we love it! And the artwork actually stays up...which, if you are in a building with cinder blocks, you know that is no easy feat. With this much art, we have to display it "salon style" with art from floor to ceiling! How do you get volunteers? The moms I have are AMAZING! In fact, my mom-in-charge this year doesn't even have a child at my school anymore! She's just so stinkin' incredible and good at what she does, she came back for more. Honestly, just reaching out to the room moms and requesting that they contact other parents is the best way if you've never used volunteers before. My mom helpers came in nearly every day for three weeks solid to make this magic happen. Not only did they hang artwork but they also framed, matted and did the thousand other small tasks that goes into the making of an art show this big. First grade work...the Bebo birds are a fave of mine. Is your art show a fundraiser? I did two art shows this year. In the winter, I used Artome which is a fundraiser and I LOVED that experience as it was super simple and raised a good amount for our art program. Our spring show is not usually a fundraiser although we have taken donations for the local animal and homeless shelters before, one time raising $1200! The first grade had so much work! They flew through their projects this year. My mom helpers were ninjas at hanging artwork in hard-to-hang places, y'all. How do you get people to come to your art show? The art show at my school was established before I got there. It's a tradition at my school...one that I try to make bigger and better every year. Not only is it an art show, but it is also an ice cream social with free ice cream served up by our fourth graders in the school cafeteria. Often times we'll also have a book fair on the same night to bring in even more folks. We always have a huge turnout. Second grade created some of my favorite pieces this year. I am loving the weavings, the hearts and the rainbow books! How do you manage your time to get everything done? I'm the worst time manager, y'all. Knowing this, I try to start early. After winter break, I try to get myself into art show mode by sticking around after school, framing pieces and gathering up my thoughts on what our theme will be. After spring break, we dive in to clay with that theme. Once clay is complete in March, April becomes the crunch month for the show. Why do you hang up everything from everyone? We do a couple of other art shows in the community that showcases a handful of kiddos. This is a great self-esteem booster...for that small amount of kids. I always worry about the other kids who don't have artwork featured. I was never a kid who got picked for such things...and it always left me with a sour taste in my mouth. I carry that with me as an adult. I never want a child to feel like their creative work is not good enough. I want to celebrate all of the kids and all of their efforts...which is why I do my art shows like this. It's an INSANE amount of work. I'm not even gonna lie: I work on Sundays and put in many 12 hour days. But, in the end, it's so worth it. I love having displays in this big bank of windows! Do you repeat your projects or do new ones each year? Honestly, I like a challenge and I like change. I may repeat a process, like the marker prints for those floating leaves you see below, but I rarely repeat a project completely. You learn something each time you teach a lesson...what worked, what didn't, what can be improved upon, added or taken away. I also love learning new ideas and methods from other art teachers and I get excited to share them with my students. So, no. I don't usually repeat projects which means much more work for me but it does keep things interesting and the art shows every changing. Who takes the artwork down? So parents hang it up right outside the classroom teacher's doors. I do that so the kids can easily find their work. This also makes taken the art down a lot easier. A few days after the art show, the teachers take down the artwork during our field day and various other activity days that seem to fill the end of the school year. How do you insure the artwork gets home safely? The fabulous assistants at my school create a paper portfolios for each child in our school. They start right after spring break and fold large sheets of bulletin board paper in half and staple the edge. Many teachers have the kids decorate their portfolios while they take their work down. I love how dedicated the teachers and assistants are to making sure the kids' work gets home safely. I tried several new techniques with my third graders this year and they really rocked it. String art was something I'd only done with my fourth graders previously. This year, I did it with third grade and they loved it. Don't the kids get upset that they have to wait all year to take their artwork home? Because we've always done end of the year art shows, the kids know that they have to wait to take their work home. One thing the kids are always excited to take home are their clay projects. That's why I wait until after spring to do those projects: so the kids won't have to wait as long to take them home! It also makes storing those bigger pieces a lot easier knowing that I only have to find a place for them for about a month...not longer. Seeing these fourth grade works of art makes me sad...I'm miss these artists! At the end of the school year, even though my kids have worked all year, I only have a handful of works of art from them. Why is that?! I have found this to definitely be the case with my third and fourth grade artists. The answer is easy: they do projects that are more detailed and time consuming! You are teaching them so many techniques in one project...it can take a while. Also, my fourth graders had three 3-D pieces on display this year: sewn and stuffed monsters, plaster candy hearts and clay bobble heads. All of those took many weeks to complete leaving us with less time for 2-D works of art. It's okay! As long as your artists are creating and having fun, you are on the right track. I hope you enjoyed the art show! Another one in the books. Love to hear about your art shows in the comments, y'all.
Such a fun action art activity for kids! We tried this with different kinds of objects, and the kids loved it.
This week at home and for my weekly art class with our classical conversations group, I did pendulum painting! It was very easy, cheap and lots of fun.
Resist painting is a great way to create an interesting piece of artwork. It is perfect for any age level. My daughter was not yet 2 when she made her first resist painting out of Cool Whip paints. We have been playing with yarn a ton the past few days. We took some of that […]
33 ways to Craft it Forward. Use your skills and talents to bless the lives of others. Here's a list of 33 ideas to give you ideas!
You can now make an upcycled catapult easily. With the right projectile ready you can now teach Fun physics for kids. We are going to be part of the 4 weeks STEM challenge. It is running for 28 days with hands-n science activities. Every week they will announce a new theme and under the Go Green […]
How to get young children involved in writing thank you cards? Make it fun. This quick project was super simple and enjoyable.
Follow along and see what wonderful things 5 year olds do all year!
Looking for something easy to paint? Get some inspiration with these 75 easy acrylic painting ideas for the absolute beginner artist!
Do this easy kitchen chemistry concoction activity with your kids and keep them entertained and learning for hours so you can get other stuff done.
While everyone just finished welcoming in the New Year, my family and I are awaiting another New Year’s celebration. January 28th is the Chinese Lunar New Year and for my Vietnamese family it is Tết . *This post contains affiliate links* I have been talking to my daughter about the upcoming holiday, so over the weekend, we made […]
This fun jousting obstacle course is sure to get your little knights moving during party day!
Keep your crafty kids busy with this super easy project that uses things you probably already have at home! Salt paintings are so fun and we can show you how to make them super vibrant!
Looking for fresh and fun poetry ideas? Here are four creative ideas for poetry that you can do either online or in-person.
Today on the blog we've rounded up 18 of our favorite DIY crafts for teens. There is something here that any teen would find appealing.
In Flora’s Art Room, every Experience (about 1.5/2 hours long) is shaped around a theme, and includes three parts: one INTRO with a creative warm-up activity involving Flora’s adventures, one part of ART APPRECIATION, and one part of ART MAKING. (Read more about it in the previous blog post).Today's theme is TRAVELS.1. INTRO.Here's what the warm-up activity might look like.2. ART APPRECIATION.Let’s suggest Flora two options for her summer trip!!!! Those are my picks: 'Deer in the Forest' by Fran
Making t-shirt yarn: an easy 10-minute project using only a t-shirt and scissors.
Bust summer boredom at home, school, or camp with Squirt Gun Painting, an amazing art experience for kids of all ages.
Easy cotton ball ghost craft to do with kids. To make puffy ghosts, simply glue cotton balls onto our free ghost template.
Pictures inspire poetry. Help middle and high school students to develop writing skills with these 13 engaging appraoches.
Perfect for Classroom Management, Routine Reinforcement, and Students with Special Needs! Looking for a DIGITAL version? Click HERE! Visual schedules are extremely beneficial not only for students who have special needs but for every student in your classroom! I had a few students that who really needed a visual routine on their desk and so set out to create the perfect visual schedule. After I posted a picture of it on Instagram, many people kept requesting one they could use with their own students! After a lot of thought, tweaks, and using it with my own students, I can honestly say this is the best one. Why? ♥Easily provides closure to tasks by fully closing over them and stating "FINISHED." ♥Easily allows for swiping out tasks when unusual events occur such as assemblies ♥Comes with 30 tasks and also the ability to fully customize your own schedule in both Adobe Reader and Powerpoint ♥Includes both a Whole-Class Schedule, as well as Individual Desk Schedules *For the Powerpoint version you will need to download the font: KG Let Her Go Solid Included tasks are: ARRIVE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE MORNING WORK POETRY WORD WORK WRITING READING GROUPS INDEPENDENT READING READING READING STATIONS SMALL GROUPS MATH (2) SOCIAL STUDIES SCIENCE LUNCH BATHROOM (2) RECESS (2) BIBLE ART GRYM LIBRARY MUSIC PHYSICAL THERAPY OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY SPEECH THERAPY ASSEMBLY DISMISSAL *Now offering discount bulk licenses (districts buying more than 10 individual licenses)! Please email me at [email protected] to find out if your district qualifies and for more information. About Nicole: Nicole Allison, is a speech language pathologist who currently works with preschool through high school students. She holds an MA and has presented at local, state, and national conventions on topics related to speech and language pathology. She loves creating engaging resources for students and saving busy SLPs time with data collection and assessment materials. Nicole is the author of the blog Speech Peeps where she shares activities and ideas. She lives in Ohio with her husband and 3 little ones. _______________________________________________________________ I LOVE to hear from you! Email: [email protected] IG: @nicoleallisonslp FB: facebook.com/allisonspeechpeeps Blog: www.speechpeeps.com
Looking for Summer activities for the kids? The kids LOVE squirt gun painting art projects throughout the Summer.
Happy New Year everyone! We enjoyed a little break for the holidays but Madelynn has been asking for school every day since Christmas so we are jumping right back into our preschool routine. It has been below zero almost every day this week too so I am glad I had some fun winter themed activities […]
The beloved horror comic magazine series MONSTERS ATTACK! featured some of the world's greatest comic creators. Many of them were veterans of the fabled EC Comics, Atlas Comics (later Marvel Comics), Charlton Comics and Warren Publishing, including John Severin, Steve Ditko, Alex Toth, Gray Morrow, Gene Colan and Pat Boyette.In the late 1980s, Mort Todd was Editor-in-Chief of the infamous Cracked magazine and already working with many of the living legends of the comic industry. A fan of creature culture since a kid, Mort was inspired to put out a horror magazine along the lines of Tales from the Crypt, Creepy and Famous Monsters with the awesome talent he assembled. He had launched an incredibly popular humor magazine called Cracked Monster Party, which indicated a 'serious' monster magazine might be successful as well... and it was! Mort wrote many of the stories and as editor crafted the look of the book, a homage to his misspent youth!Since then, many comic fans have requested that Mort put together a collected edition and now the time is as ripe as a rotted zombie! The series is in two volumes with notes about the creation of these comics by editor/writer/artist Mort Todd. There are also rare behind-the-scenes photos, art and other supplemental fun!Volume 2 features the following psychotic episodes: Face It by Steve Ditko; Wake of the Monster by Pat Boyette; The Daemon by John Arcudi & Gene Colan; Tag Yer Ded by Mort Todd & John Severin; Illusion by Steve Ditko, Circulation: Zero by Charles E. Hall & Gray Morrow; A Job Well Done by Richard Meyers & Alex Toth; The Creator by Steve Ditko PLUS an unpublished story Transformation Flying by Charles E. Hall & John Severin, along with pin-ups and articles Jason's Body Count (with a wild pictograph of who died and how in the Friday the 13th movies), Akira, Godzilla King of the Monsters, a Sam Raimi Interview and The Frankenstein Legend plus more terroriffic stuff!
Do you bring your stories to life? We do! Lately we have taken this to another level. This is how we bought Wombat Stew to life using pretend play & a little imagination. Wombat Stew Reading is much more interesting and intriguing to children when you use exciting faces, character voices and engage them in the process. Pointing to the words as reading them, discussing what they think will happen or for older children, getting them to fill in the blanks. I do this often with Dimples, reading a familiar sentence then pointing to the last word and pausing so he can finish it. Our new thing though, is playing out stories through dress ups or pretend play. We did this with The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, one of our favourites. One of Dimples other favourites is "Wombat Stew" By Marcia Vaughan and Pamela Lofts. Have you heard of it? I think it is an Australian Classic. Well written, great illustrations, up beat, fun, educational and it rhymes. Dimples sings along to the dingos chant and gets right into it, he finds the ending hilarious every time. We bought this story alive by making our very own wombat stew, Dimples was the Dingo and had a big fat wombat reading to stew up. I gave him some blue cellophane that he cut up and put in a large laundry tub, I mean into the bubbling billy. We collected some Mud from the Platypus, Some feathers for the Emu, Some Plastic flies from the Blue tongue Lizard, Plastic creepy crawlies from the Echidna, and Real Gum nuts from the Koala. All our ingredients were placed out on Dimples table and he got his stuffed toys ready. He had most of them but his echidna was missing in action. We spent all morning looking for it, it didn't turn up until later that day when we weren't looking, I found it hidden in a jacket in my wardrobe, go figure! Dimples sat his fat wombat ready as he stirred the billy and chanted "righto, in they go!" along with the story as he put in the ingredients. All the while the kookaburra sat by and watched, just like in the illustrations. It was funny to see Dimples get right into it and act like the dingo, his eyes lite up as waited for me to read the next part of the story, of course he already knew which ingredient was going to be next but waited patiently stirring the billy. At the ending Dimples tasted his stew, not really, but he went to the extent of getting mud on his face. " Argowwwwwwwwweeeeee, I've been poisoned, You've tricked me!" He screamed and then ran off, hands waving in the air and his tongue poking out. Never again to sing - " Wombat stew, Wombat Stew, Gooey, Brewy, Yummy, Chewy, Wombat Stew!" It was awesome fun and he played with his Wombat Brew for a while after chatting away to himself. I'd here the occasional "righto in they go!" as he inspected the ingredients. Happy Adventures :)
I've put together 30 poetry activities for reading poetry, writing poems, and incorporating poetry into your other subjects and lesson plans.
Our six-year-old has had a fascination with penguins since ... well, like ... forever. We have so many penguin stuffed animals it's like a colony. To add to his collection, we made a few out of polymer clay. This is a wonderful activity that exercises fine motor skills. Supplies & Step-by-Step Polymer clay (we used FIMO) in black, white, and orange A stove or toaster oven Scissors Roll the black clay into a medium sized ball; this is the head. Roll another larger ball for the body. Squish the ball into an egg shape and stand on one end to make it slightly flat on the bottom. Either set the head atop the body and apply pressure to affix the two or after doing so, using a finger smear the clay on the head down toward the body to make a smooth bowling pin shape. Roll a ball of white clay and then flatten to an flat egg shape. Add to the penguin body. Roll two tiny balls of white clay and flatten. Either use these as the outer eyes or place the circles side by side and gently press together, pull the bottom to form a heart. Affix as the face. Roll two teeny black balls. These are the eyes. Press gently onto the face. Roll two small tubes of black. Pinch the ends and flatten for flippers. Attach to either side of the body. Roll a small football shape out of orange clay. Clip one end horizontally with scissors to make the upper and lower parts of the beak. Clip to shorter, making a flat surface with which to attach the beak. Press onto the face. Roll two tiny orange balls. Flatten. Clip two tiny triangles out of each to make penguin flipper toes. Attach to the bottom of the body. Add a hat, scarf, eyebrows, etc. to accessorize your penguin! Bake in a 250 degree toaster oven for 60 minutes (roughly 15 minutes for every 1/4-inch thickness of clay). Let cool and then play with - maybe even write a story with your new penguin as the main character or make a stop motion video! Read To go along with our craft, we read two books, both which cleverly address how a penguin who wants to fly handles being a flightless bird. Both are utterly enjoyable. These sweet fiction books are beautiful and fun. Check them out! Our penguins were inspired by the creations shared at How To Instructions and Bonnie Bakes.
This project was great for teaching primary and secondary color mixing. It was also a brief introduction to the work of artist George O'Kee...
