Sparkly Snow Scene Art

While the snow here in my corner of the world has melted (and been replaced by horrible, terrible, bitter cold), but we created some snow in class today!

This is a really easy project for little kids, and doesn't require anything you can't get easily (in fact, you may need to look no further than your medicine cabinet!).

What you'll need:

• black construction paper
• white crayons
• warm water
• Epsom salts
• a paintbrush and a bowl/dish

It's best to mix your special solution ahead of time. To do this, dissolve Epsom salts in warm water. We actually didn't have Epsom salts (at least not where I could find them), though I could have sworn I'd seen them a few days before. I substituted ice cream rock salt, which we did have, and it worked just as well.

I was using the paintbrush handle to stir. I like multi-purpose things.

 Then use the white crayon to draw a picture on the black paper. For demonstration purposes, I drew (and I use the term loosely -- I'm terrible at drawing) a snowy landscape with snow falling.

 Paint over the entire paper with the salt solution.

Allow the paper to dry.

If it's done properly, the paper should then have a subtle glittery sheen.

See the glittery bits?

See?

SEE?!?!

It's an easy, fun, seasonally-appropriate activity for kids of all ages! (I did it this  morning with 2 and 3-year-olds.)

Spray Art

This week, our theme is Apples.

I'm always trying to come up with art projects my little ones can work do, because as fun as fingerpainting is, it gets boring if that's all you do.

This week, I decided we'd try some spray art, and it went really well.
 
I put some Colorations Liquid Watercolor in red, green, yellow, and pink (some apples are kind of pink -- like my favorite, Pink Lady apples -- and I have four Monday kids, and I wanted them to be able to each have a different color to encourage sharing) that I diluted with a little water (but just a little!) to make it go farther.

I put a paper towel on a tray for each child, and let them share colors to create multicolored works of art.  They did have a little trouble figuring out how to use the trigger at first, but they caught on pretty quickly).  The plan is to cut them out in apple shapes for a display.  The colors blend together in a fun way, and they really did end up looking like some of the pinker apples!

All in all, I highly recommend this type of art for toddlers.  Not only is it fun, but they get a sense of accomplishment when they spray by themselves (not to mention it's an EXCELLENT fine motor exercise!).  They didn't want to stop for our outside time!