Come on Get Artsy: Clay Day!

On Monday, August 4th, we got our hands dirty with several different types of clay. First we rolled, cut, shaped, squished, and maybe even ate a little of some home made play dough. The recipe can be found here (it is the first one listed called "Cooked Play Dough").

We also played with some brightly colored fun clay that does not dry. Seriously, guys, this stuff is all over my house. And I say that begrudgingly. I'm not sure if it is the most kid friendly clay on the planet but I really liked the colors.

For our video, we watched "Wallace and Grommit". The kids seemed pretty excited by the video tutorial on how to create the clay rabbits from the movie.

Finally, we made pinch pots with red mexican clay. This did dry and now I personally have two red clay bowls in my house... and they are simply marvelous.


Personally, I really enjoyed working with so many different types of medium. Exploring such a variety of clays was truly interesting and in the future, I'll have a better understanding of what I will need when I go to pick out supplies for projects!

Thank you so much to Hobby Town for donating our supplies. You guys rock!!

Come On Get Artsy: Week 2, Puppets and Drama

Our second week of Come On Get Artsy had the theme of Puppets and Drama. We started out the morning with a few drama games led by me. I adapted a well-known drama game called Mirror by taking away a few of the "rules" and allowing the moms and kids to just simply take turns imitating one another. Kids love to be copy cats so this is a sure-fire winner! We also used our bodies to show our emotions. Most of the kids seemed to understand what we were doing and they got into it. After the drama games, we created puppets. Artsy Mama Michelle dropped by and helped us make paper bag puppets. The only materials you might need for these are brown paper lunch bags, glue, scissors, markers/crayons, and construction paper. While we worked on the paper bag puppets, small groups went to a table and created their own personalized sock puppets. We were also able to make some Disney finger puppets. Michelle also showed us how to take photos of the illustrations inside of our kids' story books, print them on our computer, and then laminate them (with packing tape) and attach them to wooden sticks. What's so awesome is that these little guys can be stuck right inside of the books so that they are readily available at story time. We took a tour of the Green Room and the Costume Room. We also got to check out the inside of the theater. Before lunch, we did a few more drama games... this time we actually acted. We became pigs in mud, bears, princesses at the movie theater, and pirates at the grocery store. I am pretty sure that I had more fun than any of the kids!

Come On Get Artsy, Week 1: Painting and Drawing

What a fun time we all had learning about different types of visual arts on Monday, July 21st. Jennifer and Kristen presented the group with four varieties of activities: cave painting (natural/earth tones on brown paper sacks), perspective drawings, impressionist works (an introduction to pastels.), and collage (scissors, glue, paper, and magazines)! There was a slide show for each artistic medium that the kids really seemed to like. We all enjoyed some all natural popcorn and juice boxes/bottled water as snack and we worked to wonderful background music. While we had lunch, we were able to watch a Sister Wendy dvd. The kids and moms all seemed to have a blast I really liked getting to know some other local moms and their kiddos. We have dubbed this experiment a success and will be repeating it again in the future. Yay for Mamas gettin' artsy with their kiddos! And double yay for making new friends in such a wonderful, creative environment.