Psalm 23

Wow, it has been ages since I have posted anything on here!
The Fall/Christmas time always is fully packed with my photo biz schedule and family things.  So I on purpose did not do any blogging.

But here is something I ran across today.  And I post it now, probably 4 months after we did it, and this little art project/lesson has really stuck with them.
I taught them the first verse of Psalm 23 doing this little quick lesson.
I read them the Psalm, then we talked about each part of it, then made a song book about it.  We even talked about David who wrote the Psalm.  Here is out final product.
And to this day, they still know this verse....

 Ella's is the one on the left.  I did the letters like that so she could practice her letters.  And I drew some notes so she could also cut them out and glue them on the cover.  Dean's, I just wrote it for him.  Since any mark he made then was chicken scratch.

The rest of these pics are of Dean's song book.  I gave him cotton for the sheep and cut out the waters.  But for Ella, I let her cut out waters and grass and mountains.

We still have these and they like to play with them and recite the verse every now and then.
Really easy and simple...
Here is what you would need:

-construction paper
-pen
- scissors and glue stick
-cottton
-tape or staples to fasten the book together

Making Collages!

I love love love making collages.  And for kids it is so easy and fun to do!
Pretty much the definition of a collage is : an artistic composition made of various materials ( paper, cloth, anything!) and all applied to a surface using glue.
But really, a composition is not needed at all to make these projects pieces of art!
What I love about them, is that they can be as abstract as you want.  And of course, for kiddos, abstract is all you are going to get!
 ( I took pics of their collages, but I cannot find them on my computer...errr....  Just image one inserted...HERE.)  :)

Supplies:
-paper or a thick cardboard paper like surface.
- all kinds of material like construction paper, tissue paper, buttons, cloth, cotton balls, Popsicle sticks, anything you can find really!  I love to take paper scraps from other art projects and save those little pieces. Thy come in handy for collages
- glue or glue stick.  Glue stick are best for the little guys
- crayons, color pencils and pencils

Lay out all the materials and pieces of odds and ends and help your little one to get started.  Begin by asking what they what to make a picture of.  Encourage them by suggesting something.  Like a house, or sun and ocean.  Then start tearing paper to look like those shapes.  The more you do, the more elaborate the pictures can become.  For my little 2 year old, I just let him go to town without any instruction.  And he always makes a colorful masterpiece he is so proud of.
The beauty of collages, that it is all Art!
Have fun!  And make one yourself!
So fun!!!!

Funny story:  Ella was saying that we could not see lightening bugs outside unless they were lit up because they are collaged.  Ryan and I were like,.." they are what?"
"They are collaged!".  Then we died laughing.  She was meaning to saying camouflaged!
We corrected her, then she said, "nope.  collaged. ".  Then she starts doing a jig in a circle, " collage, collage, collage!".  Yes, I have brainwashed her with Art...

Butterflies Part I

 We started studying butterflies and caterpillars.
But before we got our live caterpillars, we looked at some books from the Library and borrowed.
We read about them.  I showed her pictures on line.
We even found some outside one day and held them.
One afternoon we drew and painted some butterflies.  It was also a great chance to talk about God being the Creator.
Here are our paintings....

I drew the butterfly and told her that we were doing to create our own butterflies like God does!

So I showed her how I could make any shape I wanted inside the wings.  Then she did the next one.  

I love that she put ears on her butterfly....

Trash = Art

When Ella Reese was little, like maybe around 20 months, I did not have really any "craft" supplies for her.  So I started just looking around my house.  And what is around my house? A trash can full of possibilities.
I started digging in my recycle bin and made tons of little art projects with her.
My very first one I did with her ( which I still have to this day) was a little Aquarium we made.