Storytime and Paper Puppets

Today at Sea of Visibility on FB I posted my first Story Time Art Project; The 3 Little Pigs Build Their Dream House. Click on the link – https://www.facebook.com/seaofvisibility/ to watch.

And of course, you can also see it at Art Out of Anything on FB.

Fairy Tales, we all know how they begin – Once Upon a Time, and we know how they end – They lived happily ever after…
But did you know that everything in between can change? We’ve all seen many different versions of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty etc.

Creating their own versions of well known stories helps kiddos develop comprehension, vocabulary and writing skills. Critical thinking skills are also engaged as they analyze text and re imagine a different path for the characters and maybe even a whole new plot!

Today I will show you just one way you can make your own paper puppets to inspire your version of a favorite fairy tale.

Project Materials – Our motto “work with what you have” is a perfect guide to finding supplies and materials that you can re purpose for art making.

Card stock – any sturdy paper will do including construction paper or my favorite cereal boxes.
Popsicle sticks – you can also use straws or even pencils
Tape and/ or glue
Decorative Paper – I used scrapbook paper but you can also use pictures cut out of magazines, old books or you can draw your own.
Colored pencils – any drawing tool to add color and designs if you want to.
Scissors

Project Steps – These are my characters; Chip, Skip, Clyde and Leonard E. Wolf. I drew my characters but you can use any of the above mentioned materials to create your own. Prince? Princess? Dragon?

Once I drew my characters and colored them in, I carefully cut them out and glued them onto Popsicle sticks, you can also use tape to attach them.

In my story, I needed 3 houses, each one a little sturdier than the other. After drawing and cutting out my houses, I used recycled materials I had around the house to finish my puppets. For the “straw” house I glued on fabric scraps, yarn and straws. I also added a little glitter on the roof to make it sparkly. The house of “sticks” was a tree house made with straws, toothpicks and broken Popsicle sticks. Finally, the brick house was made using some sticky vinyl and broken DVD’s. I got lucky having the sticky vinyl around but could have used colored glitter instead. Please be careful when cutting up DVD’s or CD’s as they tend to like to crack in interesting ways – definitely a grown up activity! Once done I attached astick Popsicle again to each.

The Setting for my version of this story was an enchanted forest. I was very lucky to have a really good selection of scrapbook paper that I cut into the shapes of trees and a half moon to complete my background. If you don’t have the perfect paper lying around, then you can draw or use clip art or coloring book pages to complete your backdrop. I have added some resource links at the bottom to get you started!

Finally, Leonard E. Wolfe’s new home. Again, I used scrapbook paper and sticky vinyl. Here’s a picture of his tower with the light shining through the windows. Colored tissue paper is perfect for stained glass windows. You can even paint or color white tissue paper to create the effect of stained glass!

Now YOU are ready to make your own paper puppets and create your own story!

Here are some links for templates and coloring pages you can use for inspiration –

Fairy Tale Printable story coloring pages

Here are free printable templates of the characters in my story. I would love to see your version!

Chip Skip Clyde Leonard E. Wolfe

“Straw” House House of “sticks” Stained Glass House Wolfe’s Dream House

If you’re having a hard time getting your story started, here’s a great place that provides all kinds of fun and interesting writing prompts for inspiration – Writing Prompts for Kids

Thank you soooo much for visiting and I hope to see what you come up with! You can post your creations at Art Out of Anything on FB and Instagram. Be sure to follow us for complete videos and more projects!

We are proud to collaborate with Sea of Visibility, a community collective that seeks to support and encourage expression through the arts.
As a member and collaborator, I am thrilled to be a part of creating engagement and providing support through the arts, especially at a time when we all understand how important the arts are to our physical and mental well-being..
Be sure to visit and like Sea of Visibility on FB for our weekly programming schedule.

Keep creating,

Patty

Transparent, Translucent, Opaque. Making Paper!

Handmade paper using tissue paper scraps and Mod Podge.

Hello everyone, it’s a stormy day here in NY and perfect for making some home made paper.

There are a few different ways to make your own paper using recycled materials, most of them involve making paper pulp and lengthy drying times. Although this version is not as versatile as conventional paper making techniques, it is a lot quicker and can be done with a few simple ingredients.

Our new paper will also help us to explore the properties of transparency (see-through), translucency (partially see-through) and opaqueness (not at all see-through).

Supplies – plastic baggie ( I prefer the gallon size), white glue or decoupage glue (like Mod Podge), brushes, water, container, paper scraps. Paper scraps can include tissue paper, newspaper, magazines, paper towels, parchment paper (used for baking), gift wrap paper, tracing paper. Any paper that is on the thin side will work. Copy paper, construction paper and the like will probably not give you the same results, although I always encourage experimentation with materials! Knowing what doesn’t work is just as important as knowing what does.

STEPS –

cut the plastic baggie so you have 2 flat pieces of plastic. You will use one piece for now.
tear paper into strips and/or smaller pieces.

Glue method –

add some water to white glue in a container. The mix should look like thin pancake mix. If it’s too thick, it will take too long to dry.
Use the brush to “paint” glue mixture onto the plastic baggie. I do this in sections instead of covering the whole piece. This way the glue doesn’t dry out quickly.
lay down a layer of paper scraps on top of glue and “paint” another coat of glue on top of the first layer of paper. Place paper scraps on top of each other in different directions to make them bond to each other better. Think of a fabric weave, how the crossing threads bind the fabric together.
continue layering paper and coating with glue in between until you have at least 3 layers of paper and glue.
give the entire surface one last coat of glue mixture and set aside to dry.

Once dry, peel new paper off plastic baggie carefully. The glue method took a few hours to dry and produced a matte (not shiny), textured surface of new paper.

Opaque paper — Opaque and translucent new paper using newspaper, tissue paper and white glue.

Decoupage Glue Method –

follow the same steps as above, but do not dilute the decoupage glue.
this method dries much quicker (30-45 minutes) and produces a glossy (shiny), smooth surface.

Stained Glass paper — Translucent paper using tissue paper scraps and decoupage glue.

What can I do with my new paper?

Your new paper can be used to draw on, as collage materials for another project, as a window decoration even as wrapping paper!

Be sure to visit Art Out of Anything on FB for today’s complete video with step by step demos and more ideas to extend this project.

Here are some links to explore –

Free Stained Glass Patterns– print out these templates and trace onto the plastic sheets with a permanent marker to make a design with your paper scraps. Once dry, you can trace over the design with the marker again to make a stained glass window effect.

Art Vocabulary for Kids – did you know art has it’s own vocabulary?

Making Paper at Home – here’s a more traditional paper making technique you can try at home.

Don’t forget to check out Art Out of Anything on FB for the complete video of this project and follow us on Instagram @artoutofanything for more activities and resources!

Thanks for visiting, stay safe and keep creating!

Patty

Collagraphy and The Scientific Method

Hey all!

Today we are using the scientific method to determine which style of collagraph works best for printing.

A collagraph (sometimes spelled collograph) is a method of printmaking that involves adhering materials to a board or sturdy surface to build up a printing surface.

I decided to use the scientific method to explore different materials and printing pigments.

Observation – I have observed, by doing, that you can make prints (copies) of designs by using many different materials.
Questions – Can I make prints from cardboard, hot glue and foam sheets? Which pigment will make the best print; an ink pad, acrylic paint or lipstick?
Hypothesis – which combination of these materials will give me the most successful print?
Prediction – I think the hot glue will give me the cleanest print while the foam sheet will give me the best print all around. I think the cardboard will not give me a clear print. I also think the lipstick will give me the best color of all.
Test the prediction – I chose collagraphy as the printing technique to test my predication because I can use materials I have on hand.

TEST – you can watch the entire video of the process at https://www.facebook.com/artoutofanything/

Here’s a sneak peek of the process –

I used hot glue to create designs on a piece of cardboard. This does take a little practice as you have to make sure your design is raised and not flat. I also cut up a piece of adhesive backed foam sheet into an abstract design and adhered it to another piece of cardboard and then used cut up cardboard as another design. These will be my 3 printing plates.

Next, I experimented with 3 different pigments in the form of paint, lipstick and an ink pad. The amount of pigment placed on the printing plates is very important; too much and you get a gloppy, messy print, too little and you don’t get a clear print.

Here are the results. Which one do you think made the best print? Which print is clear, complete and clean? Was my hypothesis correct?

I used the ink pad on the cardboard plate

On the left plate I used lipstick. On the right plate I used acrylic paint

In my video, you can see some other techniques I tried while testing out my hypothesis!

You can also find some easy printmaking techniques in keeping with our motto “work with what you have”, at Tinkerlab.

Be sure to visit and follow me @artoutofanything on Instagram and FB.

Here’s the link again for the full length video – Collagraphs and The Scientific Method

Let’s see what other collagraphs you can come up with!

See you on Thursday and keep creating!

Thanks for visiting,

Patty

Math with Mondrian

$Mondrian math supplies$

Hey everyone!

Today I am working on my favorite art/math project! Using Piet Mondrian’s work to understand math is nothing new. His geometric masterpieces lend themselves to learning so many math concepts. Even as I was preparing my samples for today, I came up with a few new variations that I am looking forward to trying once we get back to the classroom!

Supplies – This is a list of only some of the materials I used. You can simplify or expand as you like. The more you experiment, the better!

Paper, scissors, construction paper, ruler, glue, colored pencils, markers, colored sand, paint, Popsicle sticks, cardboard, graph paper etc.

You can create your own version of a Mondrian using paper and pencil, colored pencil, markers etc. You can also make a textured Mondrian by using sand, glitter, pop sticks and cardboard.

Steps – using a straight edge, draw rectangles and squares on your canvas (drawing surface, cardboard). Refer to Piet Mondrian’s Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow for inspiration. Here’s a link to some more of his work and about the artist – Mondrian for Kids – Slideshare

Once you have filled your canvas with the composition, choose your colors and add them. As you can see, the artist left white space and always used bold black lines to break up the canvas. Of course, you can be as creative as you like and add different colors too, just not green. Do you know why Mondrian didn’t use the color green?

Math activities – apart from the obvious geometry found in Mondrian’s work, we also see perpendicular lines, straight lines, intersecting and parallel lines. There is definitely one super easy math concept that your Mondrian inspired work can help you learn.

Finding the Area of a square or rectangle–

Supplies – graph paper ( print some out here free printable graph paper online), colored pencils, markers of crayons, ruler or any straight edge.

Steps – draw your Mondrian inspired artwork directly on the graph paper. before you color in your shapes, challenge yourself to find the area by counting the squares up (vertical) and across (horizontal) of the squares and rectangles. You can multiply (area = length x width or width x height) or even count each square in the shape. Here is a fun link to use for practice – Square Area Interactive.

Mondrian has inspired so many math activities and you can see a few of them at the links below, and enjoy some other math activities with artists like Alexander Calder and Pablo Picasso!

Math with Mondrian, Calder and more

Here’s a really tough one to challenge yourself! –

Advanced Mondrian Math Puzzles

I’d love to see your Mondrian inspired work and how you extended this activity.

Google Arts and Culture App – Mondrian Composition with Grid #1

The Google Arts and Culture app has so many activities available that it’s impossible to list everything! Their content also changes so be sure to check it out the link quick!!

Be sure to check out the video for this project and post your creations @artoutofanything on FB and Instagram.

See you next week , stay healthy and create!

Patty

DIY – Mural Wall

Happy Tuesday!

Today’s video features a very popular activity in my house – drawing on the wall!

No, I am not advocating drawing on walls BUT there is a way for your little ones to be able to feel a little subversive while keeping your walls clean.

There are also wonderful muralists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring that can inspire you. Excellent, age appropriate resources on these wonderful artists, just for kids, can be found here –

https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Jean-Michel-Basquiat/628054

Radiant Child – youtube

Who is Keith Haring? – Tate Kids

Visit @artoutofanything on FB or Instagram for the complete video how-to.

Here’s what you will need to make your very own “mural” –

Paper – any paper including, but not limited to; construction paper, copy paper, wrapping paper, drawings that have outgrown the fridge, old magazines, paper bags, recycling etc.

Tape – masking tape, scotch tape, first aid tape – you get the idea.

A wall – I used the wall in my studio next to the guest bed (formerly my son’s room), but you can use any wall in your home that is easily accessible.

Things to draw with – the usual suspects will work, but why not try out something new like old lipstick or chalk dipped in water for a new experience?

Using things other than for their intended purpose, allows you and your kiddos to be creative thinkers and explore different approaches to problem solving. These are very important skills that are beneficial to understanding traditional subjects and navigating through life.

Process –

Attach all the paper together with tape so it resembles a quilt. You can make it as long and as wide (high) as you like.
Tape the paper “quilt” to the wall. Experiment with taping it higher on the wall or lower.
Begin your mural! Have you ever noticed how children tend to draw small images, regardless of how big the canvas is? Encourage your child to experiment with scale/size and create larger images. What happens when the paper is high on the wall and they stand to draw as opposed to when the paper is low on the wall and they can sit and draw? What do they enjoy most?

This mural wall can be left up for children to add to whenever they need a break or feel like adding some drawings to it. This is a very popular activity at our summer camp, we usually end up with at least 5 or 6 collaborative murals by the end of the season.

In keeping with out motto – “work with what you have” we have also found a great use for our completed murals. Once the paper is full of your stunning artwork, you can take it down and use it as a tablecloth or drop cloth for more art play. You can also cut it up and frame smaller pieces of it or make cards out of them! Why not experiment with using an old tablecloth or sheet instead of paper?

A brand new mural wall is then only a few minutes and some paper and tape away 🙂

Have fun, stay safe and follow us on FB and Instagram @artoutofanything for more videos and activities.

Keep creating,

Patty

Yes! You can play ball in the house!

Hi again!

Today we learned about shapes using paper and tape. When I make art I love to use re purposed materials. Anything that is lying around the house is a potential new art supply.

Having a look in my recycling bin, I grabbed a few sheets of newspaper and made some pretty awesome newspaper balls! But they’re not just newspaper, they are soccer balls, basketballs, baseball, bowling balls even juggling balls. You can make them as big or small as you like.

Apart from learning new vocabulary words like sphere and 3 dimensional, you can also explore some math concepts by comparing size and weight. Try adding different kinds of “paper” like aluminum foil, tissue paper, plastic wrap, even old holiday wrapping paper works well and will give you a chance to explore textures and experiment with how well they work to help the balls bounce off surfaces, but not off each other!

Can you make a football? A Frisbee? Ok those last 2 are not spheres but you can see how easy it would be to take this project to the next level 🙂

Remember – work with what you have.

Visit @artoutofanything on FB to see the video, learn more and don’t forget to show me what you made!

Thanks so much for visiting and I’ll be back next week,

Patty

Marbling with Nail Polish

Today was the first day of our “Work with what you have” video series! You can visit us @artoutofanything on FB for the full video.

Nail Polish Marbleizing explores science and art concepts by focusing on surface tension and the Japanese art of Suminagashi, with which you can create beautiful designs by using ink and water.

Working with what you have in this case means using nail polish instead of ink.

Here are some fantastic websites that explain it all in more detail:

Teach Engineering: Surface Tension and Suminagashi – a complete lesson plan for teachers and homeschooling families using ink and water.

Geeky Nail Polish – a fun post about nail polish marbleizing for your actual nails with some really good follow up questions and answers from scientists!

Suminagashi.com – all you need to know about this beautiful art form.

Be sure to watch my video @artoutofanything on FB for the how to’s and be sure to follow and post your own versions of nail polish marbleizing. I would love to see what you come up with!

I’ll be back with more on Thursday!

Patty

Cultural Competency in the Classroom Using Proverbs

Although I have been presenting Professional Development workshops for teachers for quite a few years, I just recently started offering them as an independent presenter. I was thrilled to have been able to offer this workshop for Long Island teachers via the Huntington Arts’ Journeys in Education Program, which brings multicultural programming to Long Island schools.

The Path is Made by Walking: using Proverbs to Develop Cross Cultural Competence –

An introduction to cross-cultural competence in the classroom. Cultural competence is the ability to successfully teach students who come from a culture or cultures other than our own. By participating in activities that connect the cultures that shape us personally and professionally, we can begin to develop personal and interpersonal awareness and sensitivities that lead us to understanding certain bodies of cultural knowledge, to begin to acquire a skill set of effective cross-cultural and culturally responsive teaching.

Every culture passes down proverbs in the oral tradition. These traditions cross cultural lines by connecting us in a way that is personal and human. Participants will share proverbs and sayings that they remember from their childhood or adolescence. In choosing proverbs, we understand the commonality of cultures. In this workshop, participants create mixed media collages using a chosen proverb, followed by sharing time, discussion and Q&A.

It was a fantastic experience to meet 24 enthusiastic, engaged and talented teachers from many different backgrounds and disciplines. It was really special to know that not all were art teachers since this workshop is designed as a multidisciplinary project.

I am happy to see more core curriculum teachers embrace the idea of an arts integrated lesson and explore their own creativity.

Here are some in-progress and finished pieces from that day and some super nice quotes from participating teachers.

Contact me at eljaiekart@gmail.com or use the contact form below, if you are interested in bringing Art Out of Anything classroom or PD workshops to you school or organization.

“I love the idea of having kids choose a proverb that means something to them and illustrating it.” “Super engaging and insightful! ”

“Presenter was very knowledgeable and easy to listen to and understand.” “I’ll do some of the activities she demonstrated.”

“A lot of fun”

Landscape and Perspective

It’s great to collaborate with other organizations and fantastic artists. I had so much fun presenting a workshop with Milestales founder AmaYawson in Far Rockaway.

We started the workshop with a few breathing exercises to get us in a calm, focused state. Arts as meditation is not a new concept and many of us achieve state of relaxed, focused concentration without even realizing it, most people commonly refer to it as being “in the zone”. Here are just a few of the amazing landscape paintings the students created using 1 point perspective. They were great!

1 point perspective Mountains

1 point perspctive Road

1 point perspective Pink Trees

Beach at Sunset

Shoreline

1 point perspective Summer

Sandy Mobiles

This week at our Friday workshop we looked at the work of one of my favorite artists, Alexander Calder. 
Usually when I introduce Calder, we make shapes out of paper or cardboard for our mobiles. This time I decided to use make up sponges instead. I love the colorful ones in funky shapes but the white ones were easier to find in bulk.
The kiddos colored them with markers and stuck gardening wire into each one. Balance was a tough concept but I think they did pretty well. They were all excited to take them home. I call that a success ;)