Symmetry...

We just did a mini-lesson on symmetry and wanted to follow it up with some much needed art. After talking about all the places in nature that symmetry can be found, I challenged them to create a symmetrical butterfly. I was so proud of what they came up with. I loved Jackson's mean butterfly:

Ashton did a great job as well:

These came out so well I think a framing might be in their future!

Open Ended Art...

Growing by Leaps and Bounds hosts an open ended art each week. The point is to provide the kids with certain materials, but otherwise they are completely free to create what they want. September's theme was mosaics. This week was mosaics and torn/cut paper.

The kids love to see art supplies in their workboxes.

Jackson started out making the solar system (I love that even when I don't ask them to stick to a theme we are studying they still do!).

He enjoyed it so much he did a 2nd. I was really impressed with this volcano and how he used the black as part of the design.

Ashton created a butterfly complete with a grassy yard to play in!

My dream is to do artist studies with the kids and I am hoping to incorporate some of that into our Galloping the Globe curriculum. Again, I just have to find the time to get it all planned! So, for now I really enjoy the easiness and creativity this allows.

Open Ended Art #2...

Here is another open ended art we participated in. It was still collage although this time the medium was clay and pebbles. It is always fun to put these things in the workboxes and imagine what they will create.

I have to be honest and say they didn't get into this one as much as I thought they would. They didn't seem to get the possibilities of placing the glass in the clay and instead just stuck it sticking up. Still, it is open ended art so whatever they choose to do is just fine. I guess my kids are just more into 2 dimensional art rather than sculpture!

Regardless, they still had fun!

Fun in the Box #2: Yellow Collage...

I was looking on a blog (and I can't find it now!) and saw a yellow collage and thought that would be a fun thing to throw in the workbox. I am always looking for good ways to incorporate art. So, first we talked about what the word collage means and looked at some examples in an art book. Then they were given free rein to create.

Jackson decided to create a car (surprise, surprise):

Ashton created a heart (even less of a surprise):

I decided that they were having too much fun so I decided I had to join in.

What do you think of my awesome sun???

Art is always a big hit and was even more fun when Mommy participates!

We Need to Do More Art...

We took advanatage of some warm weather and set the easel up in the garage. This was actually a few days before Valentine's Day so I told them they should paint pictures for family members. They chose to paint pictures for each other which I found really sweet!

Jackson painted what Ashton likes:

Ashton paints herself!

This was Ashton's final painting for Jackson which had a sports theme with lots of footballs and baseballs and the baseball field at the bottom:

Jackson's final painting with lots of girlie stuff!

I was very proud of how sweet they were thinking of each other and how they selflessly did this for one another. I'm also VERY convicted that I need to give them more opportunities to do art! I have looked at tons of resource books and idea websites, but I need to quit looking and just let them dive in! I seriously need 3 more of me!

Mummy School...

Our Egypt unit has become all of our favorites! I used my good ole' art history class from Belmont and stole an idea we did there! I traced the kids onto brown butcher paper and they got to decorate a sarcaphagus (I have no idea how to spell that and have already taken the Egypt books back to the library and am too lazy to look it up:). The best part was they were really dilligent about finding examples in all of our resource books to draw inspiration from!

I got a great book on heiroglyphics at the book fair in the fall knowing we would be doing this project. So they had to write their name in heiroglyphics going down the middle. They both did an amazing job drawing the very tricky ones! Jackson is totally into this whole mummy study...

We then had to show off our new friends so we hung them up on display for Daddy to see when he got home.

I really thought they turned out well. You can tell Jackson's was a pharoah from his headgear!
They are actually still hanging on the wall in my living room proclaiming to all who enter: homeschoolers live here! The only bad part is they kept scaring us because we'd look up and think someone was standing there! Oh well, the price of learnin'!

Home Ec In Action...

I was so thrilled to have my aunt Donnie volunteer to teach the kids some home economics. This day a little art was mixed in as they designed and drew their own pillowcases. Jackson made me proud by using his library book to see how to draw dinosaurs on his.

Don't they look like sweet students?

They turned out some great pillowcases that they are extremely proud of.

Thank you our lovely home ec teacher!

"Stuffy Hearts"...

My aunt was having to have an MRI or cat scan (I always get those confused) and is extremely claustrophobic. We wanted to do something to make her feel better so we made what Ashton dubbed "stuffy hearts". We just cut 2 heart shapes out of felt, stiched them together with emroidery floss, and stuffed it with cotton balls. They also stitched their initials on them. This made a little stress ball for Aunt Donnie to squeeze when she got nervous! I can't begin to tell you how much they both loved doing this. Every day they ask to do it again. Who knew they would enjoy sewing so much? Isn't it always the simplest things they love the most?

Jackson loved sewing just as much as Ashton did and did a great job. They both caught on really quickly. Maybe I can have them sewing the babies' clothes soon!

We are also very blessed by that same aunt who is quite the seamstress who has agreed to teach them sewing on Fridays. She even has her own lesson plan book filled with things she wants to teach them. Two Fridays ago she came over and taught them about yo-yo quilts, complete with a history of them and making their own yo-yo pieces. Last week she took them to her house (bonus: break for me!) and they made pillow cases, decorated buckets, and made a picture puzzle. How lucky am I? So, I guess we're doing pretty well covering art for the first few weeks any way!