Over the summer, the kids created fun butterfly paintings. I gave them the same step by step instructions, yet all 3 of their paintings are original. I absolutely love that!

Supplies

• Canvas, we used 11″ x 14″ canvas panels
• Paint, acrylic or tempera – red, yellow, green, blue, white, and black
• Paintbrushes and/or sponge
• Pipe cleaner
• Sequins & Glitter Paint
• Misc pieces of cardboard
• Glue Gun

Step 1: Paint Background Blue

Step 2: Add Details to Sky

Farm Girl chose to paint the more typical clouds & sun.
Farm Kid2 went with an abstract look.

To make the rays of the sun, Farm Girl dipped the edge of a cardboard piece in a mix of yellow, orange & red paint then pressed the edge on her painting.

Step 3: Creating Grass

The kids created grass using the same method Farm Girl used for her sun’s rays.

I like mixing a variety of colors together – but, not blending them completely together. The base color was green right from the bottle. But, we also mixed in varying amounts of yellow, blue, red & white.

Step 4: Adding Flowers

Farm Girl glued flower sequins in her grass.

Farm Kid1 & Farm Kid2 painted their flowers.

Step 5: Painting the Butterfly

I cut butterfly shapes from cardboard and the kids painted them. They painted the entire butterfly. But instead, you could paint only one side of the wings, then squish it over onto the other side to make a perfect reverse copy of it.

The kids formed the body & antennae from a pipe cleaner. I used a glue gun to attach the pipe cleaner to the butterfly, then to attach the butterfly to the painted canvas.

Finished Masterpieces

I love that this project was simple, yet had great results.

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I’m sure I’ve mentioned that I love That Artist Woman. She has fabulous crafts that are made in such a way that young kids can make them & look amazing. When I saw her Steller’s Jay portrait I knew it was something we would try.

Well, we did try them & they are one of my favorite things the kids have made.

Supplies

• 12″ x 12″ Chipboard (cardboard or canvas would also work)
• Cardboard or Cardstock for the stencils
• Magazines
• Paint in various colors
• Paint Brushes
• Glue Stick

The Background

We subscribe to a couple nature magazines, so we cut pages from them & glued the pieces to the chipboard. This was the base of their artwork.

Using slightly watered down blue paint, they colored right over the magazine pieces.

Making Stencils

The kids began by picking a bird they wanted to paint. Then, we found an outline of the bird & a branch we liked online. Next, we traced them separately onto thin cardboard & cut them out.

Painting the Bird & Adding Text

The kids first used shades of brown paint to paint the branch.

After the branch dried, they moved on to paint their bird. I stressed that when they use the stencils they need to dab the paint on, not stroke back & forth. This prevents the paint (mostly) from sneaking under the stencil.

Painting the birds took several steps. They’d paint a bit, let it dry & paint again.

Lastly, they cut letters from magazines and glued those letters on their artwork to identify their bird type.

This artwork looks complicated, but even our 5 year old Farm Girl could do it with a little guidance from me. I usually held the stencil for her while she dabbed the paint.

Completed Masterpieces

This was a multi-step process & took a while to complete. But, it was worth it! They are beautiful.

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Thanks to pinterest I saw a mixed media piece of art that I loved. It looked like something my kids would enjoy creating & is different than the art we typically make. Here’s how to make the kid version of this super cool masterpiece.

Supplies

• Tissue Paper (tiny scraps are fine)
• Art Paper
• Oil Pastels
• Glue Stick
• Fine Tip Sharpie, black
• Scissors

The Background

Trim art paper to 5″ x 5″.

Blend pastels to color the background.

Decorate 4 Squares Using Lines

Cut 4 squares out of art paper, each 2″ x 2″.

Use a fine-tip sharpie to create line designs. Before the kids did this part of the project we talked about how lines are one of the elements of design.

Make line designs on each of the 4 squares.

Cut Hearts

Cut out 4 hearts that are each smaller than 2″. Cutting tissue paper is a bit tricky, but we got it done.

Assemble Collage

Using the glue stick, assemble the collage. The oil pastel background is the bottom layer. The 4 line design squares are glued onto the background & the hearts are glued on top of those squares. We also matted the artwork to give it a finished appearance.

Other Valentine’s Day Projects

Here are two other projects we did this year. Farm Girl & Farm Kid2 used an empty toilet paper roll and paint to create a tree with heart shaped leaves. All three kids made a heart shaped mosaic using dyed egg shells.

I hope everyone has a nice Valentine’s Day.

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Oh, the holiday of love. I love, love, love this craft idea from That Artist Woman.

We didn’t get quite the detail she accomplished. But, the kids had fun creating the clouds and using cardboard to make a seemingly impossible Eiffel Tower.

Here are the finished creations by Farm Kid2 & Farm Kid1.

Anytime we can pull out the paints makes for a fun project. And, they get even more excited when the project includes a photo of themselves.

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We recently checked out a bunch of Eric Carle books from the library. We did a variety of activities based on the books, but by far our favorite was making a tissue paper collage Eric Carle style.

The Books

Maybe I grew up under a rock, but I sure don’t remember Eric Carle books as a kid. But yet, when we looked at the copyright many were dated even before I was born. I only became aware of him once I had kids.

One of my favorite things about his books are that they’ve got that extra something. The firefly lights up, the click beetle clicks & the rubber ducky squeaks. My favorite extras are the simple black dots in the book Hello, Red Fox. The whole book is tricking your eyes. You stare at the green fox for x amount of time, then stare at the black dot on the next page & you will see a faint red fox. Amazing. Fun. Exciting. There are multiple animals & colors to try throughout the story. The kids love it.

Our Collage

The beginning of our fancy cereal box paint palette looked like this…

.. When we were done, it looked like this. We definitely had fun with this project.

We read that Eric Carle makes most of his collages out of tissue paper & paint. So, that’s what we did. Layer by layer the kids & I added paint to the tissue paper, using different stroke techniques. It was a bit difficult at first since the tissue paper rips so easily. But, we soon got the hang of it & enjoyed the craziness of this type of painting.

We decided to make a group collage. The base is a piece of white poster board. Farm Kid1 made the Santa and sleigh, Farm Kid2 made Rudolph & I was in charge of the background.

Farm Kid2, a kinder, had some trouble cutting the tissue paper. Farm Kid1, 8 years old, had an easier time.

Farm Kid2 also made this snail.

Farm Kid1 made these creatures.

This was such a fun project. And, we have left over painted tissue paper so we will get to do it again soon.

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