Art Materials and Ideas Book
Michelle Burkhard, B.S., M.A.
Education Consultant
PhD Candidate
Winter 2016
Table of Contents
Materials Needed 3
Toxic Materials 4
Teacher's Roles and Actions 5
Display and Storage 7
Recipes 8
Art Across the Alphabet 11
Teaching Art History to Children 15
Children's Books to Use for Art Education 16
No way. The Hundred is There. 19
Materials Needed
1
Pen
Pencil
Marker
Colored pencil
Highlighters
Crayons
Pastels
Chalk
Watercolors
Tempera paint
Water
Food items
Shaving cream
Paper (all kinds)
Loose parts and pieces
Paint brushes
Ink, stamps
Playdough
Clay
Mud
White glue
Glue stick
Scissors
Tape (all kinds)
Stapler and staples
Ribbon
String
Material (all kinds)
Cotton balls
q-tips
needles
containers (all kinds and sizes)
marbles
nature items
‘junk’
easel
washable surfaces
wire
nails
rubber bands
paper clips
saw
soap
paper mache
putty
wood
foil
crepe paper
clean-up items
acorns, nuts and seeds
beads
bottle caps
cheesecloth or gauze
clock and watch parts
coffee grounds
confetti
glitter
doilies
drink umbrellas
eggshell pieces
fabric/felt
feathers
flowers
netting and lace
old costume jewelry
binder clips
book rings
laminating supplies
pipe cleaners
sequins
shells
shoelaces
yarn
twine
toothpicks
wallpaper samples
tile samples
zippers
hook and eyes
snaps
thread
food coloring
clothespins
brads
clothesline
driftwood
tree branches
rulers
dowels
yardsticks
miter box
hammer
roofing nails
vise
soft wood
yellow wood glue
sandpaper
egg cartons
ice cream containers
cardboard beverage carriers
yogurt containers
pegboard with hooks
drying rack
cookie sheets
boxes of all sizes
picture frames
digital cameras
clipboards
blueprints
Literature
TOXIC MATERIALS
Anything lead-based or contains asbestos
Epoxy or rubber cement
Instant Glue
Instant Papeir-mache
Pottery Glaze
Permanent and Dry Erase Markers
Powdered Clay
Solvent-bond Glue
Spray Paint
Wheat Wallpaper Paste
Teacher’s Role and Actions
Know Stages of Art and Child Development
Observe each child:
1) Can he hold scissors, paintbrush, crayons, pencil, etc. correctly?
2) Can she come up with her own ideas and/or look to others for inspiration?
3) Can he represent his ideas and feelings in different art forms?
4) Is she able to describe what she likes about her own or others’ works of art?
5) Can he take risks in creating art that looks different from others?
6) Does she enjoy using art to illustrate stories and make books?
Clearly communicate rules to children, especially about safety.
Provide a variety of materials for exploration.
Organize and store materials in a aesthetically pleasing way that invites children to want to use them.
Talk to children about art, in general, and their own art.
When talking to children:
1) Describe what you see: “I see you used all the colors on the easel today.”
2) Talk about their actions: ”You are really pounding on that playdough!”
3) Ask them about their process: “How did you make that new color?”
4) Ask open-ended questions that encourage conversation: “What are some ways we can use this scrap of wood?”
5) Use words that encourage and support children’s efforts: “You sure made a lot of paintings today. Which one should we hang up?”
Nurture Children’s appreciation of art.
Surround children with art.
Ask questions that lead children to reflect on how the art makes them feel.
Encourage children to evaluate their own art.
Help children to evaluate the work of other artists.
Include ALL children in art.
Display art in a meaningful way to children, staff, parents and other adult visitors.
Allow children to present their work to others:
1) Tell us about your piece of art.
2) How did you decide what to do?
3) What do you like best about it?
4) How should we display it?
DISPLAY AND STORAGE
Egg cartons with the edges taped together and turned upside down with a hole in the ‘bottom’ of the egg holding part, can be used to display scissors.
Ice cream containers make good paper holders or for storing collage materials.
Cardboard beverage containers or egg cartons can hold paint supplies.
Airtight containers can hold items such as clay, playdough, gak, etc.
Yogurt containers are good for glues and paste.
Ketchup and mustard containers are good for glue and paint.
Baby food jars display paint by colors very well.
A pegboard can hang smocks or woodworking tools.
Clear, see-through containers will help children see what is in them.
Store markers, colored pencils, crayons, etc. by color. For example, all the items that are blue go together.
Recipes
Quick Modeling Clay
Ingredients: 1 cup salt, 2 tsp. oil, 1 cup cold water, 3 cups flour, 2 T cornstarch, 1 T food coloring
Equipment: Clay board (piece of formica, marble, corian, or ceramic tile) storage container.
Method: 1) Put salt, water, oil and food coloring onto clay board. Work mixture into a ball. 2) Gradually add and knead in flour and cornstarch. 3) Continue kneading until mixture feels like bread dough. 4) Store in an airtight container.
Baker’s Clay
Ingredients: 4 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 1 ½ cups warm water.
Equipment: Bowl, spoon, storage container
Method: 1) Add salt to warm water and mix in a bowl. 2) Add flour and stir in. 3) Form mixture into a ball and knead it for 5-10 minutes. 4) Store in an airtight container. 9Clay products can be placed on a cookie sheet, baked at 300 degrees for 1 hour, then painted and varnished.)
Easy, No-cook Playdough
Ingredients: 3 cups flour, 1 ½ cups salt, ¼ cup oil, 1 cup water
Equipment: Bowl, wooden spoon, storage container
Method: 1) Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. 2) Form mixture into a ball and knead the dough. 3) Add more flour if dough is too sticky. 4) Store in airtight container.
Bouncy, Cooked Playdough
Ingredients: 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 2 T cream of tartar, 2 T oil, 1 cup water, 1 T food coloring
Equipment: Saucepan, wooden spoon, storage container
Method: 1) Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan. 2) Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pan. 3) Knead the dough into a ball. 4) Store in an airtight container.
Gak
Ingredients: 1 cup white glue, 1 cup liquid starch, 3 drops food coloring
Equipment: Plastic mixing bowl, wooden spoon, storage container
Method: 1) Pour glue and food coloring into bowl. 2) Stir to mix in color. 3) Add starch gradually, mixing vigorously. 4) Stir until mixture is consistency of putty.
Oobleck (also known as cornstarch and water)
Ingredients: 4 parts cornstarch, 1 part warm water
Equipment: Bowl
Method: Mix ingredients together with hands until satiny and smooth.
Glorax (also known as flubber)
Ingredients: 3 T water, 1 T while glue, 2 heaping T Borax
Equipment: Ziploc Bag
Method: 1) Pour all ingredients in bag. 2) squish ingredients into a ball. 3) Remove and stretch.
Art Across the Alphabet
Apple Prints
Army of Ants- fingerprints for bodies, arms and legs drawn
Airplane Wings- cut out ovals (arm length) tie onto child’s arms, decorate
Button and Band-Aid Collage
Painting with “B”- brown, black, blue
Bubble Prints
Building Sculptures
Crazy Circular C- draw different sizes/colors circles on a C
Cutting Collage
Car Wheel Creations- toy vehicles threw paint/ink, roll on paper
Creative Cardboard Cars- with suspenders
Drip Drop- paint onto paper
D Is For Daddy and Granddaddy- picture collage
Dragonflies- color coffee filters and clothespins
Decorating Doughnuts
Dog Days- field trip to animal shelter
Egg-citing Eggs- decorate eggs
Eggshell Mosaics- soak in alcohol, crush shells, bag with food coloring, shake, glue
Exciting Envelopes- Make your own envelopes
Electric Eels- with play dough or clay
Fun Finger painting
Fat Fancy Fish- fold large paper in half, draw fish, cut out except leave fold alone, glue top of push sides together, stuff with newspaper, glue the rest, decorate, and hang
Family Portraits
Giant Green G- Cut out large G and paint with different shades of green watercolor and tempera
Giant Games- Hopscotch, tic-tac-toe, puzzles (created on a larger than normal scale)
Happy Hand prints- on large letter H
Hurray for Hats- make all kinds of hats
Happy Hermit Crabs- Read A House For Hermit Crab by Eric Carle, cut out hermit shells from card stock, have them use tissue paper to decorate their shell
Home Sweet Home- Build and decorate home out of cardboard boxes
Indigo Ice Cube Painting- pour indigo (blue) paint into cups ¼ of the way full, mix with water, put spoon in cup, freeze, remove cup and have children paint with them
Ideal Ice Cream- build ice cream cones with paper or the real thing!
Imaginative Inventions- read books about flying things, have them invent and draw their own
Impressive Impressions- make impressions in self-hardening clay with various materials, hang
Jump Prints- paint bottom of children's shoes and have them jump onto paper
Jacks-in-a-Box Painting- put jacks and paint in bag, shake, put paper in bottom of box, use spoon to place jacks on box, put lid on box, shake, remove paper
Jar Prints- use jars of all kinds, shapes and sizes; paint with rims, bottoms, sides, etc.
Jeans for J- cut out old pairs of jeans, make a collage
Kitten Prints- use kitten paw print stamp to stamp on paper
Kool-Aid and Glue Collage- just like a glitter collage but with kool-aid instead
Kooky Kites- decorate and fly
Kaleidoscopes- Cut out “k”'s from construction paper, glue onto paper for a collage, fill in any spaces with marker “K”'s
Leaf Prints- dip leaves in paint and print on paper
Leaf, Lego, and Lace Prints- use these materials for a cool collage
Lively Lines- glue pipe cleaners to card stock
Liquid Paintings- use water and tempera paint, drip down easel paper, using turkey baster and/or eye dropper
M Is for Mosaic- make a large “M” and cover with torn construction paper
Marble magic- Done the same as Jacks-in-a-Box painting but with marbles
Magnificent Mural- Large roll paper, have children create a mural
Music Painting- paint as you listen to the music
Nuts for the Letter “N”- clue different nut shells onto paper, CHECK FOOD ALLERGIES FIRST
Negative Images- trace objects on black construction paper with white chalk, cut out and glue onto white paper
More Negative Images- put objects on colored paper and lay in the sun, give it a few days and remove, they will see the objects on the paper
O-Shaped Printing- use paint or ink to stamp or print with 'o' shaped objects- cups, cans, blocks, rubber bands, etc,
Outside Art- sidewalk chalk drawings, take pictures
P Is for Pig- Make pig snouts with toilet paper rolls cut in half and glued to each other, with elastic to hold on child, dip end into pink paint and have them print their 'snout' on paper while wearing!
Papier-Mache Puppets
Picture Taking- children take pictures, explain what is happening
Perfect Pockets- make pockets out of fabric and decorate with various items
Quilted Q- make a collage on a large letter Q with different fabric and material
Quality Quilt- Have each child create self-portrait on fabric with fabric markers, sew together into quilt
Quill Painting- paint with feathers
Rosy Red- show children how to mix red paint with various amounts of white paint to make various shades of pink and then paint with them
Rough Sand Painting- mix sand with paint
Pet Rock- find and decorate rocks for 'pets'
Rain Painting- on a rainy day paint pictures with tempera paint, place outside in rain, discuss changes
Stringy S- decorate large letter S with lots of different colors and lengths of string
Silly Sculptures- glue steel wire onto blocks of wood, have children decorate with material, paint
Life-Size Self-Portraits- same directions as Fat Fancy Fish but trace each child, have them draw their bodies on the front and the back, too.
Spongy S- paint with sponges, see if they can make the letter S
Texture Printing- use a variety of textured materials to decorate a large letter T
Tissue Paper Town Collage- draw a picture of your town, decorate with tissue paper
Box Town- build a town out of boxes, decorate
Unbelievable Umbrellas- cut out various umbrella shapes from colored paper, have children make a collage on a large letter U
Under-The-Sea Pictures- show various pictures of undersea animals, have them draw and decorate as many as they can and make a collage
Underneath and Upside Down Drawings- tape paper to bottom of table, draw on paper
Violet V- Same directions as Rosy Red but with violet (purple) and letter V
Very Versatile Vase- use self-hardening clay, roll out numerous 'snakes', form around glass, dry
Velvety Vipers- cut out snakes from velvet or velour material, glue on paper, draw backdrop
Writing Game- have children 'write' whatever they want on large letter “W”
Wild Weavings- weave using construction paper
Watercolor Paintings
“W” Is for White- have them paint with white paint on construction paper
eXotic Butterflies- have children draw various butterflies (after looking at pictures), cut out and glue onto large X
X-ray eXamination- Use books and Posters of Georgia O'Keefe's artwork, cut fruits and vegetables in half, encourage children to look at food as if from a microscope and paint small portions but in large scale on paper
eXtreme X Sculpture- glue together 2 paper towel or wrapping paper tubes into an X shape, decorate
Yards of Yarn- decorate large letter Y with yarn glued into various shapes and swirls
Yachts of Fun- build and decorate yachts from various items
Zany Zoo Animals- draw various zoo animals onto large letter Z
Zippy Z's- glue zippers to large letter Z
Zoo Animal Magnifications- examine pictures of zoo animals up close with magnifying glass, have children draw small parts of animals in large scale on paper
Teaching Art History to Children
1) Read a story relating to what you are trying to teach, whether about the time period, artist, etc. This will catch their attention and give them something to relate to as you discuss the pieces of art later.
2) View the art. Let the children take over the discussion. Ask them what they notice about the art, what they like/dislike. Ask them what materials and processes were used to make it. Continue on from there.
3) Journal Writing. Have the children write about their reactions to viewing the art, and/or draw a picture relating to it. Encourage them to write down any questions they may want to explore later on.
4) Art/Drama Activity. Have the children make their own art using the materials/processes in the art that was displayed. Have the children participate in a drama activity about the history and/or artist that was discussed. Include items in dramatic play area.
5) Culminating Activity- Every 3-4 months, encourage children to help put on an art show and/or play to show parents and visitors what they have been learning.
Children’s Books To Use For Art Education
Linnea in Monet’s Garden Christina Bjork
Picasso Mike Venezia
Da Vinci Mike Venezia
The Knight and the Dragon Tomie dePaulo
Stories Phillipe Yenawine
The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush Tomie dePaulo
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eric Carle
A Tree is Nice Janice May Udry
The Big Snow Berta and Elmer Hader
The Little House Virginia Lee Burton
The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses Paul Goble
Shadow Marcia Brown
The Little Island Leonard Weisgard
The Biggest Bear Lynd Ward
Color Zoo Lois Ehlert
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Bill Martin
Why Mosquitos Buzz in People’s Ears Leo and Diane Dillon
Arrow to the Sun Gerald McDermott
Mouse Paint Ellen Stoll Walsh
Where the Wild Things Are Maurice Sendak