Summer Art Group

July 27th, 2011 in Crafts

We are working hard…such hard work, I tell you. We sure have it rough trying to get through our Summer Fun List. So we recently had our “Art Group.” In the past, I have done these groups every month during the spring, summer and fall months but with the new baby, doing it one time is the best my girls are going to get.

I did the group *inside* for the first time…gulp! But to prevent too much mess, I invited some really sweet girls who are good listeners and also had them do the art projects on the tile floor. Let me give you some tips for hosting an art group if you do it inside or outside:

  • I purchased these tables at Walmart and they are perfect because they stand at just the right height for the kids.
  • Also, the aprons are key. Even if you tell the parents to have the kids dress in clothes that can be stained, I still try not to do that to their clothes. These aprons are made with a fabric that is oil based so they wipe off very well.
  • Have the papers that the kids will be doing their artwork on already labeled with their names and decide ahead of time how many pieces of paper you are going to allow them to have.
  • Put all the paint in washable containers. I like to buy cheap tupperware and save it just for art projects.
  • Have a hand washing station ready to go to clean their hands right away.
  • Let the kids mix the paint! Have the stations set up so they can be really involved and stir or add things.

For this art group, we mixed Tempura Paint with different solutions: Corn Syrup, Sweetened Condensed Milk, Eggs, Glue, Powdered Milk, Starch and some water on the side to thin it out when needed.

I let the kids mix up their solutions at each station. Then, in pairs, they moved upwards through the stations. We made solutions one more time and worked through the stations. It was fun for the kids to paint with the different “solutions” the egg station got a lot of YUCKS because it looked like boogers. They loved the corn syrup and sweetened condensed milk because the paint was very shiny when they were painting with it and when it dried. Every solution mixed with the tempura paint resulted in a very different look.

Warning…your kitchen will look like this at the end, no matter what:

Later that day, the girls and I went on a walk around the neighborhood to give all the kids their artwork.

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