Process Paintings are Beautiful!

Once again I am humbled by the exploratory and adventurous art-making attitudes of the lambies. This week I wanted to give them another chance just to play with color and different painting tools.

Little Blue + Little Yellow

A few weeks ago (I'm very behind on my blogging!) I brought the book Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni. If you don't know the story, it is about a little blue blob and a little yellow blob that are BFFs and when they hug each other they turn green!

Autumn Soup Sensory Play Day, Yay!

In my research on what to do with the lambies a couple of weeks ago I came across this post from And Next Comes L. She created a sensory play bin with these acrylic leaves on Amazon.

The Lambies Paint Jack-O-Lanterns, Lambie-Style

What a super-fun Halloween we had on all counts this year! At the Lambies we had lots of process-art fun making free-form jack-o-lanterns. 

Sloths + Lambies = Too Much Cuteness

Mrs Alma kept asking me if I would do "sloths" with the lambies. Once those snakes were done she absolutely insisted - she's got a thing for sloths! I do too, they really are so adorable. 

Super-Sensory Model Magic Secondary Color Mixing

Providing my 2nd and 3rd grade students the opportunity to learn about how to make secondary colors out of the three primaries using hands on mixing and mashing of "clay" was a blast. I've never seen so many smiles and excitement!

Lambs Love Snakes?!

Who knew that the lambies would love to decorate snakes? Not me! I wanted to add to our rainforest themed mural, the current state of which is this: (which by the way really brightens up that brick wall!)

Free Draw Selfies Make Me Smile

My students have been working furiously on completing their monochromatic self portraits inspired by Cassie Stephens. Thanks to her I have one more collaborative artwork to create that each student will be contributing to. Several of my classes' teachers have mentioned that they like their students to do self-portraits in the beginning of the year and I thought it was a great idea as an opportunity for me to get to know them as well as assess their skill levels since this is my first year with them. More on that later…

Our International Dot Day Collaborative Mobile is Complete!

Looking up from below

Our first art class project for all of the grades I teach at FCDS was based on the book "The Dot" by Peter H. Reynolds. After some thought I decided this would be a great introductory project that would give each student the chance to express him/herself as an individual and then also combine their work with others in the spirit of collaboration which we all know is a valuable "21st century skill". 

Fun & Sparkly Flowers

My plan was to have the lambies make flowers for our rainforest mural, but after they spent so much time making these sparkly beauties they asked me if they were going to be able to take these home… How could I say no? Of course they became attached to these lovelies so I had to let them enjoy their sparkly goodness on their own turf. 

Painting with Nature's Paintbrushes

Here at the Lambies we paint with all sorts of different things. On this day back in June we painted with nature's brushes. 

Learning is Messy (or The Day We Played With Shaving Cream + Food Coloring + Toy Cars)

I can't believe I never posted about this day - it was so much messy fun! I bought 6 cans of Barbasol at the dollar store, a package of food coloring, brought a carton of my son's toy cars, and the lambies had THE BEST TIME EVER!! First I set up the table by making swirly roads with drops of color and placing the toy vehicles sporadically in the mix:

Big Leaves Equal Big Fun

This year the focus at the lambies is the rainforest. I hadn't been there for a month because Mrs. Alma wanted some time to get the school prepped for the upcoming school year. I couldn't believe my eyes at all the beautiful additions to the place! Leave it to me though to forget to take pictures. I'll take some next week so you can see how lovely it looks.

Another Process Art Painting Day

Those little ones have pretty short attention spans - shocking, right? Sometimes I like to keep their interest by having several short steps in a project that they move through in one session to create an artwork. These days can be either a big disaster - key kids running around like slippery little ants avoiding any semblance of focus - or in this case they can really buckle down and keep their attention focused on the short little tasks at hand. The best part, IMHO, is that they are so focused on each step that the end result is a big surprise not only to me but to them as well!

Sensory Play With Colorful Tapioca Balls!

If you want to keep 15 preschoolers happy, curious, and engaged for OVER AN HOUR, try this amazing sensory play activity using colorful tapioca balls in water bins.

Preschoolers Draw From Live Flowers

In researching some potential projects for the lambies I found several posts about how little kids can draw from life. I thought, okay, how hard can that be? Lots of teachers do it, so can I! I stopped at the grocery store and picked up a bouquet that had a large variety of flowers in it.

Rainbow Spaghetti!

Thinking back on this day with the lambies all I can think is OMG! What great fun! They were literally eating this up…

Nature Sculptures - So Fabulous!

So after we did the Halloween sculptures, I thought it would be fun for them to create more sculpture, but this time using natural materials. My son and I went for a walk around our block and collected lots of sticks, leaves and rocks, and I supplemented these with another trip to the dollar store (my favorite!) for some more rocks and shells.

Halloween Sculptures

In October I did a really fun manipulative process art project with the "lambies" (that's our name for the little one's who attend this preschool - so sweet!). I went to the dollar store and bought styrofoam discs (2 for $1!). Then to Michaels for pipe cleaners, beads, and paint in halloween colors with a few other colors thrown in for variety. The lambies had a blast making these!

Shapes and Colors - So Much Fun!

Our second process art project was a collage using cardboard, glue, and paint. This was a two-day project that turned out amazing!

Salt Painting - Our First Process Art Experience!

My son's former preschool teacher has finally offered me the chance to teach at her family daycare/preschool! I love this place for too many reasons to list here. Suffice it to say that Mrs. Alma provides a loving and supportive environment for her "lambies" and I am honored and humbled to be a part of it!

We are going to be doing lots of Process Art and Sensory Play and you'd better believe I will be scouring the blogs to get ideas and inspiration! So far my favorite blog of all for this type of teaching approach is the one by Meri Cherry! She has so much experience working with the little ones and you can tell by her blog she is passionate about providing positive learning experiences for them. Thank you Meri!

Yay For Me! Foothill Country Day School, Here I Come!

I am thrilled to report that I will be starting a new art program at Foothill Country Day School in Claremont, CA this fall! I have been hired to work with the K-3 classes incorporating art history, field trips, and core curriculum into their already wonderful art program. The campus is beautiful - filled with lots of nature, water features, and green space. I am so looking forward to spending time on the campus and working with the K-3 teachers and staff. During the interview process I had the privilege of teaching a demo lesson to one of the kindergarten classes and the students were engaged, eager, and creative - it was such a joy! I'm looking forward to a fun year and am ready to meet this challenge head-on!