Child Central Station: October 2013

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

101 Ways to Paint Without a Brush! #creativitymatters

This post is inspired by Everyartist Live!, a national, collaborative art event with the goal of engaging a million elementary school children on November 21, 2013 – the largest art event in history. Want to get involved? Join us in our efforts to show that #creativitymatters. Sign up at http://everyartist.me.

Around here, we seriously LOVE paint. We go through gallons and gallons of it. Sometimes we buy it, and sometimes we make it. I know I have writte n a little about paint before, and I have a fabulous Pinterest Board. However, today I thought I would give you an AMAZING list of 101 Tools that you can use with paint so that painting never gets boring!

Thank you to all of the wonderful bloggers in the Preschool Plus Blogger Network and the Kid's Blogger Network for their willingness to share and contribute to this round-up! Please note that all 101 ideas are linked to a blog post. Simply click on the item (even if there is not a photo featured) and you will be directed to the tutorial/post with more information.

1. Plungers

2. Celery
3. Apples

4. Golf Balls

5. Kick Balls
6. Fingers

12. Bath Puffs/Shower Sponge
13. Marbles and Water Beads

18. Clothespins and Natural Sponges

19. Film Canisters (Alka-Seltzer Explosion!)

20. Magnets and Paper Clips
21. Hair Dryer

22. Electric Drill or Screwdriver

29. Critter Painting (Sensory Balls)

36. Sticks and Leaves
37. Rolling Pins

42. Bamboo Pens
43. Feet

44. Slinkys
45. Bubble Wands

46. Straws

47. Flowers

48. Cups (Pouring Paint)

49. Vinegar and Baking Sod a Explosions

54. Cookie Cutters
55. Bubbles

56. Turkey Basters

57. Pipette / Medicine Dropper

58. Cotton Balls

59. Cotton Swabs (Qtips)
60. Pencil Erasers

65. Plastic Bottle Bottoms

66. Ribbon

72. Dental Floss
73. Combs

74. Bubble Wrap

75. Toy Animals

76. Water Beads

77. Bottle Caps
78. Toothbrushes
79. Shoes

80. Hammers

81. Ice Pops (Frozen Paint)

86. Plastic Worms
87. Roll-on Deodorant Bottles

88. Bingo (Dot) Dabbers

89. Toothpicks

90. Aluminum Foil

91. Bubbles and Straws

98. "Straight from the Tube"
99. Zipper Baggies

100. Pine Cones
101. Dish Brushes

Giving children options and choice when determining what and how to create promotes their creativity. Additionally, it gives them personal power, and shows them that you have confidence in their abilities. Using various tools in different ways encourages children to think differently, and ultimately gives them permission to be more creative in their work!

Do you have a favorite paint recipe or tool to use to paint with?

I'd love to hear about it!

OR even better yet- hop on over to Everyartist.me and sign up to participate with your favorite painting tools in the LARGEST ART EVENT IN HISTORY!

Now, a bit more about Everyartist.me:

On November 21, 2013 Everyartist Live will launch with a goal of engaging one million elementary school aged children in a collaborative art event. When this succeeds (as I believe it will), It will be the largest art event in HISTORY!

"At Everyartist.me, we believe fostering creativity is as important as Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. It will better prepare our kids to transform our country, and the world, in their lifetimes."

I hope you are as excited about this mission as I am- and that you will spread the word that #creativitymatters and sign up to participate today!

Monday, October 28, 2013

Monday Memories

Thank you for joining us for a brief photo walk down memory lane from the past week.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Painting on Black with Chalk and White Tempera

If you have been following the blog for any period of time, you know that we like to give the children a wide range of process art experiences. We use a lot of different types of tools and give the children freedom to choose materials. This becomes a bit trickier when the children are younger. They are not always able to articulate exactly what they would like to use or what they need.

So, with infants and toddlers, I tend to offer a set of supplies for them to explore. The art station is always available to them to make other choices, but typically I have a few selections available to them on the table.

During this particular exploration- I gave them each a container of white tempera paint. (I always add a little bit of dish soap to my paint. I know it says that it is washable, but the soap helps it wash out even better!)

The children are welcome to explore the materials in any matter they deem fit. I don't demonstrate, and I rarely create beside them. Some of the children choose to stand at the table, while others choose to sit.

Painting is very much a sensory experience for young children. Even if you do not give finger paint- the children typically move from whatever tool given to using and covering their hands and fingers.

This combination of tools creates quite an interesting product. The colored chalk dissolves a little bit and the color shows through the white paint. If/when the children figure this out, they continue to dip and draw, dip and draw. It does work on other colors of paper, but shows up best on black.

What tools have you been using to create lately?

I'd love to hear about it!

Friday, October 18, 2013

Painting with Cars

Lately, there has been a lot of construction on our street. It has provided for endless hours of entertainment and learning fun! We have been watching the trucks as they work, reading about them in books, and racing our toy trucks up and down ramps. We also decided it would be fun to run some of our cars and trucks though the paint and make tracks on paper!

The children decided that they wanted to try green paint and yellow paper. So, I put out a large sheet of paper for each child and added some paint to a large plastic tote lid we had hanging around in the closet.

Driving the toy vehicles in the paint was nearly as much fun as it was to drive them on the paper!

The children were engaged in making prints with the vehicle tires for quite some time. Some of the children were so persistent, they even wore holes in the paper where they were driving back and forth! (Remember-when things like this happen- it is okay! Art with young children is about the PROCESS- not the product!)

Some of the children decided to make their own hand prints after making the tire prints too!

How did you paint today?

I'd love to hear about it!

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Painting with Fly Swatters

While I was going through old photos, I realized that there are oodles of activities that we have done that I thought I had blogged about and shared with you... that never made it past the photo shoot! There are literally not enough hours in a day! So, for those of you who have children enrolled- you'll realize that these photos are quite old - circa 2010. For those of you in cyberspace- I bet you would have never known if I didn't mention it!

For those of you who follow the blog, you know that I am a huge fan of process based art. This activity is a little bit busy for indoor use- although the mess can easily be cleaned up if you are brave enough to try it. I gave the children a selection of paints. (The determined which colors). We used washable tempera paint this time with a little bit of dish soap added to ease in washing.

The process is quite simple. 1: Dip the swatter in the paint, 2: Swat the paper 3: Repeat.

The children had the opportunity to use a couple of different shaped fly swatters. In all honesty, it doesn't really matter what kind of swatter you use. The children typically become so engrossed in this process that the print marks from the shape are no longer recognizable.

I like to give the children an easel to work with when they partake in this activity, although giving them a canvas on the ground also provides another dimension of exploration.

Have you ever painted with fly swatters?

I'd love to hear about your experiences!