Below, I will be sharing our hands-on fun arts and crafts. I hope you will find these activities useful in keeping the little hands busy and minds happy.
PROCESS ART
Process Art is a very exciting modern form of art that works great with children since it is all about the process rather than a result. The Guggenheim states “process art emphasizes the 'process' of making art”. As such, process art is all about the experience children are having while they are expressing their creativity! The MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) explains that “in process art, the means count for more than the ends.” So, let your child's imagination, ingenuity, and creativity go wild while they are happily engaged in the PROCESS of ART.
Textured 🍄Mushroom
Process art is an amazing technique that can be modified for any season or a holiday. Fine grain, salt, bread crumbs, oats worked best for us, but do let your imagination go wild! Today, we painted a 🍄textured mushroom using expired breadcrumbs, oats, and watercolors. Download your mushroom template here ~ find more free printables here. I have very detailed instructions on how to make a similar art here [also see below] 🐝Goldenrod 🌼Flower DIY Craft Process Art • Oatmeal & Salt 🖌Painting.
Goldenrod 🌼Flower DIY
See here 🐝Goldenrod 🌼Flower DIY Craft Process Art • Oatmeal & Salt 🖌Painting
🕯DIY🕷Spider Art 🎨Resist Watercolor 🕸Web
To draw a web, first, place a tiny dot, somewhere off the middle of your paper. Then, draw straight lines from the dot to the edge of the paper. Then draw curved (or straight) lines connecting lines on angles, to join the straight lines together – just like a web!
To make resist art, using a glue gun, I followed the drawn web by applying glue over it. Then offer your child to paint over it using watercolors.
Adrian also made a spider from an orange glitter tealight, a practice golf ball, black pipe cleaners, and golden pony beads. Insert four black pipe cleaners through both holes of a golf ball, and you will end up with eight legs. Then, thread pony beads on each leg. To learn about these fascinating and often misunderstood anthropods, we read National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Bugs book.
When the child paints over with watercolors, the glue gives the painting a 3D dimension and texture while remaining white. I have a very detailed description of the process ~ here 3D 🎨Jellyfish 💦Watercolor Hot Glue Texture Raised Salt Painting Process Art.
See more 🎃Halloween 👻 Inspired Kids Activities Crafts & DIY here
Scarlet Sails
Scarlet Sails is one of the classic tales I remember since childhood, and it will always have a special place in me. A wonderful, magical romance about a girl who is promised true love, then persecuted for her dreams, only to have those dreams come sweetly true. I have not read the story to Adrian yet (he is 4 yo), but he is obsessed with transportation: land and sea, so painting a sailboat with red scarlet sails was very exciting!
The process is very similar to the jellyfish art below, except that we also used quinoa (white and red) for the wooden part of the boat. Also, you will need salt (which adds texture), hot glue gun which gives the painting a 3D effect and watercolors. I traced the outline of the boat with a glue gun, and the rest was Adrian's creativity expressed. Watercolors are very forgiving, so your four-year-old can do it too! If you are interested in the process ~ see details here.
Texture Raised Jellyfish
See here 3D 🎨Jellyfish 💦Watercolor Hot Glue Texture Raised Salt Painting Process Art
🍁NATURE🍂🍃ART 🎨
🍁🍃🍂Autumn Tree DIY
See here 🍁🍃🍂Autumn Tree ♻️Recycled DIY • Process Art
🍁🍃🍂Leaves Mandala
Nature walks are even more rewarding during the awesome Autumn. We love collecting leaves, discuss their shapes and which tree they belong to. Today, children were inspired to make a mandala. A tip: we had collected these treasures last night and to preserve them until the morning, I placed them in a bin with water overnight. In the morning, the leaves were as fresh as just fallen from the tree. Afterward, we dried them, placed in between the recycled paper and under the heavy books they go!
🍂🍃🍁Leaf 🖍️Rubbing
This is a super fun art activity to promote creativity, learn color names and discuss different types of leaves and its shapes. We are using various type of leaves (fresh and dried) and oil pastels. Ideally, you would want to press the leaves first to prevent curling up (e.g. under heavy books lined with scrap paper) and then offer your child to color them. Julia actually discovered that we can even color fresh green leaves, but on the reverse side, where the veins are very pronoun, creating a beautiful pattern.
☀️Sun 🖼Art
Have you tried Sun Art? It is a type of "shade art" and is super fun to do with your little ones. First, decide what objects would you like to have the imprint of? We have collected fallen leaves and flowers and I offered children to arrange them on a special SunArt paper.
Expose your arrangement to direct sunlight (1 - 5 min depending on the sun's strength). Then, slide the acrylic sheet that held everything together. The SunArt paper will turn light blue, while the shadow of the objects will turn darker. A MUST: quickly rinse with water or your image will eventually fade (to obtain a darker image, add a few drops of lemon juice to the water). Frame your Sun Art. We used this tape to give our art a frame.
🍂Nature 🍃Inspired 🎨Art• Leaf Printing
Inspired by Nature Anatomy book, today, children enjoyed "printing patterns" of different leaves. First, offer your child to make an arrangement from leaves on a paper. You will then take each leaf, cover one side with paint using a paintbrush, then carefully place that leaf paint-face down on a paper, cover with another piece of scrap paper and carefully roll over with a roller or a brayer.
Make sure to cover the leaf you are rolling over with a paper to prevent staining the roller or a brayer.
We also added glitter to the paint while it was still wet to give it a sparkling effect. 
Frame your nature-inspired art and your child's masterpiece is ready to decorate a wall!
Hapa Zome 🌿Leaf Dye
See here Hapa Zome 🌿Leaf Dye Process 🎨Art 🌸Flower 🔨Hammering
DIY Seasons❄️🌸🌳🍂Trees Craft
This is a super fun art/craft for kids to express creativity while learning about seasons, as they can hands-on see the change and understand the nature's cycle. Adrian is almost five and finger painting is still as fun as when he was two years old! Sprinkle some glitter while the paint is still wet and viola! 📥Download the black and white Tree pdf printable here. Print two copies and cut each in half. Offer your child to "decorate" each tree by using fingers (or a paintbrush) to represent each season! Have fun while learning and creating!
💫Magic Paper💦 Water 🌺 Lily Flower Trick
See here DIY 💫Magic Paper💦 Water 🌺 Lily Flower Trick • Kids Science Experiment 🔬⚗️⚖️ 101 🎥Series 🎇
3D Napkin 💠Flower✂️Craft
See here 3D Napkin 💠Flower✂️Craft • 👔Father's Day 🎉Card
3D 💠Flower Craft
See here 3D 💠Flower Craft • 👱Father's Day 🎉Card • 🎨Watercolor🖌Painting
Salt 🖌️Painting
See here a video 🖌️Painting with Salt! Art & Science🔬⚗️⚖️ 101 🎥Series 🎇
12 🌻Sunflowers Tissue Paper Craft
See details here in a post as a tribute to Van Gogh's Birthday, Adrian making 12 🌻Sunflowers Tissue Paper Recycled Cardboard Roll Paper-Mache Craft.
DIY Tissue Paper Flower 💐 Bouquet
This 💐bouquet of flowers can be a perfect 💞Mother's Day or a 🎉Birthday 🎁 Gift (👧🏻Julia and 👦🏼Adrian made these 💐flowers for Daddy's Birthday Day this week). This craft is very simple: all you need is tissue paper and pipe cleaners. We also noted a bead in the middle of the flower to resemble a"male" or pollen-bearing part called the stamen. This flower craft is very similar to the one 🌻 above, which Adrian made when he was 3 yo ~ ✂️🔸📌poke 🔸slide 🔸🌼crunch ~ see here how he made it in a post " 🎨Van Gogh Inspired 12 🌻Sunflowers Tissue Paper ♻️ Cardboard Roll Paper Mache ✂️Craft." For more Spring Inspired activities, see here 🌸Spring Inspired Themed Unit Study.
🌈Rainbow Walking Water Flower Craft
See here 🖌Markers ☕Coffee Filters 🌈Rainbow Walking 💦Water ⌛️Timelapse Kids ⚗️Science Capillary Action
🎈Balloon Color-Mixing
See here a 🎥video-post 👔 Father's Day🎈Balloon Color-mixing DIY Craft
I Love You 🚀To The 🌙 Moon
See here 👔Father's Day Craft • Daddy, I Love You 🚀To The 🌙 Moon & Back!
White Crayon Craft
See here a 🎥 video-post 👔 Father's Day Craft 🎥 Magically Appearing 🙈Secret 🖌Message
Pixel Beads
See here Pixel Art Fusible Craft Beads for Children
Familiar Materials Process Art 
See here a 🎥 video "🌼Nature 🌲🍂 Objects & Pom-Poms Process 🎨 Art." Above is Adrian's version and Julia's is below
Paper Towel & Markers-Art
See here a 🎥 video post Paper Towel, Markers, & 💦Water 🌈 Color Mixing ⚗️Experiment
See here ♻️Recycled ✂️DIY 🌸Spring Flower Craft
🌼Daffodil Bouquet
See here 💐Mothers Day 🎁Flowers ✂️DIY 🌼Daffodil Bouquet Tissue Paper Craft
Shadow ✏️Tracing/Drawing ~ ☀️Solar-Powered Crafts and Activities
Happy 1st Day of ☀️Summer! And since today is the longest day of 🗓a year, we are taking advantage and ✏️shadow-tracing! On a regular day, either in the morning (8 a.m.) or late afternoon (4 p.m.), set up a table in a sunny spot where long shadows will be cast. Let the shadow be your child’s guide and offer your child to trace the outline of the shadow.
I offered Adrian 💚green paper since the animal he picked is a zebra (from Africa), and in a Montessori curriculum, continents are color-coded: for example, 🌍Africa is always 💚green. Adrian is using these extra large thick core coloring pencils by Lyra which are his absolute favorite!
Teachers Appreciation 🌺Gift
Summer is officially here, and Julia had her last day of school this week. We gave out to teachers these 🌺flower pots with her🖐🏻🖐🏻 handprints as a token of appreciation for all the hard work they do in helping our children 🌸bloom! Julia used jumbo washable ink pads to make the prints (just interpose one handprint over the other to give the flower more "petals"), and she then colored the popsicle sticks ~ ala "stems" with tempera paints which dry super quick and we simply inserted the hand-print into the pot. Make sure to laminate your handprint for long-lasting durability.
♻️Recycled 🖼Arts and Crafts
Emotions Puppets ♻️🚽DIY
See here a video of Adrian making Emotions (Body) • Feelings (Mind) ✂️DIY 😃😮😡😢☹️😆Puppets ♻️🚽Craft 🎥 101
I also made this EMOTIONS puzzle where a child has to match the two parts of the face. Make sure you color-code on the back of each piece by placing the same-color sticker on each of the two halves that make the whole. (For example, the 😡angry face, will have two 🔴🔴red stickers on the back of each half ~ this way, the child can self-correct.)
Here is a little modifiation~ I hot-glued the EMOTIONS face puzzle to cut in half toilet paper roll (TPR) and color-coded on the back with stickers. For example, the excited face will have two green dot stickers (one on each half) and I also added the written emotional state "excited" to promote reading. For the presentation, I am using a bamboo dish rack and since the pegs are short, I "elongated" them by placing a cut recycled paper wrapping roll over. Present to your child all the puzzle pieces mixed up and offer to match the top of the face to the bottom and also to match the written emotion -word if your child is reading. (With smaller ones, start with just three emotions at a time). As a control of error, all TPR puzzle pieces are matched color coded on the back.
🌳Forest Habitat DIY ♻️Recycled 🚽DIY
See here🐦Birds 🌳Forest Habitat DIY ♻️Recycled 🚽Toilet Paper Craft with 🔢Math Twist
•PROCESS 🖼ART• ♻️🍷3D Girl With a Pearl 👂🏻Earring DIY•
Julia had a school project, which had to be based on a famous piece of art and the requirements were to make it 3D (three -dimensional) model from familiar or recycled materials. We are all long fascinated by the mystery of the Girl with a Pearl Earring painting by Johannes Vermeer, so the decision was made! After searching the Pinterest and not finding much inspiration, Julia came up with this 3D model utterly from her imagination: she took a plastic cup and glued corks all around it. She then traced facial features with a Sharpie and glued a pearl "earring" to one side. Thereafter, Julia placed the plastic cup on top of the recycled tissue box, gluing it securely, and decorated it with felt and a silk scarf. We referenced 13 Artists Children Should Know, a heavily illustrated book featuring the world's greatest painters, which is an excellent introduction for young readers to artists and their works.
✂️DIY Apple 💻Laptop
See here How To ✂️Make Apple 💻Laptop For Kids From 📦Cardboard
♻️Recycled🍾Cork ☘️Shamrock 🎨Stamping Art/Craft
The next time you will be having 🍾champagne, save the ♻️corks and make 👆🏻this ☘️Shamrock craft! Just tie three corks with a green pipe cleaner to represent the leaves of a Shamrock. Then dip your "Shamrock stamp" into the green washable paint and apply to the paper. We used this tempera paint to draw a stem. For more St. Patrick's hands-on fun activities, see here ☘️St. Patrick's Day Kids Activities.
♻️Recycled💦Water Bottle Person Craft
This Green Craft is Julia's creative project in its entirety! If you have a recycled plastic water bottle, some loose parts, and sprinkles of creative imagination, you can make it too!
Cut the bottle and half, and offer your child to envision a person's face. 
Offer beads, feathers, recycled bottle caps, yarn and other loose parts to decorate the face. 
Insert one cap into the other to create a 3-D effect.
Offer your child to reduce our carbon footprint in our landfills by recycling and creating!
"A child who concentrates is immensely happy," said Dr. Maria Montessori, and a child who creates during such concentration process is blissful!
♻️Recycled🍾Champagne Cork Puppets
Are you not sure what to do with all the recycled champagne corks? Well, how about DIY puppets! All you need is Sharpies and a sprinkle of imagination!
♻️📦Recycled 🎸Guitar 🖼Art
Turning newspaper and packaging materials into a piece of Art. This is a project Julia did when she was six years old. She had chosen the recycled materials and arranged all the pieces independently, making a guitar still life piece of art. This project was completely child-led! No adult supervision!
♻️📦Cardboard Mask
This mask is 👧🏻Julia's independent contribution to ♻️📦our Cardboard week!
All you need is 📦cardboard, ✂️️scissors, a glue gun, 🎨paints, and a ✨sprinkle of imagination!
Julia actually used 🎨 watercolor paints, which are non-toxic and amazingly brilliant to lay over the cardboard! You would think they are acrylic 😱
♻️ Recycled 🚽 TPP 
Penguin Craft
Another child-led ️craft in its entirety! We are having a ️heat wave so there is nothing more enticing than pulling a frozen 
Antarctica tray from a freezer! And since it's CARDBOARD week, Julia made this penguin from a recycled toilet paper roll. All you need is black construction paper, googly eyes and pink paper for the feet. (Julia, 8 yo, Summer camp 2018.)
♻️Recycled Land 🐢Tortoise
This is another of Julia's creations from a paper plate and recycled packaging. After coloring the plate green, apply plenty of glue to have the shell harden and with a little touch of googly eyes, your tortoise can be a perfect addition to your South America unit study. (Summer camp 2018, South America study.) See our 🌎Geography 101 Kids Activities 📽Series 🎇here.
🐣Egg Bunting Banner
See here 🐰Easter 🐣Egg Bunting Banner Shaving Cream 🎨Marbled Paper ✂️Craft.
PLAY DOUGH
See here the recipe for No-Cook Homemade 🌈 Play Dough
See here No-Cook Homemade Play Dough 🎄Christmas Tree DIY Craft
See here DIY ☀️Solar 🌎System Craft From ❌♨️No-Cook Natural 🏡Homemade Play Dough
Stay tuned for more arts and crafts ...
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