With our “Premium” monthly craft subscriptions, a Craft Lesson & Science activity are included each month.
Below are 2 samples of the “Craft Lessons” by age groups available 4 - 7 and 8 - 12 year olds.
EMOTION PAINTING
Age 4 - 7 years old
Objectives:
Will gain an understanding of how much of a role emotion plays in artmaking. The connection between line, color, texture, shape etc. will be explored as the child is creating a painting which expresses a certain emotion or feeling.
Vocabulary (Words to use while child is creating):
Image, feeling, emotion, idea, expression, color, texture, line, imagine, create, change, evolve, happy, sad, angry, excited, alone, bright, dull, acrylic, tempera, experience, share, design
What You Need:
• a large sheet of heavy paper
• tempera paint - or crayons (3 primary colours included in kits)
• paintbrush (Included in kit)
• water
• mixing trays (could be styrofoam trays or sheets of old cardboard)
• paper towels
• newspapers
• old shirts or painting smocks
• music (various styles)
• scrap newsprint
• pencils
What You Do:
1. Talk about emotion. What does the word emotion mean? What kinds of emotions do we experience on a day-to-day basis.
2. Talk about color. How do certain colors make us feel? Why?
3. Talk about line. What kinds of lines are there? Straight, jagged, squiggly, zig-zag, etc.
4. Warm up by having the child draw lines (using pencil on newsprint) based upon certain feelings. IE: draw happy lines, draw angry lines, etc.
5. You can also encourage your child to draw lines based on the music they are hearing (IE: jazz, classical, pop etc.)
6. Once the child is warmed up begin working with the paint. The child will need a paintbrush, water and access to at least the three primary colors (red, yellow and blue).
7. Give a quick demonstration of how paints are used properly (always clean brushes before dipping into a new fresh color … treat the brushes well by not squishing them down on the paper etc. Also, review color mixing (yellow + blue = green; red + yellow = orange; red + blue = violet)
8. Have the child decide on an emotion or feeling which they will express using various paint colors, lines, textures and shapes.
9. Allow your child to take as long as they need to create the final work, encouraging them to stand back from time to time to have a really good look at what they are doing. Is it moving in the direction they want it to? Are the desired feelings starting to emerge?
10. Remember too that this is a very intuitive and subjective exercise and as such the works should not be analyzed by the parent but rather by the child themselves
BLIND CONTOUR DRAWING
Age 8 -12 Years old
When making a blind contour drawing, the eye is not watching the hand as it draws on the paper.
Contour drawing is an excellent way to train the eye to draw what it really sees rather than what it thinks it sees.
The first contour drawings you do will look, well, funny. However, with practice, you will find that you will be able to accurately record an image on paper without looking at your hand as it draws!
What You Need:
• Pencils
• Paper
• Everyday Objects (shoes, plants, desks, pencils etc.)
What You Do:
1. Choose an object to draw (a door, a book, shoes, window, plant etc.).
2. Pick a point on the object where the eye can begin its slow journey around the contour or edge of the object. Remember, the eye is like a snail, barely crawling as it begins its journey.
3. When the eye begins to move, so should the hand holding the pencil. At no time should you look at your hand as it draws. Try drawing the entire contour of the object without lifting your pencil form the paper.
4. Practice this drawing method often and you will find your drawings looking more and more like what you are looking at.
5. If you are feeling adventurous, place your drawing under a box as you draw … that way there is no possible way for you to see what you are drawing. Try it. And remember … don’t panic if your drawing of a shoe looks more like a squashed beetle … relax and keep it fun. Practice, practice, practice. That’s how the real artists do it.
