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drawing

Simple Kid Made Ornaments

It is that time of year. It is time to put up your Christmas tree, your twinkling lights and carefully unwrap all of your beautiful ornaments to decorate the tree. For me, there are none more beautiful than the ornaments made by my daughter. They will be the ones that I cherish and that make me smile for years and years to come.

What would be better on your Christmas tree than a hand drawn ornament made by your child. Christmas and winter arts and crafts. Easy kid made ornaments with Sharpie and tissue paper..

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These hand drawn ornaments are the perfect keepsake. They would be fun to make each year. Be sure to date each one to be able to compare.

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Still Life Challenge

  1. Still Life Challenge for kids - Still life does not just have to be painting. Sketch, paint, cut, glue or mold a still life out of play dough or clay. Kid's and preschoolers arts & crafts - fruit

It is fascinating to watch my daughter while she creates. I love how she see things and it amazes me the details that she picks up at only 4 years old. She loves to prop things up on our coffee table and recreate them. Sometimes she draws them or sometimes she cuts out construction paper and assembles the pieces to form her project.

Last week, I did a little experiment. I put a still life on our dining room table and set out a bunch of supplies. I laid out paints, construction paper, scissors, glue, pencils, markers and clay.

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I started to paint the fruit and asked her if she wanted to join me.

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She sat down and declined the paint, but went straight for the construction paper. She cut out the shapes of the different fruits and their stems. She drew some of the fruits first and some she simply cut out.

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She glued all of her pieces to another piece of paper to form her still life.

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When she finished gluing, she used a marker to add a little life to her still. She gave all of the fruits faces and personalities and even made a cowgirl orange, complete with a lasso.

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The next day, I invited my daughter to come and look at the still life of fruit. She sat on my lap and I asked her what she saw. She named off all the fruits on the cutting board. I asked her what color the pear was and she responded that it was green. I asked her if green was the only color that she saw and she looked closer and told me that she saw brown. When I asked her where she saw the brown, she started with the stem and then went into further detail about the speckles of brown around the pear, explaining that the speckles weren’t everywhere and showing me where they were more saturated. She went on to the next piece of fruit, which was the orange. She asked me about the little dimples all over the skin. She studied each piece of fruit and made wonderful observations about every piece.

She looked over the supplies on our table and reached for the clay. We used polymer clay, but play dough would be fine as well. She carefully sculpted each piece and laid out her fruit sculptures on a cutting board from her play kitchen.

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I watched her intently as she used a straw from her juice to carve lines into her pumpkin.

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When she sculpted her orange, she remembered her earlier observations and used a pencil to poke little dimples into it. She worked through each piece of fruit and even sculpted the red apple, which was no longer on our still because she ate it after making her construction paper project.

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I was blown away by her clay sculpted still life. It came out so beautifully.

Kid's arts & crafts. Use Play dough or clay to sculpt a still life. Check out the rest of our still life challenge using a fruit still life. Great for preschoolers

She loved it too. When she was finished, she grabbed a bowl out of play kitchen and cut up her fruit and made a fruit salad for the both of us to “eat”. img_5199

Still Life Challenge for kids - Still life does not just have to be painting. Sketch, paint, cut, glue or mold a still life out of play dough or clay. Kid's and preschoolers arts & crafts - fruit

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Popsicle Stick Art Journal

My little girl loves to draw, doodle & write. I have drawings and such all over the house. Very often, she will draw a series of pictures & have me staple them together to make little books & she loves to make up stories to go with all of them. I think this is amazing & just love how imaginative & creative she is.

We were playing with craft sticks the other day & came up with the perfect craft for my little artist.

Popsicle Stick Art Journal for the kids. This is an adorable craft idea made out of craft sticks.

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What you will need:

Jumbo Craft Sticks

Hot Glue Gun

White Copy Paper

Cardboard

Decorative Masking Tape

Buttons

Yarn

Directions:

Line up 7 craft sticks in a row & glue 2 sticks perpendicular as shown & then duplicate this process.

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Glue a stick to one end of each of the above. Use the masking tape to connect the two sticks as shown. You should be able to fold the two pieces together like a book.

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Fold the two pieces with the taped portion inward. Add more tape to the opposite end of those same two sticks. Make sure that you are still able to fold the two pieces together like a book. Trim plain white copier paper so that it will fold & fit nicely inside of the Popsicle stick book. Add a bead of glue into the seam of each piece of paper & bind the pages at the crease.

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Cut a chunk of rigid cardboard & glue the pieces around the Popsicle sticks on the bottom side of the book. This will make it a easier surface to draw on. Glue the last page of the pages to the cardboard.

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Fold the journal closed & glue a piece of yarn with a button over it to both the top & bottom of the journal. Glue the last page of the pages to the cardboard on the back.

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Close & tie the strings together to close your journal.

My little Picasso loves her new art journal. I hope you do too.

Popsicle Stick Art Journal for the kids. This is an adorable craft idea made out of craft sticks.

Popsicle Stick Art Journal for the kids. This is an adorable craft idea made out of craft sticks.

Thank you as always for stopping by. Please follow us on Facebook as well.

Popsicle Stick Art Journal for the kids. This is an adorable craft idea made out of craft sticks.

Printable Face Play Dough Mats

Free Printable mats for Play dough & for drawing inspiration for kids. Arts and crafts and creative activities

I have a play dough obsessed child. She loves all things play dough. Last year her birthday party was even, you guessed it, play dough themed.  We have tried many different play dough activities, but we have not really ever worked with play dough mats. Since my daughter loves making people, I thought that face mats would be a great idea for her.  Get your free printables at the end of the post.

Free Printable boy & girl face mats for Play dough & for drawing inspiration for kids. Arts and crafts and creative activities.

We started with a lot of dough. We rolled out the colors that we wanted. It made it easier to work with.

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I helped her get started with the face and showed her how to spread the play dough out.

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She spread out her dough & formed little eyes & a mouth for her little girl. She used a plastic knife to cut away any excess. She wanted to give her a shirt too. She made sure that the shirt had a flower on it too. She did a great job.

Free Printable face mats for Play dough & for drawing inspiration for kids. Arts and crafts and creative activities

 

Later that evening, she used wanted to draw on one too. She made a rainbow girl with rainbow hair. She was very proud.

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Use laminate sheets over the printables to make them reusable. Laminate will make for easy clean up with the play dough. You could also use dry erase markers on it, to color & draw on it over and over again.

Download your free printables here.

Play dough mat (boy)Play dough mat (girl)

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Shape Inspiration Drawings

A great activity to inspire your little artists - Shape Inspiration drawings - imagination art

My daughter and I sort of have a set evening routine. I come home from work, we eat supper together as a family, we talk about our days & then my little girl and I head to the craft bin. Some nights she wants to craft with me, on others, she wants to craft on her own & some days, she just wants to draw.

Last night, she pulled out some old scraps from a cupcake liner that we had cut up for a craft. She looked at the liner for a minute & then said to me “Mama, this looks like a tutu. Let’s make a girl out of this.” She glued it down on a piece of paper & I took some of the other remnants and made a bow with it and placed it where a head might be. Mai squealed & took the paper & began drawing her girl. She drew in the face, the hair, legs & high-heeled shoes, like mommy has.

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She was very excited when she was done.

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This simple activity sparked me to want to try more shapes and see what she did with them.

I glued down a triangle & a rectangle. In my mind, when I envisioned this, I pictured her creating a house. Her perception of these shapes was different from my own.

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I watched her fascinated, as I realized that she was creating a well.

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It is amazing to watch a young mind work.

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Next, I gave her two circles.

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She drew up a storm on this one.

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Mai offered me a very detailed description of what was happening in her drawing. This was a garbage truck & all the garbage guys we going to work.

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The last one that we made was just 2 yellow cupcake liners glued diagonal from one another.

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Mai saw a baby chick in this one.

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Her cute craft & imagination inspired mommy to make a cupcake liner chick of her own.

Cupcake Liner Chick Craft - easy kid's crafts

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Half Drawing Art Activities

Half Drawing art activity for kids

One of my daughter’s favorite shows is Stella & Sam. It is one of mommy’s favorite cartoons as well. If you have not seen it, it is an adorable cartoon about a little girl, her little brother & two great big imaginations. Mai asked me if I would draw a picture of them for her a couple of days ago. I began to draw & when I was about halfway through with my Stella, my daughter asked if she could finish it. I gave her my drawing and watched as she drew in the hair and the stripes on the shirt.

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As she was drawing, it reminded me of an art project that I used to do as a child. We used to take pages out of magazines or books & rip them in half and finish the other half. This is not a new idea, but it was always one of my favorites as a kid.

We printed a few different pictures last night. One of them, of course, was Stella & Sam. We also printed a Jack-o-lantern, a witch & an apple tree.

I cut each of the pictures in two & glued each end to a piece of construction paper.

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It was no surprise that Mai reached for Stella & Sam.

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She made Stella with green hair an ice cream cone. It came out adorable.

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We both worked on one end of the Jack-O-lantern.

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It was just as much fun as I remembered & it was certainly fun watching my girl finishing the drawings.

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half drawing art activity - This is a great activity for kids

The Benefits Of Arts & Crafts For Children

The Benefits Of Arts & Crafts For ChildrenArt & crafting have always been a huge part of my life. I was brought up in a family of artists. All of my aunts and uncles drew, painted or created works of art in one way or another. When my daughter was born, I hoped that she would share in this passion. When she had barely turned 1, I introduced her to finger paints & she painted her first picture.

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From that day forward, she has not stopped creating. I am teased often for the emphasis I put on arts & crafts. There is hardly an inch of our home that is not covered with a craft project or drawing made by my daughter & there is rarely I day that goes by without her picking up a paintbrush or crayons. The truth is my daughter has learned so much from every craft made & every picture drawn.

Learning about various textures, the combination of shapes & how to mix & blend colors are just a few of the things that art has taught her. There are many other benefits.

It teaches focus & concentration. Each project keeps her engaged & shows her the process & steps that it takes to turn a blank canvas or object into something beautiful.

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It helps develop a strong attention to detail. Whether she is making sure that her butterfly has an antennae or adding a trail of slime to the bottom of a snail, she observes & recognizes the details in everyday things.

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It boosts creativity & imagination. We have experimented with several different types of craft materials over the years. In the beginning, I would come up with an idea for a project & show her what to do. Now at only 3 years old, my daughter takes the lead. One day she asked me for pieces of an egg carton. Since we usually have them readily available for crafts, I obliged & handed her pieces of one. With a few random pieces in hand, she told me that she was going to make a tutu with legs & red high heeled shoes. I was unsure of how she was going to accomplish this, but I watched as she carefully painted each piece & listened to her as she told me all about her girl in the tutu. When she was done, she proudly assembled her pieces. She was not the only one that was proud.

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Encourage your children to express themselves. Remember art is all about expression. If they want to paint a purple sun, let them. Allow them the freedom to create & sit back and enjoy the ride.

I was inspired by Invaluable.com and asked to write about youth art. Invaluable is an advocate for all forms of artwork, whether it be children’s paintings or classic fine art.

 

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A Portrait And A Poem For My Birthday Girl

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It all began with mornings so sick .

Then turned into a heartbeat, a flutter and kick.

This little life growing inside of me.

A boy or girl, which would it be?

When you came to me that winter’s night.

A new mother unsure and so full of fright.

Dirty diapers  and nights with no sleep.

Often, I would cry and would weep.

With just one smile, one laugh, one kiss.

All tears were erased and replaced with pure bliss.

Crazy antics, milestones.

A heart full of memories overflown.

Time went by in a blink of an eye just like they said it would.

I would pause it all and slow time down, if only I could.

You have filled my life with happiness each and every day.

I love you more & more my dear. Have a Happy Birthday.