Painting an old picnic table

There's a partly rotted board in the middle that needs replacing,  but that didn't stop us from bringing new life to an old picnic table in our yard.

Outdoor Painting Space

 I want to create an art space for the kids with the intent of having a messy art area they can mess up and to have the freedom to paint at as much as they want when they want. This is an area we set up for outdoor watercolor painting yesterday as a first step towards that goal  This is made from cinder blocks and a work bench table top we didn't need. It's particle board, so it's not weather proof. I want something more permanent and weather proof but for now this is fun and a creative space in nature that the kids can paint in. 

Everett tries to hang his picture, following in the footsteps of the other kids.
We hung  twine and clothes-line pins to display and dry art work.

Homeschool Monthly Art Class

We went to a homeschool art class hosted and volunteered by homeschool moms and a local library. It was really fun. This month was Monet. The mom hosting it printed up a packet of info about Claude Monet that included a few paintings by him. We did water color lilies in the class using the coffee filters as lilies. Once the filters are dry you can crinkle them and make them take more shape. When they are really wet they are just flat of course. One of my favorite things about homeschoolers has always been the inclusiveness of everyone. So many homeschoolers see a lot of value in group learning and playing in the company of all ages. It really shows too! We had all ages from one and a half to 15 years old join the class today.

Next month the artist subject is Van Gogh and Charlotte (15) volunteered to host the class and teach how to make sunflowers. She very much enjoys art and making sunflowers and so do I! We will have fun I'm sure!

Love the tongue out!

Stitch Books (the little sister of lapbooks)

I've always been envious of homeschoolers who do lapbooks. My kids never wanted to do them. While I drooled over the homemade books of colorful information I think the kids were intimidated by the super fancy layouts and big books. My kids are not very good at organization of school materials, reports, Etc. So I laid back for several years and didn't push the issue.

Yesterday I was looking for something for Penelope to do (preschool/K) and I came up with the idea for her to make a number book. I'm glad we were all out of staples because I told her I had a super fun idea for a even better book binding.

I went to work on sewing her a paper book. (It was hardly work, it took 1 minute.)

 And that is when stitch books were born! As I helped Penelope with her numbers I had a talk with my older kids about layout and how to matting/ framing information on projects makes them look nice. They were all interested and I asked them to make books on any subject they wanted. I explained that if we started making books on the subjects and units we learn about we'd build up our own personal library of information. We'd have them to share with the younger kids, and to read and re-learn when needed.


Showing the middle blank pages; stronger and better than a stapled book!



Penelope wanted to name her book "Learning Numbers and All Sorts of Things"


The older kids are working on these:

So as not to overwhelm them with research and layout all at once I asked them to make presentation their main focus; in other words make the stitch book about something they already know a lot about so it's easier to write and research. Since the kids all enjoy drawing I encouraged them to not use
the internet for their projects.

Charlotte has not added words to her mummification stitch book, but I think the pictures are impressive!

 These are really fun and I hope they are a persuasive introduction to the amazing, creative, fun world of lapbooking!

These are also great little books for journal or drawing. My kids always want new sketch pads and after a buying a bunch sketch pads get pricey! These are easy to make and cheap!

Making a Stained Glass Window

 We learned about stained glass windows (learned art history, religious history, and how they are made) then we helped the little kids make a "stained glass" window in the kitchen. We used plastic food wrap on the window first and then glue sticks and tissue paper.

Newsprint type paper on rolls to paint on

Papper Bag Puppets... with around the house materials

Yes she looks suspicious of that scary rabbit puppet, lol!

Noodle Art

You can dye spaghetti noodles and make art with them. They stick by themselves because of the gluten in the noodles/flour. They don't last long. When dry and get super stiff the noodles shrink and will break off eventually. Fun for temporary art though. Also good to make numbers and letters with for preschool.

Funniest thing was when Layla and Penelope put some pictures on the fridge
and then I caught Aslan eating the art work!! LOL!