Friday Fun - Easy Paintings

I am NOT an artist. I don't have a clue how to teach art, so I freely admit I will outsource that part of our homeschooling adventure! We are blessed to have a fabulous art teacher in our area, where my children have taken classes. Last spring I posted about one of the great things Miss B was doing in art. I'm hoping to get both children into more art classes this fall.

I realize, however, that kids love art and I don't have to be a good (or knowledgeable) artist to let them experiment and have fun. I have gathered lots of art supplies and activity books to pull out on Fridays when we just want to have fun. Today I pulled out a couple of books that I picked up on sale at Michael's for $1.00! Can't beat that.

To tell you the truth, I was kind of shocked at how much the kids loved this simple activity. It was very easy for Miss B, but she took her time and did a really good job. She and I decided that we need to get a harder paint by number this weekend and make it a project! GMan did several pictures (much quicker than his sister because that's just his personality!). We talked about primary colors and secondary colors and listened to some Vivaldi while painting. It was quite a peaceful morning.

The Finished Paint By Number Masterpieces:

Girl in the Airplane, by GMan

Playful Puppies, by Miss B

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Puppets!

What a fun Friday we had! We went to see Rumplelstiltskin at the Center for Puppetry Arts. The one hour show had two puppeteers who used marionettes to tell the classic fairy tale. I know my children were entertained, and Miss B in particular was amazed at how much skill it took to coordinate all of the puppets. When the puppeteers came out at the end to explain their jobs she was mesmerized. We toured the exhibits at the center after the show and learned all about different types of puppets. There was an entire section devoted to Jim Henson, which made me want to Netflix some Muppet Movies over the coming weeks! As I also revealed in the seven random things about me, I once wanted to be a puppeteer for Sesame Street, so I loved the exhibit!

Best of all, we went to a puppet making workshop, and Miss B and G Man got to make their own Rumpelstiltskin. (In this picture my son has the monkey puppet we received for joining the center.)

Miss B. chose to make her puppet a girl!

We bought two puppet kits to do at home next week. I had purchased a membership to the center through Groupon, so everything was discounted today, which always helps! Members got front row seats and free puppet workshops.

I'd like to try and get the original fairy tale from the library next week to read with the children. I found the graphic (at the top of this post) online and it is from the original version which was put out in 1886. I can tell that a lot of what we learned today "stuck" with my kids. G Man told his dad all about the "marionettes" and was quoting lots of funny things Rumplestiltskin said, while Miss B was very interested in the mechanics of the puppets and asking lots of questions.

This is a little detour in our curriculum, but part of the beauty of homeschooling is that we can pause to appreciate the beauty around us. We read all of the time and soak up as many cultural activities as possible. I don't think there is a written curriculum for this, it's just the stuff of a well-rounded life.

Since we were downtown, we went to daddy's office and picked him up for lunch. He took us to a new restaurant, Home Grown, which was just opened by a friend of his from high school. It was AWESOME! I had a french toast sandwich which was stuffed with bacon, spinach and tomatoes, cheese grits, and a sweet tea - probably not the most healthy lunch, but it was delicious.

We made a quick side trip to visit my sorority little sister and take some books and toys to her three and one year old. I love it when my children are excited to pass down things they really enjoyed. In this case it was a full set of Sesame Street letter books and a Leap Frog Fridge Phonics set.

I promised the kids on the way home we could go to Wal-Mart and visit the Coin Star machine. They had counted all of their saved change early this morning and told me we had about $14 in coins. The Coin Star Machine gave us a voucher for $13.68, so I think the kids' calculations were quite accurate. What did they get with their spoils? An Etch-A-Sketch (can you believe we didn't have one?), silly bands, and a gallon of milk (since we needed it at home, they let me use their money for it. Cute.)

All in all, a great day! We're settling in to watch the Braves game now, and everyone is stuffed from lunch so I don't have to fix dinner. Happy Weekend!

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A Keeper Art Activity

Art earlier this week turned into a two hour fun time - it was one of those homeschooling moments that are beginning to occur a lot these days. I pulled out a few supplies for the kids and told them we were going to make birthday cards for grandma. We began at 11:00 a.m. and at 1:00 p.m. I had to make them clean up so we could eat lunch and run some errands.

This book is great for independent activity (by that I mean w/out mom's help!) - the thumbprints are cute and easy, and it seemed that my nine year old loved making them and helping her brother make them, too. What I loved was the step by step process they had to follow to make their favorite characters. My daughter really was good at guiding her brother through this part - better than I could have done, I think.

The pip squeaks markers were a birthday gift to my daughter. They have a fine point and are little, cute, and perfect for doing the details on the thumbprints.

The stamp pad has just enough colors.

And don't forget the wipes so you don't have a huge mess on your hands!

The finished masterpieces. I was impressed.

I got the book and stamp pad from Amazon and it was a great investment - $13 for the two. A word of advice: give your child quality art supplies. I let them use my good scrapbooking card stock and the good ink pad. If they have a few beautiful supplies to choose from I think it inspires them more and the finished product just looks better.

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