I thought it only fitting that I confess I bought a new book. After all this, I bought a book. Well, 2 books. Of course one was Bend the Rules with Fabric. I couldn't resist buying it right away. I've scanned the whole thing and I must say I'm excited to try some of the techniques. Though, I probably didn't need the book for most of it. The other was Drawing with Children. I couldn't be more excited. I think I'm going to teach myself to draw. I had intended this for the kids, but considering the kids and I are on level ground when it comes to artistic abilities, I might give it a go.
We do a tiny bit of craft/art around here. Most of it is open ended, self directed. The "purpose" of most of it is more about fine motor skills and imagination that creating anything useful or pretty. One might think I do lots of crafts with the kids, but I don't.
We have an art cart (plastic drawers). The top drawer has plain paper. The second drawer has colored paper. The third drawer has coloring books (though they rarely use these and I'm just trying to get rid of them). the fourth drawer has water color paint, glue sticks, a hold punch and the like. The last drawer is a large drawer and is filled with random stuff like tissue paper, junk mail, feathers, pom poms, stickers, etc. These are often made into "beautiful" collages. I keep crayons and colored pencils in a container on the top of the art cart for easy use. I keep some things out of reach, of course. Like the paint cups and scissors as well as the beads and pipe cleaners.
One of my favorite toddler/preschooler art assist materials is the clear contact paper. I cut 2 pieces the same size. Tape one down to the table, sticky side up. This makes collages easy. All they have to do is tear tissue paper and stick it to the contact paper. No trouble trying to use glue or scissors. We've also put other collage materials in them. When they are done just stick the top piece to it and you can do whatever you want with it. We like to stick them to the windows.
I do have one other art book I've used with the kids. Scribble Art has been a great resource to get my ideas flowing. It is all about open ended art and has some great ideas. I'm pretty sure I got the contact paper idea from that book. There are great craft recipes in it as well like paper mache glue and clay, etc.
What types of craft and art projects do you do with your kids?
