HPL Youth Services Craft Share: 2012

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Eric Carle Style Art

Here are some pictures of some of the best creations by the parents and kids when we did an Eric Carle themed storytime and craft.

In preparation for this craft, I painted randomly on plain white printer paper and let them dry. I tried to mix up different colors and add whatever texture I had lying around.

On the day of the craft, I cut the dried painted sheets in half and people chose their colors from them, created their animals and creations, and decorated them with other craft items.

I think my favorites to come out of the day were the blue monkey and the purple giraffe, but there were lots of amazing ideas coming from the kids and their parents. Everyone loved this craft.

And, just as a disclaimer note, this was something we did summer 2011, but I wanted to share it with folks here.

--Virginia Osborne @ LOO

Friday, July 20, 2012

Art Thing! Program - Chihuly Inspired Paper Sculpture

Dale Chihuly is an American glass artist from Tacoma, Washington. His works decorate numerous parks and public spaces as well as commercial buildings like the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.

He used to do his own sculpture but now uses a team to create the visions he designs.

The long tentacle forms are called fiori and the round ones are called macchia

This was a simple, cheap program that the children and their grownups really enjoyed. J

Supplies

- Scrap matboard. Cardboard or poster board can also be used

- Glue stick

- Tissue paper scraps

- Markers

- Optional die-cut tissue paper circles

My Chihuly creation!

Child’s Chihuly creations

Steps:

1. Write name on back of matboard

2. Take piece of tissue paper and twist into the long, thin fiori shape. The tighter the twist, the more fiori will curl. Leave one end a little untwisted for better gluing

3. Glue fiori to your matboard. I needed to encourage the kids to use a lot of glue; for some reason they were very careful

4. Press your fiori to the matboard and hold for a few seconds. The paper is so thin it really sticks well. Some kids glued down both ends for a different look and energy!

5. Select a round macchia shape, make a circle of glue with the glue stick, and press macchia to the matboard. Do NOT glue the whole circle down! It should kind of flop off the board.

6. Trade off and encourage kids to cover all of their matboard surface

7. Hold up the matboard to see how the shapes react to gravity. Turn around to see how differently they fall.

8. Display your Chihuly paper sculpture!

Resources:

http://www.chihuly.com/

http://www.chihulygardenandglass.com/

http://pinterest.com/search/?q=chihuly

Alma N. Chavarria

Librarian II

Central Youth Services- KIDS

Central Library

500 McKinney

Houston, TX 77002

832-393-1626

www.houstonlibrary.org

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Thursday, June 7, 2012

Art Thing! Program- Australian Aboriginal Bark Painting

I modified this lesson plan slightly:

http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/elem/AboriginalBarkPainting.htm

Supplies:

- Brown butcher paper

- Tempera paint

- Paint brushes

- Q-tips

- Black crayon

- Pencil

- Paint containers

Instructions

1. Tear butcher paper in rough squares. No scissors; just crease and tear!

2. Crumple up and run ball of paper under water. Unfold and lay somewhere to dry. This will take a few hours to be totally dry.

3. On the day of craft provide supplies as well as books about Australian animals and example of Australian Aboriginal art. I printed out picture of Australian animals.

4. After the children draw a picture of their animal in the middle of their paper they outline it in black crayon.

5. They paint their animal.

6. They use Q-tips and white paint to paint dots around their animal. I also provided a handout with tribal symbols they could use

7. When done I lay the art on top of the shelves to dry and they pick it up when they are ready to go home