Explore Art project: Melted Crayon Canvas

I've seen this project quite a bit over on pinterest and have been dying to try it with Cy.  It's a fun, active art project that will let kid's explore everyday art.  

Melted crayon canvas.

  What you'll need:

pre-stretched canvas ($6 at Big Lots)

at least 2 boxes of 24 count crayons

super glue

blow dryer

Super glue your crayons at the top of the canvas.  I put them at different heights to experiment with how they drip.

Put a piece of cardboard at the bottom to catch any drips.

Start your blow dryer and hold it in front of the crayons going back and forth.  You can concentrate in one area to get them starting to melt. 

Now I wouldn't let anyone 3 and under handle the hot blow dryer but I did offer to let Cy do it who's 4.  I warned him it's hot and not to touch it- but he wasn't even interested just liked watching.

Once they started melting they really got going.  Cy supervised and told me which ones to hold it in front of to melt more.  We had fun watching the colors race down the canvas and blend together at the top. 

A fun, easy everyday art project.  Took less than 10 minutes and $10.  It is now a new addition of art hanging in the boys bedroom.

Take time everyday to include a little bit of art in your child's life, you might even have a little fun.

EXPLORE ART: DIY coloring sheets

Coloring goes over big in my house.  Cy will sometimes color/ draw pictures for hours on end.  I am a big supporter of everyday art with children, including making art in some way everyday with them and using everyday materials.  I don't mind using coloring books for art expression.  But they do come with limitations, most importantly limiting expression and creativity to the picture at hand. 

So why don't you make your own.  Cy started this project today after Sage got into a big bucket of 101 cookie cutters.  Using cookie cutters to trace outlines make your own coloring sheets.  Your child can determine the subject matter, the composition and how they will color the shapes. 

Cy made his own "chickens" using a duck cookie cutter, adding the legs and crown.  He also added a few flowers that he then went back in and colored each petal.

While he finished up his chicken picture I arranged car, truck, plane, house and tree cookie cutters for a cityscape coloring sheet.  Add in a few extras when your done tracing the cutter shapes, markings for grass, a road, clouds and the sun for your child to color in.  Or leave it up to them what they'd like to add to the picture when they color it.

As we worked on our DIY cookie cutter coloring sheets Sage entertained himself by sitting on the floor in a big pile of the shape we weren't using putting the empty bucket over his head.  A win for everyone this afternoon!

Keep it simple art doesn't always have to be an elaborate project.  Let your child explore daily the endless opportunities for self expression and creativity- no matter the materials they use.

EXPLORE ART project: Animal Collage Wall Mural

Today's project was adapted from a project Cy did a W Kids, Wegman's child care service for while you shop. (Yes I love Wegman's in so many ways)

Animal Wildlife Wall Mural

It is a combination of coloring, construction paper and studying animals. 
Oh, and of course fun.

Materials: 

• Coloring book or printed coloring sheets of animals land, water and animals that can fly

• Construction paper green, blue, white, yellow

• scissors, tape and crayons

Step 1: Have your child pick a variety of animals and color them. We used a Jack Hanna coloring book.  Expand your lesson and look at real photos of the animals while they are coloring.

Once your child has colored a variety of animals, those that live in the water, on land and those that can fly, you or your child can cut them out of the coloring pages.  Then set them aside while you work on the next couple of steps. 

Step 2: Next we have to work on our backdrop for the wall mural.  Using construction paper you will have to make a green grass area, blue water area  and clouds and a sun for the sky.  I used a couple of full sheets of green to make the grass, snipping about an inch and a half down along the whole top.  Do the same for the water area, using a full sheet of blue cutting a curved line across the top for “waves”.  Next cut out a circle for your sun, we added rays.  And last a few fluffy clouds.

Step 3: Tape everything up on your wall and you are ready to get started.  Use blue painters tape if you’re worried about paint peeling off.

Step 4: Cy collected all of his colored and cut out animals.  We picked up one at a time and Cy named it and said where it had to go.  If it lived in the water, land or could fly.  We rolled a piece of tape on the back and he stuck it in the right area on the wall.

 

Cy had a lot of fun with this project, which I do tend to say about every project but art is fun!  He was able to color each one of his animals, help cut them out and then create a collage wall mural.  Kids aren’t always given the opportunity to create BIG pictures.  Letting him use the whole wall he had more space and freedom to decide where he wanted to place things. 

Let their imagination have no limits. Let them explore art through everyday fun!