Fantastic Tots on Tour!

Today's Tots on Tour class goes down as one of my very favorites. And let me tell you, I needed it to be! I've been so happy to be back to school and seeing my elementary students but like the majority of teachers, I've been exhausted!!! 

September presents so many tasks to organize and new systems to learn. 

As I drove up 295 this morning it was beyond foggy. As I entered Hamilton, the sun took over and the rest of the day was  energy packed, creative and fun.

Today's focus was Monet and water lilies. After reading a great book "Where's the Frog" and taking a nice walk over to the Japanese Bridge, we created clay water lily pads and flowers. I created this lesson so simply and am excited to modify it for different ages. 

There's something about those first clay projects that melts my heart. Each year when I blog about pinch pots with first graders, it's the same thing. Being able to facilitate art experiences for young people that are meaningful and rewarding is what I love. Today was such a great day because the excitement and energy and precious moments that my two Tots groups expressed reminded me of everything important as an Arts Educator.

 

Tots on Tour: Elephants

It was a great (and packed) day at Grounds for Sculpture for my two Tots on   Tour sessions. I was a bit surprised because today feels like a day for families to be at the beach or "the shore" as they say in Jersey.

We began by reading 'Elmer' by David McKee

and then dove into creating these awesome elephant paintings.

Every month I do my best to connect the project with a related themed book. It has been one of the best parts of running Tots on Tour for all this time and I've read hundreds of great children's stories.

Elmer is a pretty popular book that is in most classrooms of early elementary level. Art teachers enjoy using tissue paper squares to create the lovable elephant.

I chose to go with a grey elephant and interesting background because it related more to the realistic colors of elephants which was what we were discussing today. We loved the idea of being unique and how special a patchwork elephant is.

I was really happy to see the kids make these elephants their own. One of my frequent students who is a huge shark fan, put the eyes on the ears and before he made mention, I immediately thought his elephant looked like a hammerhead shark. As Picasso said- Every Child is an Artist.

Watching the kids cut and arrange and glue their pieces in creative ways is the best part for me next to how happy they are to have spent the morning and early afternoon creating.

Have a wonderful weekend!

April Tots on Tour

What a busy weekend at GFS! Usually the parking lot isn't packed when I pull in but it seemed as though the grounds had been open for hours when in reality, it had been only 10-15 minutes. 

Tomorrow will be another busy day as it is the annual 'Day at the Fair'(grounds)

The flowers are in full bloom and fed with the GFS super power plant food for the most amazing petal sizes.

One of the things I've cherished at GFS are the volunteers that help out with my Class. They are instrumental in making every single Tots run so easily for mall of these years.

Today, we set up for a printmaking/collage lesson using bubble wrap and painted papers... a project that I saw on Pinterest and saved for the perfect day.

The kids had a fun time painting the bubble wrap in sea colors. Then they painted warm colored papers to use for the fish. We sold out in the 11am class, as usual, and had decent numbers for the 1pm.

All in all, a great morning/afternoon.

Tots on Tour: Reindeer Collage

When I walked into the East Gallery, I stopped in my tracks and then proceeded with a huge smile today. In all of my years teaching my monthly Tots on Tour class, I've never been in such a gorgeous space! Our normal art room in the Education Center, which is nice, is under renovation/expansion until early 2015. In the interim, I am running classes from other spaces at GFS for a few months. Today, we are in a huge space with leather couches, amazing floors, beautiful murals and surrounded by windows. Breathtaking. 

Tots on Tour is always a fun time. Here are 5 young artists all set to work.  They look like models in their pretty clothing- 2 for Crew Cuts and 3 for Gap Kids :) We had to put aprons on to protect those nice outfits!

I read a story to the group with the best backdrop and demo-ed our mixed media lesson about reindeer.

It was a smaller group today with the first morning session. To be expected with the holidays looming- but we had great conversation about all sorts of things from animals to reindeer and fried zucchini. 

Here is Nina writing her name on her work so nicely. 

Talking to the children, meeting so many neat parents and working with a fantastic group of volunteers makes each month magical. Grounds for Sculpture IS magical. Carrie and I talked about how we have to stop and just be mesmerized sometimes because the grounds have changed so much since we joined the staff. Things are so different but the heart is the same- beating hard and glowing in a way unique just to GFS.

For the project, we created a wet-on- wet watercolor background using my fav liquid watercolors. We added collaged papers into the background and created a reindeer with assorted paper. The paper crimpers munched the legs to give them texture and all pieces were glued down. 

My favorite part of today was actually observing one of the children excitedly take pictures with her camera while on our tour. I thought how awesome her parents were to give her a camera so that she could view the grounds (with which she is very familiar) with a new lens.

Last month as the 5th graders explored GFS with their cameras, I found myself really valuing switching up perspectives and empowering children to adventure and capture their perspective via photography. 

Have a great weekend!

Tots on Tour: Clown Fish

This weekend for my Tots on Tour class at Grounds for Sculpture, we discussed Clown Fish, where they live and their physical characteristics. 

Here are some of the paintings that the kids created (plus one from a middle school aged sibling) before I took the children on a nice, long tour.

Tots on Tour: October 2012

This month for my Tots on Tour class at Grounds for Sculpture, we created portraits of 'Splat the Cat'. I couldn't resist giving this project a try that I have seen all over the internet but I believe originated on a blog found here.
After our tour, we enjoyed reading "Scaredy-Cat Splat!" and then got started creating these adorable paintings.

Tots on Tour: Sept. 2012

The weather this past weekend was incredible. I had a great turnout for Tots on Tour, a preschool art program that I have been teaching one Saturday per month for the past 7 years at Grounds for Sculpture.

We had a nice tour of Ming Fay's 'Canutopia' exhibit, walked a portion of the grounds and found the secret path to the lookout tower that gives a nice view of the grounds.

After reading a story, the children did a simple, classic color collage using tissue paper and water. It's an easy project for preschoolers to see the magic of color and to enjoy the process of overlapping shapes and/or arranging the pieces of tissue paper.

Here is one of my regular "Tots" named Lucas working on his collage and Lorenzo's final collage