Popsicle Paint

Last summer I saw popsicle paint on a friend's facebook page, and I really wanted to try it with my girls (since they loved painting with ice-cubes so much).  I finally found the perfect popsicle trays this spring, and the girls and I had fun making popsicle paint!

First, they filled the tray with water.




Then we added in a little bit of liquid watercolor into each container.




We put the popsicle trays in the freezer for about a day or so, and then we had popsicle paint!




The popsicles kept falling off the sticks which was a little annoying.




We still had fun with it, but I think we'll use wooden popsicle sticks next time in the hope that they'll stay together a little better.



I think this will be a perfect activity for our "Art on the Beach" days!

Science and Art Fun!

The girls and I had fun doing a science/art project in our "Lakeside Homeschool" last week!  (Last week was our first semi-official week of homeschool...super busy and super fun!).

I froze a bowlful of water a few weeks ago in anticipation of this project.  We finally found time to do it, so I dumped the ice onto a tray and gave the girls a container of salt and food coloring.






They poured on the salt and squeezed on the food coloring.




Iridescence!




Messy hands!




Last time we did this project was when O(5) was 2 or 3 years old.  She was SO proud of her beautiful ice that we had to keep it in the freezer for months!  Luckily, they didn't ask to keep their beautiful ice this time (because we don't have any room in our freezer)!

Reading, Painting, and Loving It!

The girls and I really enjoyed a "homeschool" activity last week....I read to them from a book about Vikings while they painted with their liquid watercolors.  It was so wonderful and peaceful, and we all learned a lot!  This is how I am envisioning us spending much of our school day...the girls painting or coloring while I read to them from our vast selection of books...love it!

When E(2) asked O(5) what she was painting, she said "it's from my imagination."





E said that she was painting a bird (and she was wearing her "old time" dress...another perk of homeschooling...they can wear pjs or dress-up clothes all day if they want to).

Monet Inspired Art Project

My mom, E(2), and I joined O(5) and her friends at her school last week to complete a Monet inspired art project.  The idea for the project came from this book.

On the night before the project, my mom and I spent about an hour tearing strips of blue, green, and purple tissure paper to represent the water in the project.  We also tore green and pink tissue paper into circles to use for lily pads and flowers. 



When we got to the school, we put out a piece of blue construction paper at each child's place along with a bunch of strips of tisue paper and several circles of tissue paper.  They had cups of glue and q-tips for spreading the glue.  The q-tips didn't work that well, so we switched to paintbrushes.





The children glued down the strips to represent water and then glued the lily pads and flowers on top of the water.  This was a simple and fun project. 

Here's is E(2)'s masterpiece.






E(2) REALLY enjoyed this project, and she worked on her art longer than most of the Montessori students. She said that the bigger lily pads were the mamas and the smaller ones were the babies. That night at supper, when I asked her what her "treasure" of the day was, she said "making lily pads." When I asked which artist we studied, she quickly said "Monet!"

Here is O(5)'s masterpiece.   O also loved this activity...I think it's one of the most successful art projects we've done at O's school this year!



We have really enjoyed studying famous artists with O and her friends at school, and we are looking forward to continuing these projects with the Montessori children next school year!


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Painting Like Monet

We studied Monet (briefly) during the month of March. We read a library book about Monet's life. Then we took O(5)'s art set and easel out to our boat and set up a floating art studio just like Monet! O was very excited and she LOVED working on her painting "just like Monet."
(The boat was actually beached and not floating which is why she is not wearing her life jacket) E(2) painted, too, and she said that she was "painting like Degas!" O painted the water and the reflection of the sunlight in the water. She used several different mediums (acrylic paint, watercolor pencils, pastels, etc.) and paintbrushes to complete her masterpiece. And here is E(2)'s masterpiece. We are making Monet inspired art at O(5)'s Montessori school this week, so I'll post about that project later this week. 

Meet the Masters!

I am SO excited to have purchased a 3 year subscription to Meet the Masters via Homeschool Buyer's Co-op!   I've been interested in this program for a while, but I thought it was a little pricey.  So, when I saw that it was being offered at a deeply discounted price (45% off) at Homeschool Buyer's Co-op, I was quick to purchase it.


Our girls LOVE to study various artists, and I think this program will make it easier for me and more fun for all of us to learn about the different artists.

Here's a link to more info about Meet the Masters via Homeschool Buyer's Co-op.

Don't forget to put CHEERIOS as your referral code when you join Homeschool Buyer's Co-op (it's free!)...you'll get 500 BONUS Smartpoints, and I'll receive a small bounty.  Thanks!

This offer expires on May 7, 2012.

Studying Degas

We studied Degas during February. E(2) loved painting a Degas coloring page with liquid watercolors (and when I looked away, she quickly painted her face...so funny).
We checked out Degas and the Little Dancer and have read it repeatedly. It's a wonderful book, and we all love it. We read Dancing with Degas. We planned to do a Degas art project, but that fell to the back burner after Elliott's brain tumor diagnosis. We'll get back to Degas and our project eventually...maybe.  

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