Painting wolves with watercolor @WBCL

Last night we painted wolves in the Arts & crafts session. I found a nice picture of a pack of wolves that were not all snarling and printed it on watercolor paper. We did something a bit different by enhancing the lines with scribbles of black or brown color pencil then doing the watercolor using internet photos as a color reference. I would love to try this with watercolor pencils sometime but it really got everyone thinking of where to put their darker and lighter colors. Of course there are a few wolves of a different color and several of the older kids decided that a colored sky was essential.

Mariachis for Diez y Seis @WBCL

We talked a bit about the holiday and celebrations including music from the bands of mariachis.  I precut the paper and used tubes that were thinner (nearer 1") than TP ones from my foodsaver rolls. The kids were really into this with 2 tables making members of the mariachi band complete with a dancer and a microphone to sing into. Even though each person was given the same basic pieces each one got a bit of a personalization as they added touches here and there.  

The mariachis turned out SO good!!

Labor Day illustrated @WBCL

Sometimes art is all about the story! We had a really fun drawing and coloring project Wed on Labor day. We talked about the day then used the copied page to accent the words and draw pictures of people working or activities for enjoying on labor day. We had fun drawing a pizza guy with a chef's hat and multiple swimming pools with tubes to ride in. Lots of sparkly starts to glue on too. — at Wells Branch Community Library.

Sand painted coral reefs

This class was one of the most fun ones I have done in a while. We had a small class but the results were amazing!! We started with a "draw with me" session using a book on reefs I got at the library. After we had drawn 4-5 coral and some fish the real fun began. 

We "drew" over our coral and fish one at a time with white glue then sprinkled on brightly colored sand, lots of sand to cover the glue well, tapped it off and did the next one and the next. Lots of parental help and help from us with the removal of the extra sand but the results were well worth it. 

 

Creating a super hero standout figure

With this week's theme of super heroes I thought we'd do something a bit different and create a 3D superhero launching itself out of a comic book page. We did not get real comics to cut up although I considered it. With this week's theme of super heroes I thought we'd do something a bit different and create a 3D superhero launching itself out of a comic book page. We did not get real comics to cut up although I considered it.

I found a coloring page with comic panes that we used as a base and colored it using markers and crayons. The kids then chose a super hero or two or three to color and cut out. I showed them how to make stands to make it look like the figure was popping out of the page.

One of the kids kept saying "it makes it come to life" and it really does. The photos do not do the projects justice.

Lots of batgirl and hackman figures, a couple  of batman too. One of the kids did 4 then did not want to tape them down.

Or take a look at our video/slideshow of the figures coming to life~

Wild & Wacky Science art for Juniors WOW

We took a new direction and did some experiments, some art process, added an architectural project and did a rolling waterfall of color as our exploding paint. We started with a crystal painting project using epsom salt in super solution. Once everyone understood that heaving painting was required it really worked well. RECIPE [ 1 cup very HOT water, 1 cup+ epsom salts, food color or tempera paints] 

We did a project experimenting with how to use oil pastels and talked about why they reactions occurred then created a small picture. we used baby oil as our medium as it is more kid friendly than mineral oil or some other solvents. 
Clay is always popular at camp and we used plain polymer clay to make medians then imprinted them using small pinecones, shells and other natural items. The camper made them into necklaces, mobile hangers and more by painting them after we baked them  and stringing them onto cording. 
We tried out the chemical reaction between permanent markers and alcohol on a CD and although the kids were pretty pleased, I felt it should have worked better. The marker ink does spread and is fun to watch the changes. 
We also got to use stretchy clay to make critters. It was a bit older and does not really work well to stretch and pose. the critters they made pleased them though. It is much smellier than regular polymer clay. 

Wednesday we looked at structural items made from crafts sticks and talked about and looked at ones like the Eiffel tower. The kids then created some pretty impressive projects using the sticks and some other small wood pieces. Some spent most of the day working on it, others finished early and went on to complete other projects or lend a hand on one of the projects still under construction. 

We spent some of the last day creating airplanes from clothes pins, crafts sticks and helicopters from folded construction paper helicopters so we could fly them. flying helicopter http://babbledabbledo.com/diy-toy-paper-helicopter/  

The junior councellors went all out to get a project working to explode the paint. We tried film canisters of two kinds with their own tops and with corks to no avail. Then they lined up all the canisters and had the kids put in baking soda and tempera powder and slowly went down the line pouring vinegar into all of them. It is between a colored rolling waterfall and a skittles fountain. skittles fountain The kids love the reaction between vinegar and baking soda but without a larger bottle to blow due to the gas nothing blows up. 

Our last 2 projects were to use the styrofoam eggs and balls with ping pong balls and create an alien and make bouncing balls from borax and glue. Not sure which one was more fun but getting the large amount of food dye off the kids requires baby oil, dishwashing detergent and lots  of scrubbing plus some color theory on complimentary colors and why that helped get the color off more quickly, i.e. red on green. 

We have an album on Facebook with many more pictures for you to view.