Marvellous mobiles

Mobiles are something a bit different to create that can be displayed. They can be a joint artistic effort or an individual project.
Here are some great inspirations for making mobiles with children and a simple tutorial too.

Nature mobile, using sticks and found objects, from Anna Reyner's site.

Decorative Hues Bird Mobile, made with paper and a coat hanger, by LittleFingers BigArt.

Recycled mobile made with cardboard and rubber tubing and colourful objects made at the College of the Canyons  

Sea shells, which may need more adult help to make the holes in the shells, from earth sky sea child.

Freezer Paper Cloud Mobile with puffy clouds, great for learning about weather and seasons, from Lish Dorset at metroparent.

SIMPLE MOBILE TUTORIAL:

1. Decide what your mobile will hang from.
If you look at the images above you will see different items used to hang mobiles: a stick, a coat hanger, cardboard tube, wooden circle. You could also use dowel, an old broom handle, an old umbrella or a paper plate with holes punched around it.

2. Decide what materials you will create your mobile from.
Suggestions include:
paper and cardboard and hole punch
recycled junk such as plastic beads, painted cardboard tubes, old CD's, corks, anything that can be threaded
natural found objects such as leaves, feathers, seeds and twigs
paper cut into specific shapes with holes punched for hanging
metal such as paper clips, nuts and bolts, old key rings,

3. Decide what you will use to hold and hang your materials.
String, ribbon, fishing line, tape,...
You will also need scissors and maybe glue.

Choose 1, 2 and 3 and lay them out so that a marvellous mobile can be created.
Children may need help with knotting or they may come up with other creative ways to make their mobile.

WANT MORE INSPIRATION?

old cereal packets cut into circles and done with spin art

ribbon and embroidery hoop

shapes to print cut and colour for a mobile

 metal mobile/ wind chime with copper wire wrapped strands and beads

LINKED UP AT

All about puffy paint

Puffy paint is a type of paint that adds dimension to whatever it is painted on. It has both a textured and raised appearance similar to cake icing.

The blog box

It can be used to add this raised and coloured appearance to anything that can be painted and then heated with an iron, hair dryer or microwave.
Examples of uses include designs on:

• T-shirts and other clothing
• cards
• paper  
• wooden frames
• natural materials such as eggshells and stones
• glass and plastic if you are careful with the heating process

Leaf art at CRAFTS-FOR-ALL-SEASONS

Puffy paint is available in both manufactured and homemade versions. It can be applied by brush, squeezing from a bottle, with fingers or other tools.
It is very versatile and can be mixed with other products such as glitter.

Here you can get the recipe for making your own puffy paint: Early Childhood Resources

The designs you create can be simple and free or intricate and specific.



Happiness is Homemade

From Get your mess on!

 

On glass project at Homework

 

Alisa Burke

From The Lovely Lifestyle

 

One last tip in case you make a mess when you are painting and creating with puffy paint: How to Remove Puffy Paint From Clothes.

Linked up at Tuesday Tots

Art and Craft and learning

How does art and craft help children's learning?

This list is by no means complete but just some of the areas that are developed through artistic endeavours.

NUMERACY
Measuring, counting, shape, pattern, size
LITERACY
Speaking and listening, story telling about the art work
ART SKILLS
Pattern, texture, tactile sense, design, creativity, expression
FINE and GROSS MOTOR SKILLS
Holding implements, manipulating tools, developing strength, tactile awareness, eye and hand co-ordination, general co-ordination,
COGNITIVE
Develops thinking skills: decision making, visual thinking, information processing
FEELINGS
Self expression, self esteem, sensory awareness,
SOCIAL SKILLS
Sharing art equipment, sharing space, non competitive activity,

 

Stick crafts: Weeping willow wreaths

Sticks can be large or small from the forest or the beach. Driftwood has a beautiful silver grey colour, faded by sea and sun. Willow is soft and pliable. There is so much that we can create from sticks...


Willow Wreath by Idyll Home

Today we are focusing on willow craft which is the shaping and tying of weeping willow branches.
RESOURCES:
Make a Willow Wreath with great instructions by Jo and Sally at Miy Diy                    

  



 

MAKING A WILLOW HEART (a more advanced activity):

Papier mache

Have you ever wondered how to do papier mache? Here you will find out all about it through simple steps and also a video tutorial.

Helmut mask made from papier mache and then painted

WHAT IS PAPIER MACHE?: Papier Mache means chewed paper in French.

This method involves gluing paper strips on top of each other.

• A form of support is needed, such as the balloon which was used above and in the video below.
• Cut or tear the paper into strips.
• Soak the strips in the paste until covered.
• The saturated strips are then placed on the support eg balloon and allowed to dry.
• Once fully dried, the papier mache can be cut or painted.

Children's papier mache class with Rosemary

Painting the dried papier mache at THIS PLAYGROUND

GET THE GLUE RECIPE: Papier mache

Painting straight from the tube

Here is a painting activity that is a bit different and not too messy as it does not require brushes and water

Set up: - black paper or dark brown paper or dark cardboard
- cheap squeezy paints both thick and thin in a variety of bright colours. (I buy these from the $2.00 shops)

What I noticed:
- the children all love it
- easy to set up
- great painting intro to kids and parents who are not yet use to messy play
- develops fine motor skills
- children need to be able to squeeze and move the tube at the same time and some children may find this a big challenge. These children may squeeze a big blob of paint on the on spot and then start using their fingers to move the paint around so have wash up facilities nearby.

Safety:
- the lids on these paints are tiny and could easily be swallowed by young children so watch where they are put.

Welcome to early play art

What you will find here: Art projects for kids. The ideas are geared to pre-schoolers but could also be used for older children or anyone interested in art.

Arts and crafts bring together creativity and learning.

Art, for me, is all about the process and treating everyone as an artist. With kids this really develops their own innate creativity.
Just a few reminders here for when I need to find some creative, fun ideas to do with young artists... that's how this site started and I hope that's what you find here too.

"The important thing is to create." Pablo Picasso