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The Complete guide to

Educational Arts and Crafts Projects for Kids

Building your Childs Creativity and Self Esteem thru

Art Projects

by: Faige Kobre

copyright 2008

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Table of Contents Why art 3 How kids grow 6 How to apply developmental ideas 10 Applying developmental ideas to art 11 Crafts and art- what’s the difference? 13 Ages and stages of children 15 The adult’s role 18 Projects and categories 20 Materials 22 Process-only art products 23 Decoupage 25 Mosaics 27 Paper mache 28 Process-only art activities 30-39 Pointers on projects 40 Rosh Hashana 41 Sukkot/ Simchat Torah 43 Halloween 47 Thanksgiving 50 Hanukkah 53 Xmas 55 Kwanzaa 59 New Years 61 Mardi gras 63 Valentine’s Day 65 Tu B’shvat 67 Purim 69 Passover 73 Easter 75 Yom Ha’atzmaut 77 St. Patrick’s Day 78 Mother’s Day 80 Shavuot 82 Father’s Day 84 July 4th 86 Fall 88 Winter 91 Spring 93 Summer 95 Thinking up your own projects 97

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Welcome to the definitive parents guide to building your child’s self esteem and creativity through art.

As you may already know this book is not the typical compilation of crafts

activities that you do with your children.

If you are reading this I can safely assume that you are a parent, a teacher or an adult involved with young children. Not only that but you are interested in presenting art activities to the children in a way that does not stifle them but encourages growth.

And you are ready to use art as a conduit towards growth.

Why do your give your children art?

Is it because it lets you spend time together with them? Is it because they love to cut and paste and glue? Is it because you need to keep them busy as it helps them with boredom? Is it because you think it’s good for them? How about all of the above? If you said yes! Than you’re right. Art is good for them, (if done correctly it can help them grow and gain special skills that will give them an edge in life.) Art does keep kids busy and not bored and is certainly is a great way to spend quality time together.

So how is it that art can impart skills besides for the often quoted fine motor coordination

As we all know it is always best to teach children at the level they are at. To

get down to their vantage point. I’m not talking about dumbing things down or teaching calculus or bio to young children in a more elementary fashion because we know that no matter how clear we make it, they are not anywhere near ready to learn any of that stuff.

There is a famous book called “Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus” as I’m sure you are well familiar. It teaches us the concept that men and women are different species from each other and therefore act and think differently.

I would like to suggest an additional premise, that children are from Saturn (or any other planet) because when children get to us here on Earth its really like they are coming from a different planet.

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Our job (if we choose to accept it) is to teach them how we do things on this planet.

Some things they learn naturally like walking, and talking. Others they

have to be taught like how to use utensils and how to be potty trained.

Problems start however, when we expect our children to know what we know before they are ready for it and how to behave before they can really behave and what is and isn’t acceptable.

There was a recent study that came out expressing shock at how many

parents had absolutely no idea of what to expect from their children at very young ages. This is probably because we are judging our children against our adult measure and don’t realize that they can only learn things they are ready for.

Really good educators of children know and understand that children develop differently than adults and have expectations that match the children’s development.

But all of us need to understand how children develop so that the educational activities they are given will fit with their level.

A number of years ago I read a marketing book about the wildly popular children’s TV show “Blues Clues”

The book described from a marketing perspective what went into the success of the show. The show had a group of child development experts employed. Before anything they did on the show, any event or activity it was analyzed by these experts with a fine tooth comb to see if it was appropriate for their audience.

They did many test runs using small children as focus groups to see how they would react to each episode.

They crept into the small children’s minds and created shows that were ideally suited to them. And it showed in its wild popularity.

Very often shows, books and activities are not done with the children’s developmental stages in mind and the concepts often sail over the children’s heads. I’m sure you’ve seen many such books or T.V. shows that may have a lot of color and excitement but boy do they miss the point.

I remember my children’s favorite book “Goodnight Moon” that I had to read to them every night at bedtime. A friend of mine complained to me once that that book was the only one her child wanted every night. The mother was bored.

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Her child however, needed that wonderful classic children’s book for its simplicity, repetition and plain understanding of what children this age need. The author understood exactly who she was writing for. That’s why it was such a success and continues to be so 50 years after its publication. Every really successful preschool teacher, director, author or children’s television show producer knows that they must understand how children develop before giving the children what they need. (If they want it to really resonate with their audience of young children)

Before diving into art itself I have laid out a bit of a bit of background theory to help you understand where your child is coming. This will help you understand them better and help you understand why certain art works for the benefit of their development and others don’t.

Even though the information is a bit theoretical stick with it, it’s brief and will give you important insight and understanding.

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A Bit of Background Theory

In order to understand how our minds work and those of our children, we need to go to the expert researchers of child development. Psychologists have studied the human mind and child development psychologists studied specifically how children develop.

I have therefore included a very short synopsis of the findings of two very well known child psychologists who helped us shed light on the mysterious workings of the minds our children.

The first one we will discuss was the well known psychologist named Jean Piaget. His field of study was more precisely, how children come to know. (not facts they gain from textbooks, but life knowledge)

While working in his lab over the years, he became intensely interested in how children actually think. He noticed the difference between answers given by younger children and those given by their older peers, and realized that it was not because the younger children were any less intelligent, but because they thought differently than the older ones.

Piaget set about performing numerous experiments with young children to learn how they come to acquire their store of information and the stages they go through to acquire it.

From his testing, Piaget identified the following four stages in children’s cognitive (intellectual) development and the period of life in which each will normally occur:

1. Sensory motor stage - Infancy

2. Pre-operational stage - Toddler and Early Childhood

3. Concrete operational - Elementary and Early Adolescence

4. Formal operational state - Adolescence and Adulthood

Through thousands of experiments and studies, Piaget discovered that children learn best by actually doing and working out problems on their own, actually working through solutions. And he learned that is mainly through concrete experiences that they will develop to the next level.

By spoon feeding the children they will learn only facts not how to discover solutions on their own.

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We know from Piaget how important sensory experiences are and how much better children can integrate knowledge and book learning when they have concrete examples to tie into the theoretical.

I can actually bring you a real live example from my own experience.

“I was never good in math in school and it followed me into adulthood. When I was in graduate school I was taking a class called Math for teachers. We were using manipulatives to learn how to teach kids fractions and we were adding and subtracting the fractions. As I played around with the stuff all of a sudden things that I had struggled with so many years before suddenly became clear because I had the concrete materials right in front of me to manipulate.”(How sad when teachers don’t realize what children need to learn better)

So from Piaget we know….children learn through sensory experiences and handling many objects.

Another significant figure in the area of children’s development was Erik Erickson. He was a well known psychologist who discovered the eight stages of social and emotional development of man starting with infants.

According to Erickson the socialization process consists of eight stages of man. His eight stages were formulated through wide ranging experience in psychotherapy. Each stage is regarded by Erickson as a “psychosocial crisis” that demands resolutions before the next stage can be satisfactorily negotiated. Just as a building cannot stand on shaky foundation so to the child must learn to mange each crisis before being able to mange the next one.

The 8 stages of man:

1. Trust vs. Mistrust (Infancy) (birth t-18 months)

Erickson also referred to infancy as the Oral Sensory Stage (as anyone might who watches a baby put everything in her mouth) where the major emphasis is on the mother's positive and loving care for the child, with a big emphasis on visual contact and touch

If we pass successfully through this period of life, we will learn to trust that life is basically okay and have basic confidence in the future. If we fail to experience trust and are constantly frustrated because our needs are not met, we may end up with a deep-seated feeling of worthlessness and a mistrust of the world in general

Incidentally, many studies of suicides and suicide attempts point to the importance of the early years in developing the basic belief that the world is trustworthy and that every individual has a right to be here. Not surprisingly, the most significant relationship is with the maternal parent, or whoever is our most significant and constant caregiver.

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2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (Ages 18 mo-3)

During this stage we learn to master skills for ourselves. Not only do we learn to walk, talk and feed ourselves, we are learning finer motor development as well as the much appreciated toilet training. Here we have the opportunity to build self-esteem and autonomy as we gain more control over our bodies and acquire new skills, learning right from wrong. And one of our skills during the "Terrible Two's" is our ability to use the powerful word "NO!" It may be pain for parents, but it develops important skills of the will.

It is also during this stage, however, that we can be very vulnerable. If we're shamed in the process of toilet training or in learning other important skills, we may feel great shame and doubt of our capabilities and suffer low self-esteem as a result.

The most significant relationships are with parents.

3. Initiative vs. Guilt (Ages 3-5)

During this period we experience a desire to copy the adults around us and take initiative in creating play situations. We make up stories with Barbie's and Ken's, toy phones and miniature cars, playing out roles in a trial universe, experimenting with the blueprint for what we believe it means to be an adult. We also begin to use that wonderful word for exploring the world—"WHY?"

The most significant relationship is with the basic family. But outsider educators have a great impact in encouraging initiative

4. Industry vs. Inferiority (6-12)

During this stage, often called the Latency, we are capable of learning, creating and accomplishing numerous new skills and knowledge, thus developing a sense of industry. This is also a very social stage of development and if we experience unresolved feelings of inadequacy and inferiority among our peers, we can have serious problems in terms of competence and self-esteem.

As the world expands a bit, our most significant relationship is with the school and neighborhood. Parents are no longer the complete authorities they once were, although they are still important.

5. Identity vs. Role Confusion (12-18)

Up to this stage, according to Erickson, development mostly depends upon what is done to us. From here on out, development depends primarily upon what we do. And while adolescence is a stage at which we are neither a child nor an adult, life is definitely getting more complex as we attempt to find our own identity, struggle with social interactions, and grapple with moral issues

Our task is to discover who we are as individuals separate from our family of origin and as members of a wider society. Unfortunately for those around us, in this process many of us go into a period of withdrawing from responsibilities, which Erickson called a "moratorium." And if we are unsuccessful in navigating this stage, we will experience role confusion and upheaval

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.A significant task for us is to establish a philosophy of life and in this process we tend to think in terms of ideals, which are conflict free, rather than reality, which is not. The problem is that we don't have much experience and find it easy to substitute ideals for experience. However, we can also develop strong devotion to friends and causes. It is no surprise that our most significant relationships are with peer groups.

(The next three are adult stages)

6. Intimacy vs. Isolation

7. Generativity vs. Stagnation

8. Ego Integrity vs. Despair

Of course many of the stages are not exact and a five year old can still be struggling with issues of a 3 yr old. Since children learn new skills at every age and stage, and have different needs at every age, they therefore struggle anew at each stage with different conflicts.

However, a child whose needs have been adequately met sees the world as a safe place feels a sense of trust and is ready to deal with his next stage of development in a functional manner.

When children are allowed to grow, create and learn according to their developmental age, they gain a healthy sense of self - worth, which leads them to feel that they can succeed in any endeavor they may set out to do.

From the findings of both Piaget, and Erickson we learn that some crucial points regarding children’s learning and developmental needs to be developed at a young age.

We can determine that there are certain very important skills we need our children to develop in order to be successful in school and in life. Skills in life need to be developed at the right time. And the time to develop the skills we will be talking about is in the preschool and early elementary years. If we miss this time, it’s extremely difficult to develop the proper skills at a later time.

For example: A child that is often given a lot of criticism will feel really poorly about herself and it will take much longer to accept herself in later years. It’s like hardening clay. When it’s soft and malleable you can form what you want with it and it will dry the way you formed it. Once dry, however, it is much, much harder to redo.

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How to apply the ideas of Piaget and Erickson:

From the finding of Erickson and Piaget there are five main categories that we have deduced children need to work on.

1-A good self esteem – A good self esteem is vital for children. It is what makes them feel that they can succeed at anything they set out to learn or accomplish.

2-Critical thinking skills - The older a child becomes, the more s/he is called upon to use critical thinking skills in school (especially in areas like math).

3-Initiative- As children grow, they need to learn to make all types of choices. This requires the confidence and the experience of knowing that they are capable of making the right choices and that if their choices are not right, they can always correct them. This gives them the initiative to make many choices.

4-A sense of independence - Without allowing children to do whatever they want, children need to gain autonomy to help them become responsible human beings, which will invariably help them succeed throughout their school years. (and life) without being tied to an adults apron strings.

5-Creativity – Creativity is a very crucial skill for kids to develop especially in today’s day and age where creativity is at a premium. I read a book recently that quoted a study that said even prestigious medical schools are giving art classes to hone their student’s powers of observation.

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How to Apply these Concepts to Art:

Now that we are more knowledgeable of what skills children need to develop than hopefully we can analyze all of the activities they do to see if they fit these criteria.

So we can determine that the components needed in a good art project are to:

1. Help the children develop a good self esteem. 2. Allow them to think and solve problems. 3. Let them grow wise as they make choices by taking initiative. 4. Allow them to develop a sense of autonomy and independence. 5. And give them room for their creativity to blossom.

By doing art in a developmentally appropriate manner in what I call Educational Art the children will incorporate all of the above skills.

However traditional arts and crafts are not Educational Art, can undermine all of the above and it is important to know why.

What’s wrong with traditional arts and crafts?

Think about it for a minute. Aren’t most traditional arts and crafts projects…. copycat projects? Cute little ideas….straight from the adult’s imaginations that encourages children to follow exact directions and in general to be little robots?

They are….

1. Not age - appropriate. 2. Conceived of by adults 3. Projects that all look exactly alike. 4. Copies of an adult model

Take any one of the number of projects that your child has brought home from school, or you have seen on the internet, or is sold in prepackaged form in any art store or stuff that you remember yourself doing…..and you will notice.

o Either there is a picture to copy o Or a model that is supposed to look like the finished project o There is no way for your child to have conceived of this idea on her own o There is no initiative as there are no choices (except maybe what color crayon to

use) o No thinking skills o No problem solving o Certainly no creativity

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ARTS & CRAFTS though the activity of choice for many, many preschool classrooms and home environments totally undermines most of the basic skills needed for children.

So what happens to many, many kids who just do the traditional arts and crafts is

1. The feel really badly about themselves because they feel they are not trusted to create on their own.

2. The lose their initiative because they are waiting for directions 3. They lose confidence because only what is presented is

considered correct 4. They feel that they are no good in art and end up being the

adults who say “Oh! me I can’t draw straight line”

Many of these feelings are unconscious and children cannot tap into them until they grow up and can remember and verbalize how they felt about these projects.

If this is really the case why do SOO many people do arts and crafts with children this way?

I have some suggestions of how this total misunderstanding of what art happened

1 Our society likes success, winning and finished products. Many children’s things do not look perfect enough for society.

2 Lack of knowledge of what’s wrong with these crafts. 3 A feeling of helplessness as to what can be an alternative. 4 Thinking that by giving children projects that make them

follow directions they are learning important direction following skills.

5 Assuming that anything having to do with coloring and pasting must be creative

6 Inability to let children be children 7 Worried about others will say if the artwork looks messy. 8 Thinking that the only skills young children need to develop

area fine motor skills

So how can educational art be so much better?

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Crafts or art

What’s the difference?

Crafts are very popular in the adult world. Woodworking, beading, flower making, jewelry…..…..the list of crafts enjoyed by adults all over the world goes on and on.

Problem is adults that want children to involved with art which is a good thing do not realize that most crafts are for adults not kids.

Since most children cannot developmentally be creative on their own in adults crafts the notion became that they just have to follow the adult’s crafts and all will be fine.

Their crafts project than became what we call copycat projects or arts and crafts projects as they are better known….

Crafts for kids has become projects that are copies of adult models or ideas

Art on the other hand is art.

While crafts are working in specific mediums to make “things” art just makes art…for art’s sake. It comes from within and does not have as much of a structure as crafts does which is why so many turn to crafts and stay away from art.

People who have always been given models to copy can never feel that they can do art because they have learned the “They are no good in art” and “they can’t draw a straight line” and have no direction how to create good art.

Art however, when done with young children is a wonderful conduit to not just being more artistic but bringing out all of those qualities that we discussed earlier that help them grow.

It helps the children develop a good self esteem, allows them to think and solve problems, lets them grow wise as they make good choices, allows them to develop a sense of autonomy and independence and gives them room for their creativity to blossom

Not only that, but when art is added to a curriculum learning environment in a school or home schooling environment this helps the learning itself stick and become part of what they will remember most in later life.

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What falls under the banner of art

There are 4 basic art activities that are endless in their possibilities and opportunity for growth. They are activities that when given to children on a consistent basis with good guidelines promote untold creativity, satisfaction, fun and build up self esteem tremendously. We will not however be discussing these 4 pure art mediums in this book as this book is project based… but they are

Clay…..Drawing…..Collage…….Painting

Each of these 4 activities is very open ended with no preconceived end in mind. They do however need guidelines and motivation and once given there are endless activities that can be done with these medium.

For the parents and teachers who do not yet know how to guide their children through these activities to give them good art experiences there is a need to make projects for holidays and other themes.

This book addresses those needs. It is a book based on a projects approach which goes thru the holidays and seasons giving Educational Art activities for every holiday and season.

Before jumping right into the projects themselves there are two more topics that will be very helpful for you to read thru.

The first is what to expect from the different ages and stages of your children and the second will explain what the adult role in art should be, how you can relate to your child’s art and it will also help enhance their art experiences.

A child that develops skills in her/his early years that lets him think, solve problems confidently, be creative, be a self starter….will have that extra edge needed to be successful in school and life.

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What to Expect From Different Ages:

The ages and stages discussed here refer to natural art like drawing and collage.

Of course it is self evident that when one is doing projects with kids one needs to be aware that a 3 yr old and a 5 year old will make very different things. They may be given the same project but will have different skills to be able to glue and cut etc.

The point is just let them be and create at their levels.

If however, you see a 5 yr old consistently creating at a 3 yr old level, it may be time to check out if there are any underlying problems.

Even during the relatively brief span of the preschool years, there is a wide range of skills that children are capable of, and so, you need to know what to expect of a child at each age. What a five-year-old can do is usually not possible for a three-year-old.

One of the biggest challenges of parenthood is expecting too much from our children too soon.

We would already like our 2 and 3 year olds to be creating like a 5 or 6 year old and it may take a year or two to see any representational work from these young children.

The challenge of allowing a 2 year old or even 3 year old to keep doing the same things over and over again before proceeding to the next stage is indeed quite a challenge for us.

One needs lots of patience until we see any form of actual representation forming under a child’s hands.

It is not until around 4 or sometimes 5 year of age that children want to naturally create artwork that actually looks like something representational.

At 2 and 3 and a bit of 4 they are still learning the materials, enjoying sensory activities and solving problems at their level. (like where should they put this circle and how much paint should they use)

Drawing and other forms of art are often good indications of a child’s level of growth. Drawings, or even collages, reflect the level of cognitive development and often reveal how a child deals with information he absorbs from the world around him.

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Children’s drawing generally follows a certain progression that is a constant in societies across around the world. Just as almost all children crawl before they walk, so, too, they scribble before they draw. Their drawings will differ, however, depending on their environment and the instruments of art available to them.

All children experiencing normal development progress through the same basic stages; it is only the pace of progression that varies from child to child. Of course, the boundary between one stage and the next is not sharply defined, and so, the transitions between stages will usually be fluid rather than abrupt.

Drawing involves much more than a mere attempt at visual representation of life. Children’s drawings do not copy nature as adults know it and they often draw simply because the activity itself is pleasurable. Trying to teach children how to make representational objects at too early a stage is mostly an exercise in futility and only serves to stifle their natural creative impulse. It first becomes appropriate to actually try to teach children skills when they reach 9-10 years of age.

If they have been doing Educational Art the developmentally appropriate way by that late age their artwork will be so developed already on their own that they will just fly with it. Until children reach approximately 10 years of age, their artwork accurately reflects their intellectual growth. From that point on, it becomes much harder to chart their development based on the art they produce.

With this introduction, we will now outline what you can expect a child to be capable of at each age of the preschool years.

Two-year-olds:

Children at age two are, developmentally, really still babies and are just coming in contact for the first time (if you allow them) with many art materials. They need to learn what markers and crayons and other materials are. They can mush a little, make some marks with a paintbrush and make random marks on their papers. Anyone who expects more than this from kids at this age is fooling himself and not tuning in to the children's real needs. They need a tremendous amount of sensory play, mushing, with sand, water, glue, etc.

Three-year-olds:

Three years of age is when most children have their first experience with school. They are still making random marks on their papers and are learning that they should not write on walls (at least theoretically!).

They are really experiencing paint, markers, clay and other materials for the first time. They are learning that glue makes things stick to paper, that

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paintbrushes dipped in paint make color on paper and that scissors are good for cutting things.

Children at age three usually progress from random scribbling to controlled scribbling at some point towards the middle of the school year. The successful teacher understands that children at this age are not ready for ANYTHING representational.

Four-year-olds:

Children at this age have been doing controlled scribbling for some time and are beginning to make recognizable objects. You will start seeing some typical head/feet representation, and they will be controlling their collages a bit more than they did at age three.

Five-year-olds:

This is probably the most satisfying age group for many preschool teachers to work with. Almost all children at this age are doing representational artwork and are adding other recognizable objects to their work. They are engaged in much more sophisticated thinking and their collages and clay work can get quite elaborate.

All ages after five are usually elementary level school children who will be very open and receptive to working this way.

Yet, not even children of this age are capable, on their own, of thinking up some of the ideas for projects that teachers in the traditional mold create for them to copy. They can come up with their own ideas and probably won’t match any adults thinking.

Children whose first experiences with art begin after age five will typically progress through the stages of years 3-5 much more quickly than other children, often completing them in a few months time. Although the need to actually go through all of the stages exists, he will very quickly catch up with his peers. Thus, he may begin by making random marks, then move on to covering the whole page with paint and making designs and very rapidly progress to making real representational pictures.

How sad it would be if these children never got to show their personalities and capabilities if all they did were

standard arts and crafts.

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The Adults Role

Of course your first role would be the preparing the materials in the most attractive and safest way possible. Encouraging the children to cleanup after themselves is also very important. If there is a place to put their artwork when they are done, they will be more responsible and do it and if cleaning supplies are accessible they will also clean up readily.

The second function would be for you the adult to be a facilitator of growth. Of course, we know that telling a child that his artwork is ugly or no good would be very detrimental to the child.

Even fixing up the child’s work to your standards is very destructive as this makes them feel that their work is not good enough.

Holding up another siblings work to show is also inappropriate because it fosters unhealthy competition and inferior feelings in the other children.

Below are some other ways of interacting with children and their art that is unproductive followed by ways productive interaction with children and their artwork. We present the negative first as it is what most of us are used to.

Of course no one can be tuned-in 100% of the time, and nothing will happen if you react improperly once in a while (so long as it’s once in a while . . .).

Types of comments to children and why to avoid them

COMPLIMENTING: “That’s beautiful...” “That’s very good...” etc. Of course, we all do this and think we are doing what is best. However telling a child their work is beautiful all of the time is overused and pat. They are compliments that lack sincerity and really don’t address the child’s efforts. A child may well begin to wonder how it is that his representational man and his sister’s scribbles elicit the same reaction, and will begin doubting your sincerity.

VALUING: “I like that”. Children’s art should not be done to please adults. This shows a value for the product over the process.

QUESTIONING: “What is that?” Many young children cannot verbalize what they have made or are not even ready to make representational drawings

CORRECTING: “A person does not have 3 heads,” etc. Children’s art is not supposed to copy the real world. It is experimentation with materials and art media and children tend to see the world differently than adults do anyway.

So what should you say and do?

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1. The adult is there to help the child make choices........“Which color would you like to use? Would you like a large circle or a small circle? What are you going to

do on this large empty paper?

2. The adult is there to help the children solve problems.

“I see your piece is not sticking to the paper, what can you do about that?” “You want to put this ribbon on your flag but it is too long, how can we figure out the right size?” “You want to make pink with your paint colors? What mixtures have you tried so far?”

3. The adult is there if the children need help or just want to talk.

4. The adult is there to comment on their work in order to facilitate growth

Following are examples of comments that make the child feel that you really care about what he/she does and allows him/her to look at his/her own artwork more critically:

“I see you used 2 colors”

“I noticed you used a lot of blue”

“You made many thick lines alongside some wavy lines.”

“I’ve noticed that you repeated this pattern a few times.”

“You used a lot of white space.”

“You covered the whole paper this time with paint.”

“I see you were moving your arms in circles as you drew.”

All you really have to do is really look at the artwork and comment on what you see.

Many times you can just ask the child “would you like to tell me about it?” and, sometimes, if they want you can write down what they tell you to.

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Projects

IT VERY IMPORTANT TO READ THIS BEFORE BEGINNING THE PROJECTS

To find art projects that fit under the umbrella of Educational Art aside from using projects from my own experience as a former preschool teacher and director, I sifted through many books and websites and took out or modified what I deemed appropriate.

There are loads of websites and books that are full of traditional arts and

crafts and at first glance someone interested in Educational Art may think there is nothing there for them but if you know what to look for you can find some gems in each of them. I did the work for you

This is by no means exhaustive and feel free to take ideas from this book, expand on them and get your own creative juices flowing by helping your kids be creative.

One idea can spark another and you will soon be able to look at a crafts site or book and know which activities are truly the educational ones for kids. At the end of the project there is a short synopsis of how to figure out what project you can think of on your own if there is nothing listed here for an even or day that you would like to make a project for.

Projects that are developmentally appropriate that fit under the umbrella of Educational Art can basically be divided into five categories.

Below I will explain the 5 categories in detail. When going through the list of activities for each holiday or special day you will see that they are listed as follows. Each activity is listed as the Idea. Then it says which of the 5 Categories of activity it is. Then Materials are listed. (There is a separate list of materials that should be referred to when doing activities that are cafeteria style. Even though there are always specific materials listed under each activity, by referring back to the materials list you can add your own ideas or substitute from the available materials in your arsenal of art supplies.) After the materials come the Directions. Most of the directions are already explained in the categories section. Anything extra is explained here.

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All of these projects have an end product in mind as opposed to the four

main art mediums like drawing, painting, collage and modeling which are solely from the individual’s imagination.

There are many wonderful art activities that are not listed here because we are concentrating on making projects that have an end goal in mind to celebrate some sort of holiday or season 5 categories and what they mean

1. Cafeteria style 2. Process art products 3. Process art products with prepared shapes 4. Decorations 5. Transformed art

Even though there are art purists that believe ONLY in process only art

where the child does only art for art sakes, I believe there is definitely a place for projects in Educational Art as long as its are done with the correct developmental skills and stages in mind. (Which is what we have attempted to do here.)

Below are detailed explanations of the categories

Cafeteria style:

Cafeteria style gets its name from its namesake the cafeteria. Projects that offer an array of choices to help create the project in mind.

In cafeteria style activities the adult decides the end product but not the way it should look.

Good example: A puppet: The adult can give the children the base of the puppet and then a whole array of materials to decorate with, leaving lots of room for creative thought and planning and decision making. Poor example: A squirrel. The adult decides specifically to make a squirrel which totally limits the child to following exactly how the adult has created the squirrel. Squirrels leave very little room for creativity and so does not fit into the criteria of Educational Art.

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Set up: It is often best to have the materials set up on one table or shelf and another table for the children to work at. If there is not enough room or the children are too young to work that way, then just have all the materials at one table.

You may want to save the Styrofoam flat containers that chicken, meat and some fruits and vegetable come in to use them for arranging the materials available for the children to work with. Of course if those are not accessible you can use plain paper plates. (or shoebox covers etc.)

It is important to have the materials separated from one another and not thrown together all in a jumble so the children can see what is available and have it nice and organized.

If children are not used to working this way and are sitting at the activity stumped and unable to move on then see suggestions in the section on the adult’s role in children’s art.

The children should be told what product they are going to make, given the base items and then told to choose what they are going to use to create their project with. (Once they get the hang of this method they will need very little prompting) Some kids like to use a tray to collect what they will need. Others will keep going back to the main table (or if the materials are right there they can use as needed.)

I am going to present a list of materials that are often used in cafeteria style activities. It is a good idea to start collecting and storing them to have on hand.

In the activity section next to each cafeteria style activity I will list some specific materials that I feel are suggestive of that activity. However it is by no means exhaustive and you should definitely come back to this section to look for other materials that you can present to the children. (Remember it’s a creative for you to think of items that can help them be creative)

Also be aware that too much is no good especially for very young children. Do not overwhelm them with too many materials at first.

The older they are, the more you can present and in less finished form. Younger children may need various papers cut into a few different shapes to choose from…older more experienced children may be able to look at a piece of metallic paper, decide what they need out of it and cut it out themselves.

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Materials You do have to store every one of these materials it is just a list to give you ideas of some

of the materials are very helpful in helping the creative process especially when doing projects cafeteria style?

Doilies Tissue paper Felt and felt pieces Material swatches Yarn String Ribbons of all types Trimmings Rick rack Sequins Googly eyes Aluminum foil Buttons Crafts sticks Small tiles Wood shapes Cotton balls Q-tips Bubble wrap Beads Pom poms Feathers Coffee filters Cupcake holders Corrugated cardboard pieces Egg boxes Paper towel rolls Toilet paper rolls Wallpaper samples Pipe cleaners Wax Paper Crafts sticks lace Many of these materials can be used for other activities also. The reason they are listed specifically under cafeteria style projects its because in listing the materials for various activities, I may not have given you items that you have on hand to use so you can refer back to this list to see what you can substitute. You can also add your own ideas for materials to use.

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Process only art products

Process only art is when the children do art like painting and drawing that

has no end goal in mind other than enjoyment and aesthetic awareness.

This is a way to marry process only art with a product as a goal.

These activities allow the children to do activities that are process focused like all of the different wonderful painting activities out there yet once the children are done these art activity projects can be made into cards, placemats, wall hangings etc. That is like killing two birds with one stone. Kids get to use their creativity and sensory skills and then have a real project. (Which many kids do like.)

When you see an activity that says under the category that says process only art product go to the list of Process Only Art activities and choose from that list .

Process only art products with prepared shapes

This is almost exactly as the category above with a little twist.

Instead of doing the activity first and then making it into something, this way you give the child a paper in the shape of whatever you want the project to be and they then do the process only art activity on this paper.

This is often done when the adult wants to specifically give a holiday theme activity and does not want to make a traditional arts and crafts project but wants to do something with the holiday in mind. She therefore uses a shape from the holiday for the children to do process only art on. The shape must be large enough to give the children room to work. Especially if it’s something complicated like a menorah but even simple shapes like circles and triangles can be used.

Decorations: There a few holidays and themes that calls for decorations. These decorations can include some of the process art and various ornaments to string and hang.

There are holidays like Xmas that need decorations for trees and houses and holidays like Sukkot that need wall hangings and stringing decorations.

These activities are purely for decorative purposes

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Transformed art:

These are activities where you take any old box, juice can, glass plate, things made out of wood etc and then use a crafts skills like decoupage, mosaics or at times paper mache to transform the product into a piece of artwork that you can actually use. (These are crafts that can easily be done with young children) Some crafts people call these activities altered art.

I will explain how to do each of these three activities in detail. When an activity calls for transformed art even though I may suggest one of these three to use you can feel free to substitute one of the other two. Sometimes you can combine two of the activities like making an object out of paper mache and then using decoupage to decorate it.

1-Decoupage

Decoupage is the art of decorating objects with cutout pictures and printed designs, then adding a glasslike finish to cover, seal, and protect them. The term comes from the old French word decouper, meaning "to cut out." The origins of this art can be traced to 18th century Italy. From there it spread to England and Northern Europe. In the 19th century, fashionable ladies on the continent used embossed and die cut designs as ornaments for boxes, screens, panels and furniture.

The pictures or paper are glued onto the object you want to transform and then covered by a few layers of glue or a special substance specific for decoupage that gives it a very shiny, glassy, decorative finish. When doing decoupage you will use all sort of picture from many sources: Photographs Pictures from magazines Wrapping paper Pretty napkins Tissue paper Cellophane Wallpaper scraps any pretty and attractive pieces of paper that you may like. You can use slightly watered down regular white glue to gloss over your items or you can purchase something more commercial like modpodge.

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Getting Started

All kinds of surfaces can be decoupage: Wood, tin, paper mache, ceramics, bamboo, candles, and more!

1. Prepare the surface Be sure the surface is clean, smooth, and dry. Sand wood, terra cotta, or tin surfaces. If desired, base coat in a coordinating color.

2. Prepare Prints Cut out prints with small sharp scissors. You can also use embroidery scissors, cuticle scissors, or decoupage scissors with curved blades.

3. Glue prints to surface Apply glue to the back of the print using brush, or foam brush or fingers. Position print on surface and press with fingers to work out any air bubbles. Let print set up a few minutes, then clean up edges with a damp paper towel. Let dry.

4. Apply Finish Apply decoupage finish to the entire project using a flat or sponge brush. Allow to dry, sand, and apply a second coat of finish. Two are sufficient, but if you want a more traditional look apply 4 - 6 more coats, sand, and then polish with steel wool.

Older children will plan more carefully but each child has to look at the item

and then at papers she or he has chosen to use and then glue each individual piece of paper onto the chosen container. They should glue the pieces onto the backs of the papers themselves and then and press onto the container or boxes. It does not matter if the pictures overlap.

The sandpaper can be used to smooth down any rough edges of paper sticking up. Once done have the children use either slightly watered down glue or decoupage medium let them paint over whole item with glue. Here’s where patience comes in. The items need a few coats of glue and need to dry in between so make sure you do not choose this activity when you want something finished immediately. Each coat must be perfectly dry before the next coat gets put on. You will know it is done until you can run your hand over the item and not feel the surface of the papers or when you like the way it looks

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2-Mosaics

Mosaics have been a creative way to enhance decor as long as people have been collecting rocks and breaking pottery. Some of the earliest mosaics can be traced back four thousand years B.C. when people pushed clay into their walls for decoration and protection. The Greeks used worn pebbles to mosaic their floors. It was common practice in Byzantium to use mosaics to illuminate the ceilings of churches. Mosaics were even preserved in the floors and walls of Pompeii.

In our modern times architects and designers use computers to create mosaic patterns and envision their effect in homes and buildings. However, it is still rare to find two identical mosaics.

For our purposes we are not going to be using the traditional craft of mosaics that need real grout and hard pieces. We will be substituting for the most part seeds, tissue paper pieces or other items that you can think if you do not have small tiles or colored pieces of stones.

When I say mosaics I am referring to the idea of using very small items and arranging them very close together to form a design. To decorate various item you can use Seeds Small pieces of tissue paper crumpled up Tiny pieces of different types of cut up papers Small beads Crushed eggshells with food coloring added

This is just another way to transform regular everyday items into beautiful usable items that can often be given for gifts

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3 -Paper Mache

With paper mache you can create many items. OR you can use it to cover over old items to transform them into art.

It can take a while to make as you need to allow layers to dry before going

on to the next one. Often a project can take up to a week. (It’s great if you want an ongoing project but not if you need something quick)

To make basic paper mache you need three basic things. Paper, some form of mold and some kind of paste. For paper you can use: Old newspapers cut into strips Paper towels cut into strips Brown paper towels cut into strips There are a few different pastes you can use

1. Regular glue mixed with glue. One part water to two parts glue. 2. Wallpaper paste. Just follow directions and use a drop less water than

instructed. If too thick add bit more water 3. Liquid starch

4. Mix one part flour with about 2 parts of water until you get a consistency like thick glue. Add more water or flour as necessary. Mix well to get out all the bumps. Add a few tablespoons of salt to help prevent mold! Or you can even use strips of adhesives from the medical supply store, just wet them and apply. Molds

You can create your own mold by crushing a bunch of newspapers or aluminum foil into a shape and then paper macheing over it.

To make your own mold instead of using aluminum foil or bunched up newspaper: Soak pieces of paper (about 1" square) overnight in warm water till soft. Follow directions on wallpaper paste for mixing. Add a small amount of wallpaper paste to the paper mixture and stir. Strain excess water from a handful of the pulp. With your hands, gently squeeze out most of the water and place it in the plastic container.

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Now the pulp is ready to work. Form jewelry, ornaments, etc. After drying, objects may be painted with acrylic paints.

You can use any old item you’d like and paper mache over it.

Another popular way of paper macheing is blowing up a balloon, paper macheing over it and then busting it when the paper mache is dry. Sometime directions call for inserting things like beans or other sound making items into the balloon before paper macheing. Directions:

Tear newspaper into strips. Dip one piece of newspaper at a time into prepared paper mache paste. Hold the strip over the paste bowl and run it through your fingers to

squeeze off excess paste. Dip one piece in paste at a time squeeze off excess and smooth down over

mold with fingers completely cover your creation with a layer of newspaper strips. They should all be over-lapping.

After one layer is applied, let it dry about 24 hours. Add another layer of newspaper strips and let dry another 24 hours Repeat this process until you get the desired effect, but you should have at

least three layers. Paint, decoupage or decorate.

Tips

Tear the newspaper into strips -- do not cut it!

Be generous when dipping the newspaper strips into the paste -- you want each piece thoroughly saturated!

Let each layer dry completely before adding another.

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Process only art activities

The activities in this section can be used for the projects labeled process only art activities.

There are art purists that believe that art should only be done with children that is for the process only and not the product.

These activities are not product focused but concentrate on the process of the activity itself. However these pieces of artwork can then used to be made into projects like cards, wall hangings, placemats, book covers, wrapping paper etc.

I only have a few of these activities listed here. Some of my resources were the website www.kinderart.com a website where you can find lots of wonderful art activities. Another one was www.kid-at-art.com. I also used some of the work of Maryann F. Kohl who I think is the queen of process only art. I also reference Sherri Osborn at about.com that does mostly traditional crafts but has some good educational art also.

I try to use either white or manila colored heavier tag board (cardstock) for many of the projects because they are thicker and hold up much better. There are two sizes the standard 8x11 and the larger ones are about 11x18.

Unless you are only using simple construction paper or other light papers, glue works better than glue sticks. It sticks better. The children can use small glue brushes, sometimes paintbrushes if they are cleaned very well afterwards, crafts sticks or their fingers to put the glue on.

If they use their fingers be aware that they spend a lot of their time peeling off dried glue from their fingers.

If you’d like there is always the option of glue straight from small glue squeeze bottles.

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Blotto Art

MATERIALS:

• Paper (the thicker the better)about 11x18 • Small pieces of paper cut into squares and rectangles • Tempera paint • Scissors • Glue

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cut a number of paper squares and rectangles of various sizes. 5" by 5", 7" x 8", 3" by 2" etc.

2. Crease each paper square in the middle so that later you can fold them easily.

3. Sprinkle a few drops of paint onto one side of the crease. 4. Fold the paper on the creased line with the paint inside. 5. Press down with your hand. 6. When the paper is opened, strange and interesting shapes will appear. 7. Work with the blottos and arrange them into a larger picture, allowing

whatever comes into your mind to take over. 8. Glue the blottos down onto a larger paper if you wish to create a big blotto

work of art!

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Crayon Crackle Painting MATERIALS:

• White copy paper • Crayons all colors • Paintbrushes • Water • Black paint a bit thinned • Glue

DIRECTIONS:

1. Have the children make drawings and picture on the white copy paper 2. When done let them crumple the pages and then smooth them out. 3. Have them then paint over their pictures with the watered down black

paint. The paint will fill in all the white spaces and give a crackle effect

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Scratch Art

MATERIALS:

• Manila tag board • Crayons • Black paint • Wooden skewers

DIRECTIONS:

1. Have children color entire paper with bright colors 2. Cover entire picture with black paint. Make sure its not too thick so that it

will not crack when it dries 3. Once paint is dried each child can take a wooden sewer and scrape off a

design. 4. It might make it easier for the children to see what they are scratching off

if they make the design first with a pen and then scratch off over the pen marks

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Spreading paint with a Popsicle stick

MATERIALS:

• A few bowls with different colored paint • Spoons for bowls of paint • Wax paper • Popsicle sticks (2) • Masking tape • White construction paper (large is better)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Put construction paper on table 2. Have children choose some paint from bowl and drop a few teaspoons of

paint onto paper. 3. Cover paper with wax paper that is larger than construction paper and

tape to the table. 4. Let the children mush the different colors on the wax paper creating

designs on the construction paper 5. Throw away the wax paper 6. If paint is too runny mix with a bit of flower and some sugar. 7. If you don’t have wax paper you can use plastic bags

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Soda Straw Weaving

The ancient craft of weaving is found in countries all over the world. People have woven yarn and fibers to make useful items such as clothing and rugs as well as beautiful tapestries which hang in castles, museums, and churches.

Most weaving is done on a machine called a loom. Before the actual weaving process can begin, the craftsman or weaver must first string the loom. These threads are called the warp, and the yarn that is woven over and under them is called the weft.

Weaving does not have to be done on a traditional loom, however. It's possible to weave on anything that can be strung with the warp threads. This includes recyclable items like cardboard, an old picture frame, or sticks you collect in your yard or along a river bank.

We can even weave on soda straws! You may have a few unused straws from fast food restaurants in your car's glove box or a kitchen drawer. Help save landfill space by recycling them to make a simple loom.

MATERIALS:

• Three of four plastic soda straws • Yarn scraps • Masking tape • Scissors • Large needle (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

There are many items you can weave on a soda straw loom. You may want to make a bracelet or a bookmark. If you are making a bracelet, cut all the straws so they are about 4 or 5 inches long. The straws for a bookmark should be about 6 or 7 inches long.

Now you are ready to warp or thread the loom. Measure the length of a straw and add 5 or 6 inches to this number. Cut one piece of yarn this length for each straw in your loom. Thread the straw by dropping the yarn through it. This may be easier to do if you shake a threaded needle through each straw.

With their ends even, tie an overhand knot in the strands of yarn. Push the straws up to the knot, and tape them together at the top by running the tape around the straws, front to back. Now you are ready to weave! Tie one end of the yarn onto an outside straw just below the tape. Start weaving by going over that straw and under the next.

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Continue the over-under pattern until you want to change colors. Knot the yarn onto an outside straw, and cut it off from the ball or skein. Begin a new color as before, and continue weaving. Tuck loose ends inside the weaving. If you use yarn made of several colors (variegated), you will need to tie only the knots at the beginning and end, because colors will change automatically.

When you come to the end of the soda straws, tie off the yarn and cut it. Remove the masking tape. Hold the weaving lightly in one hand as you pull out the straws, one at a time. Push the weaving up to the knot, and finish it by tying another overhand knot in the other end just below the weaving. If necessary, trim the ends so they are even.

It's possible to weave something longer, like a headband or belt, with a soda straw loom. Just make sure the warp threads, the ones that go through the straws, are long enough to tie around your head or waist. Don't cut the straws, because you will need all the length and then some.

When you are weaving a longer item and you come to the end of the straws, remove the masking tape. Then move some of the weaving off the straws and up onto the warp threads. Do this by pulling the straws partially out of the weaving, being careful to leave the last inch or so attached to the straws. Repeat this process as often as necessary, and continue weaving till you come to the end.

Tips and tricks: Weaving on straws with a large diameter, like milk shake straws, will be

easier to thread. You can recycle used straws for this project, but be sure to rinse well before using. This loom is small, so you can take it with you on car trips and to doctor appointments. Probably the best thing about the soda straw loom is that it can be used over and over and over again

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Tissue paper dye painting MATERIALS.

• White construction paper or white manila tag board • Pieces of colorful tissue paper cut up into different squares • Paint or glue brushes • Water in cup

DIRECTIONS:

1. Have the children a range the tissue paper on the larger white paper as if they were going to paste it on

2. Then have them paint over the tissue paper with the water and the paintbrush

3. When done they can remove the tissue paper. The dye from the tissue paper will remain on the white paper.

Crumpled Tissue Paper Art MATERIALS:

• Piece of construction paper • Small pieces of cut up square tissue paper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Have children crumple up pieces of tissue paper and the glue down crumpled pieces

2. They can use these pieces for mosaics 3. Let them either first make a design or they can do it free hand

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Sponge painting

Cut out regular sponges into different shapes and let children stamp with those on paper If you use something called miracle sponges they are very thin and easy to cut out and the children can make their own designs, cut them out and use them.

Straw painting Put little bits of paint on paper and allow children to blow through straws to create designs.

String painting

MATERIALS:

• White or colored construction paper • String cut in 2 feet pieces • Paint in different colors • Paper plates for paint (or trays) • A covered surface

DIRECTIONS:

1. Lay out a piece of paper and have the child fold it in half, then open it back up laying it flat on a covered surface.

2. Next have the child take a piece of string and submerge 3/4 of it in the paint leaving an end free of paint to hold on to.

3. Next lay the paint covered string on one side of the folded paper in any type pattern, leaving the clean end of the string out so you can hold on to it.

4. Then fold the paper back together and put your hand on the paper so you can feel the string through the paper and begin pulling the string out moving it around the edges of the paper.

5. It's really fun to have more than one string with different colors pull the strings out and open up the paper and what a beautiful creation!

Dip all but two inches of a fourteen-inch length of string into acrylic, poster paint, ink, or watercolor. Lay it across a piece of paper, leaving the "clean" part hang over the edge. Place another paper on top of the first one, and holding your hand on top of the paper and string, pull the string back and forth and then out. Repeat with other colors, if you wish. Be sure to use a clean string for each new color!

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Alternate way of making cards

• Magazines • Construction paper • Glue stick • Markers or colored pencils • Scissors

How to: Look through magazines to find colorful, interesting type styles. Begin by cutting out whole words. Then cut out each letter separately, being careful to leave some of the background color attached. Keep the letters organized by filing like letters together. There's no need to separate capitals from lower case letters, however. Mixing letters is part of the charm of making a ransom-style card.

After you've collected a good supply of letters, it's time to make your valentine. Fold the construction paper in half. You may wish to illustrate or draw a picture on part of your valentine, or the lettering can appear on both the outside and inside of the card. Write your message or verse on a scrap of paper, and begin looking for the letters you'll need. When you've assembled the letters, arrange them on your card, and glue them in place.

Tips and Tricks: In addition to magazine pages, consider using brochures, junk mail, flyers, or any printed material with large letters like those found in magazine ads and articles.

It will be easier and more fun to make your valentines if you keep the letters organized. Reuse a couple of egg cartons to hold and keep your letters in alphabetical order.

Decorate your card with hearts, cupids, arrows, and other valentine symbols cut from scraps of construction paper. Instead of using new construction paper for the card portion, use scraps of paper to make a smaller card or obtain preconsumer waste paper from your local printing company.

Don't wait till next New Years, Mothers Day or Valentine's Day to use cut paper letters again to make cards. Create them for any occasion, including birthdays and other holidays.

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Pointers on Projects

Be aware that there are not hundreds of ideas to make for each season or holiday as there are in traditional crafts because we are dealing with young children and giving them things that they can do on their own. The majority of the craft ideas on all the crafts websites are copycat, robot like ideas that are detrimental to kid’s growth.

Working in the framework of Educational Art will help you think of ideas on your own so you will not have to use all of the crafts websites as a crutch. At the end of all of the projects I have a short piece of how to think up your own ideas for projects.

None of the projects are at all complicated with specific directions to follow as in some complicated crafts. As long as you understand the basic five categories and how they work, all preparation will be very easy for you.

There are no pictures of these projects because there is no one specific way they are supposed to look and showing pictures unless I showed at least a bunch of them would be counterproductive.

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Rosh Hashanah

IDEA: New Years cards

CATEGORY: Process only art product

MATERIALS: • Large white or manila tag board • White computer paper or construction paper (for the inside).

Whatever paper you decide to do the art activity on that is larger than drawing paper

• See list of activities on pages 30-40 to use for card

DIRECTIONS: After you choose the activity you will use as a base for the new years cards, have the children do the activity and then put them aside to dry. Then take a piece of drawing paper and have the child dictate to you what New Years wishes he or she wishes to put on the paper. If they are old enough they can write them out themselves. Take the written words and staple to the inside of the artwork. When card is folded you can see outside artwork. If you want smaller cards then use the smaller tag board.

IDEA: Honey dishes

CATEGORY: Transformed art (decoupage)

MATERIALS: • Small containers or any small cups you can buy in any paper goods

store. • Glue for gluing paper and glue thinned down a bit for the

decoupageing (or modge podge)

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• Glue brushes

DIRECTIONS: See page 25 for more detailed directions on decoupage. Have children choose the papers they want to use. You can have them use more than one kind of paper. Give them the choice of using one style paper or a combination. Transform small dishes into honey dishes to use for the holiday

IDEA: Shofar or large apple

CATEGORY: Process only art with prepared shapes

MATERIALS:

• Large cut out paper in either large construction paper • Finger-paint paper or newsprint.

See list of activities on pages 30-40 to use for this activity

DIRECTIONS: Choose activity to do on top of this shofar or apple from list of process only activities on page You can always back this with another piece of paper as a frame

IDEA: Apple seed mosaics

CATEGORY: Process only art activity (don’t need to look at list for this one)

MATERIALS: • Apple seeds • Glue • Construction paper or manila oak tag • Markers or pencil

DIRECTIONS: Draw a shape on paper and have the children fill in with apple seeds. Make sure the shapes they draw are not too large as they will have a hard time filling all in with so many apple seeds.

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Sukkot

IDEA: Decorative art pieces

CATEGORY: Process only art

MATERIALS : See list of activities on pages 30-40 to use for any type of decorative art piece

DIRECTIONS: Any beautiful piece of artwork can be use to hung in the Sukkah. After activity is done frame artwork on a piece of construction paper larger than the artwork to give it a larger frame around the edges. If you can have it laminated it will be more durable. Try to choose a color for the frame that will complement the artwork.

IDEA: Stringing items

CATEGORY: Decorations

MATERIALS: • Long piece of string or yarn. • Pieces of aluminum foil cut up • Pieces of cut up straws, • Pieces of peanut Styrofoam if you have left over from any deliveries,

Buttons • (anything else that the kids can string) •

DIRECTIONS: Make a big knot at the end of the yarn or string. Using either very blunt embroidery needles or a piece of tape at the end of the yarn let the children create a decorative string that can be hung in the Sukkah. The

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aluminum foil gives it a tinkly sound. If you have any old bells or anything else that makes a little noise, you can add them along. The hardware store has things that can be used. The pieces of straws help divide the various items that you will use for stringing.

IDEA: Garlands

CATEGORY: Decorations

MATERIALS: • Paper towel rolls • toilet paper rolls • straws, • small plates • Cup cake holders. • Paint and or decoupage materials to decorate the cut up rolls.

DIRECTIONS: Cut up paper towel rolls and toilet paper rolls and have the children decorate them. When they are dry they can be used for the garlands. They can be decoupaged with tissue paper or other pieces of paper or they can be painted, or even have stickers put all over. The preparing of the pieces of cut up rolls can be done as a separate activity, and then when they are all ready and dry use them to make the garlands. You will also need to decorate some small paper plates that will be used to separate the rolls. For stringing you can use yarn or string and use a small plate or cupcake holder to separate the pieces from each other. Keep on stringing and adding pieces until you feel your garland is long enough or you run out of stuff.

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IDEA: Glue squigglies

CATEGORY: Decorations

MATERIALS:

• Wax paper • Glue in glue squeezes bottles • Paint • Needle with string • Paint, OR colored glue

DIRECTIONS: You can do one of two things to color the glue. You can put some paint in the glue to make colored glue or you can paint the glue after it has dried. Using a glue bottle squeeze glue all over onto wax paper and don’t stop too often. Make squiggles with the glue. Wait until the glue is dry and hard. If you did not color the white glue than paint the glue squiggles on the wax paper. After its dry tie a thread to one end of the squiggles and lift off of wax paper. They will hang and be very decorative. If you’d like you can hang them onto dowels or branches. Make sure the string or yarn is long enough. IDEA: Chains

CATEGORY: Decorations

MATERIALS: • Strips of construction paper • Strip of shiny paper, • Glue

DIRECTIONS: Take short strips of paper and make into a circle. Put another strip through the circle and glue it to itself. Continue adding strips and gluing till you make the chain as long as needed. You can add a whole bunch of decorative papers or ribbons to the chains

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Simchat Torah IDEA: Flags

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

MATERIALS: • Hard Manila paper (Preferably 8x11)

(If you’d like you can give the kids already cut paper with the triangle cut out at the end that makes it look more like a flag.)or can leave them rectangle shape.

• Glue • Ribbon • String • Sequins • Cellophane paper pieces • Tissue paper • Feathers

See page 22 for list of materials for more ideas. Depending on how old the child is will determine how cut up the pieces should be. Older children with more experience do not have too have many cut up pieces as they can cut pieces themselves from the larges pieces available. Younger children would do better with smaller pieces in various shapes of the different materials.

DIRECTIONS: Have the children decorate the cut out rectangular piece of tag board. You may need to help teach them how to measure if they want to use any ribbons or yarn. You can then give them a larger Holiday symbol to put on the flag to tie it together if they want.

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Halloween

IDEA: Paper Mache masks

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style with process art

MATERIALS: • Stuff for paper mache (page 28) • Balloons • Sequins • Feathers • Ribbon • Spangles • Glitter pens • Elastic

See materials on page 22 for more ideas

DIRECTIONS: Blow up balloon (round ones) and paper mache over balloon doing a few layers. When dry cut the balloon in half with utility knife From the half of balloon cut our holes for eyes Have children decorate using decorative materials Use elastic to attach to the sides of the mask so they can slip it over their heads

IDEA: Puppets:

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

MATERIALS:

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• Pieces of scrap materials • Felt • Fake hair • Googly eyes • Some cut out shapes, • Straws, • Shiny paper, • Pieces of leather • Pieces of yarn • Pieces of ribbon etc

(If you want them to make royal people add crowns, witches- add black triangles and pieces of brooms etc.)

When they are done tape a dowel to the back of the puppet. If you don’t have dowels roll up a piece of newspaper so that it looks like a dowel and attach that. Let them make a puppet show.

These are some of the shapes you may give them in cardboard to use to attach together

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IDEA: Bags for treats

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

MATERIALS: • Large brown paper bags • Ribbons • Yarn, • Googly eyes, • Pom poms, • Feathers, • Straws, • Pieces of cellophane

See page 22 for more ideas for materials.

DIRECTIONS: You can have the children decorate the bag as a scary character or just decorate using one of the process only art techniques on page 30-40

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Thanksgiving

IDEA: Turkey’s

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

MATERIALS: • Feathers of more than one size • Sequins • Small pieces of paper cut into circle • Pieces of felt oval and round sizes • Crafts sticks • Thin pieces of paper • Straw • Pieces of felt cut like a hand

The point is to give pieces that are suggestive of turkey and they will of course make their pictures according to their level.

DIRECTIONS: Discuss with the children what a turkey is and what it basically looks like and then just let them create one from their materials.

IDEA: Blessing boxes CATEGORY: Transformed art

MATERIALS: Box Papers for decoupage or mosaics see page 25-27

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DIRECTIONS: Either decoupage, paper mache or mosaic a found box. Have the children either dictate or write their own blessings and put them in the box.

IDEA: Pumpkin seed mosaics

CATEGORY: Process only art

MATERIALS: • Pumpkin seeds • Paints • Tag board • Glue • Markers

DIRECTIONS: Have children draw broad outlines of pictures on tag board Tell them they will be filling in the outlines with the seeds. Put the seeds into a shallow dish and paint them a few different colors. When dry let them create mosaics inside the lines of the drawings.

IDEA: Drums

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

MATERIALS: • Containers like oatmeal round boxes or coffee cans • Piece of canvas or cut up piece of balloon to cover top • Rubber bands • Ribbons • Sequins • Feathers, • Pom poms

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• Leather pieces • Felt • Beads • Stickers

See page 22 for more material ideas.

DIRECTIONS: Stretch the piece of canvas or cut up piece of balloon across the top of the container and use rubber bands to secure. Use materials provided to decorate and then give them dowels or sticks to bang on drum when finished.

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Chanukah

IDEA: 2 dimensional Menorahs

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

MATERIALS: • Large manila tag board or large construction paper • Lots of long thin strips out of a few types of paper • Ribbon • Yarn • Wood pieces • Colored tissue paper pieces • Buttons • Feathers • Cellophane pieces • Metallic pieces of paper • Tiny oval pieces in yellow or gold paper. • A few sizes of large long rectangular pieces of construction or

shiny paper

DIRECTIONS: Have the children view a few real menorahs so they can see the basic shape. Tell the children they will be making menorahs present the materials discuss what a classic menorah has and then let them create.

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IDEA: Gifts

CATEGORY: Transformed art

MATERIALS: • Boxes • Cans • Containers… • Papers or tiles… • Glue or mod podge

See page 25-28 on transformed art

DIRECTIONS: Choose various sizes small to medium containers that can be used to create gifts like pencil holders, keepsake boxes, vases and have the children uses which ever technique you decide to transform these boxes and containers into special gifts for the holidays. Either do mosaics or decoupage or you can even create one of these containers by covering over with paper mache.

IDEA: Dreidle art

CATEGORY: Process only art product with prepared shapes

MATERIALS: See page 30-40 for list of process only art activities

DIRECTIONS: Give the children a large cut out dreidle and let them create artwork on it from the list of art activities that you have chosen.

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Xmas

IDEA: Garlands

CATEGORY: Decorations

MATERIALS: • Paper towel rolls • Toilet paper rolls, • Straws, • Small plates, • Cup cake holders. • Paint and or decoupage materials to decorate the cut up rolls.

DIRECTIONS: Cut up paper towel rolls and toilet paper rolls and have the children decorate them .When they are dry they can be used for the garlands. They can be decoupaged with tissue paper or other pieces of paper or they can be painted, or even have stickers put all over. The preparing of the pieces of cut up rolls can be done as a separate activity. And then when they are all ready and dry use them to make the garlands. You will also need to decorate some small paper plates that will be used to separate the rolls. For stringing you can use yarn or string and use a small plate or cupcake holder to separate the pieces from each other. Keep on stringing and adding pieces until you feel your garland is long enough or you run out of stuff.

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IDEA: Winter snowman collages

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

MATERIALS: • Blue or black construction paper, • White circles of different sizes cut out of a few kinds of white paper • Cotton balls • Q tips • Small shapes of different colors cut out from construction paper

See page 22 for materials for other ideas that say winter to you

DIRECTIONS: Arrange materials for them to make beautiful snowman collages

IDEA: Glue squiggles

CATEGORY: Decorations

MATERIALS:

• Wax paper • Glue in glue squeezes bottles • Paint • Needle with string • Paint, OR colored glue

DIRECTIONS: You can do one of two things to color the glue. You can put some paint in the glue to make colored glue or you can paint the glue after it has dried. Using a glue bottle squeeze glue all over onto wax paper and don’t stop too often. Make squiggles with the glue.

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Wait until the glue is dry and hard. If you did not color the white glue than paint the glue squiggles on the wax paper. After its dry tie a thread to one end of the squiggles and lift off of wax paper. They will hang and be very decorative. If you’d like you can hang them onto dowels or branches. Make sure the string or yarn is long enough. .

IDEA: Mobiles

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style plus process only art

MATERIALS: • Small boxes of various sizes. • Buttons • Small colored pieces of glass • Small squares of colored tissue paper • Sequins

Or other materials found on page 22

DIRECTIONS: Decorate each box with a different item or else each side of a box with a different item. Make hole and hang each box from a dowel or a hanger. Hang on tree.

IDEA: Wreaths

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

MATERIALS: • Big empty circles cut out from cardboard Give choices of few sizes

and don’t make the holes too big. Need room to decorate them to make them into wreaths.

• Ribbon • Raffia • Yarn, • Trimmings

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• Sequins • Cellophane paper • Tissue paper.

DIRECTIONS: Let kids wind a lot of stuff around the empty circles. They can use more than one type of material to make their own variety of wreathes. Add piece of ribbon at the end to hand wreath.

IDEA: Chains

CATEGORY: Decorations

MATERIALS:

• Strips of construction paper • Strip of shiny paper, • Glue •

DIRECTIONS: Take short strips of paper and make into a circle. Put another strip through the circle and glue it to itself. Continue adding strips and gluing till you make the chain as long as needed. You can add a whole bunch of decorative papers or ribbons to the chains

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Kwanzaa

IDEA: Kinara

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

MATERIALS: • Strips of construction paper that are black, red, and green. • Paper strips from tissue paper, • Foil paper • Cellophane paper. • Crepe paper • Small pieces of yellow and orange paper cut in small ovals

(suggestive of flames)

DIRECTONS: Have them their own kinara after showing them a few pictures or real live ones (a seven branch candlestick)

IDEA: Cards

CATEGORY: Process only art

MATERIALS: See list of activities by process only art pages 30-40

DIRECTIONS:

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Large white or manila tag board for activity itself and then use white computer paper or construction paper for the inside. Whatever paper you decide to do the art activity on that is larger than drawing paper See list of activities to choose which one you will do for these cards After you choose the activity you will use as a base for the new years cards, have the children do the activity and then put them aside to dry. Then take a piece of drawing paper and have the child dictate to you what New Years wishes he or she wishes to put on the paper. If they are old enough they can write them out themselves. Take the written words and staple to the inside of the artwork. When card is folded you can see outside artwork. If you want smaller cards then use the smaller tag board.

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New years

IDEA: New Years cards

CATEGORY: Process only art

MATERIALS: see list of activities by process only art

DIRECTIONS: Large white or manila tag board for activity itself and then use white computer paper or construction paper for the inside. Whatever paper you decide to do the art activity on that is larger than drawing paper See list of activities to choose which one you will do for these cards After you choose the activity you will use as a base for the new years cards, have the children do the activity and then put them aside to dry. Then take a piece of drawing paper and have the child dictate to you what New Years wishes he or she wishes to put on the paper. If they are old enough they can write them out themselves. Take the written words and staple to the inside of the artwork. When card is folded you can see outside artwork. If you want smaller cards then use the smaller tag board.

IDEA: New Years Hats

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

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MATERIALS: • Paper plates, • Ribbons, • Crepe paper, • Trimmings, • Yarn • Lots of dangly stuff. • Sequins • Feathers

See page 22 for other materials ideas

DIRECTIONS: Allow them to decorate as they’d like and then attach ribbon on two sides of plate put on head and tie. You can also use a piece of elastic to tie to plate to put on children.

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Mardi gras

IDEA: Cone cup Piñatas

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

MATERIALS:

• Paper cone cups (pointed bottoms --- like the ones used for water dispensers)

• Pipe cleaners. • Crepe • Tissue paper or • Bright metallic papers • Glue (or needle and thread - for older students) • Goodies to put inside. (You could also leave the piñata empty and

pretend).

DIRECTIONS: You need two cups for each piñata.

Insert the ends of a pipe cleaner through the pointed end of one of the cups. Spread the ends of the pipe cleaner inside the cup and leave enough on the outside. This will be the hanger.

If you decide to put treats inside the piñata, do this now. Make sure you don't use any food that can spoil because once the piñata is complete; you probably won't want to break it open. In fact, why not just use popcorn kernels or dry split peas instead of candy?

Place the rims of the cups together. Younger children can glue the cups together, while older children can sew the cups together using needle and thread.

Decorate the piñata cafeteria style

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You could decorate using just magic markers.

You could paint the piñata with tempera or watercolor or acrylic paint.

You could glue glitter and buttons and other stuff on the piñata.

DIRECTIONS: Maracas

CATEGORY: Transformed art (paper mache)

MATERIALS:

• Newspaper • Flour (best if wheat-based but can use any kind) • Water • Balloons • Paint • seeds/rice • Unsharpened pencils • Masking tape

DIRECTIONS:

Cover table with newspaper. Pour flour into bowl in middle of table.

Pour in water (enough to make thin, oatmeal consistency).

Everyone put hands in and mix. Pick a balloon (already inflated).

Dunk balloon in paste, covering it completely, or use hands to smear paste on. Put balloon on table, wipe off hands.

Paper with newspaper squares (1 in x 1 in). After finishing two-three layers of newspaper, leave to dry.

Next - fill maracas with seeds or rice. Attach pencil to base with masking tape (using thin strips). Paint entire maraca, including masking tape and leave to dry.

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Valentines Day

IDEA: Mirror hearts

CATEGORY: Process only hearts with prepared shapes

MATERIALS:

• Large heart cut out of manila tag board or construction paper folded in half

• Paint • Small paintbrushes

DIRECTIONS: Have the children paint some design only on one side then fold the paper over to create a mirror of the other side. Place heart on a complementary piece of paper for a frame.

IDEA: Cards

CATEGORY: Process only art

MATERIALS: See pages 30-40 for list of activities that are process only Large white or manila tag board for activity itself and then use white computer paper or construction paper for the inside. Whatever paper you decide to do the art activity on that is larger than drawing paper See list of activities to choose which one you will do for these cards

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After you choose the activity you will use as a base for the new years cards, have the children do the activity and then put them aside to dry. Then take a piece of drawing paper and have the child dictate to you what New Years wishes he or she wishes to put on the paper. If they are old enough they can write them out themselves. Take the written words and staple to the inside of the artwork. When card is folded you can see outside artwork. If you want smaller cards then use the smaller tag board.

IDEA: Heart Collages

CATEGORY: Process only hearts with prepared shapes

MATERIALS:

• Make heart templates of a few sizes out of cardboard • Different pieces of fabric and materials • Ribbon and other trimmings • Scissors • Tag board • Glue

DIRECTIONS:

Have the children use the different template to trace over the different kinds of fabrics and then have them cut them out. You can use other types of paper also. You will then have a whole array of hearts which they can use to collage with and they can use the ribbon and other trimmings to beautify their pictures.

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Tu-B’shvat

IDEA: 2 dimensional trees

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

MATERIALS:

• Large background of manila tag board or large construction paper. (can be brown or green to set the mood)

• An assortment of rectangles in various shades of browns and • Corrugated pieces of cardboard (the kind teachers use for borders

on bulletin boards) • Fake green grassy stuff, • Cotton pieces, • Various types of papers in various shades of brown and greens, • Fall colors, tissue paper, • String • Ribbon • Yarn • Small pom poms

See list of materials on page 22 for more ideas.

DIRECTIONS: You can first show the children many pictures of trees so they know that there are many types of trees. Have them then choose what they will they use for the base of the tree and let them glue it down. Or else they can cut out their own. Then allow them choose the materials they will use to decorate their tree.

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IDEA: Leaf art placemats

CATEGORY: Process only art products

MATERIALS:

• Leaves of all colors • Pine needles • Flowers and other outdoor collected nature stuff • Large manila tag board, • Glue

DIRECTIONS: Glue all of the found outdoor leafy things in a pleasing arrangement on the tag board and then decoupage over a few times. Or once its done you can laminate it or cover with contact paper and use for a placemat. If you frame it with construction paper before laminating it is much prettier.

IDEA: Leaf crumbles

CATEGORY: Process art products with prepared shapes

MATERIALS:

• Large cut out leaf from tag board. Any type leaf • Leaves and bits of flowers and stems collected from outside.

DIRECTIONS: Crumble up leaves and other bits of flowers and mix into glue. Use this mixture and have the children paint it onto their leaves. It will be an artsy, gluing, decoupaggy look.

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Purim

IDEA: Gragers

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

MATERIALS: • Containers of various sizes for the children to choose from.

Old shampoo bottle, pringle cans, laundry detergent containers, smaller boxes etc.

• Large pieces of paper of choice to cover containers. Felt, shiny paper, construction paper, material

• Cellophane paper • Yarn • Ribbon, • Sequins, • Feathers, • Pom poms,

See page 22 for list of materials for more ideas. If you want them to make people give googly eyes and object that are suggestive of people or small crowns etc.

DIRECTIONS: Have them choose container first (unless they already chose the one they want to use), Then they choose material to cover it the container and glue it over carefully. They can then decide which materials to use to decorate it with. Before sealing, container adds beans or small stones or gravel to fill container to make the noise it needs.

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IDEA: Persian rugs

CATEGORY: Process only art product

MATERIALS:

• Large or small papers • Paint • Paintbrushes

DIRECTIONS: Fold paper in half. Paint on one side paint or drip paint onto one side. Fold over paper onto painted side and empty side will get the same pattern as on painted side. You can cut out fringes on the ends of the paper to give it that Persian look or you can give the children in the beginning paper that has fringes on it already. This activity can also do this with wax paper and colored glue. Sue the wax paper as a paper and the glue as paint and they can then be used as stained glass window decorations.

IDEA: Stick Puppets

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

MATERIALS: Pieces of hard cardboard cut into longer and shorter rectangle plus pieces of cardboard cut into a few shape squares and maybe rectangles if you’re ambitious. Strong glue or stapler to connect pieces. Swatches of material Pieces of velvet

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Sequins, Pom poms, Feathers, Cellophane paper, Pieces of yarn, Ribbon, maybe some small cut out crowns, Googly eyes DIRECTIONS: Have the children choose from the pieces of cardboard a piece for the body, head arms and legs and then help them connect them. Then let them choose from the array of materials to decorate and to make any kind of puppet they want When finished use either a dowel and attaché to the back o f the body part of the puppet with t ape or take a piece of newspaper and roil up until it can be attached and used as is. Pieces of materials, felt (For clothing) fake hair, googly eyes, some cut out shapes, straws, shiny paper, pieces of leather, pieces of yarn, pieces of ribbon etc.( If you want them to make royal people add crowns, witches add black triangle and pieces of brooms etc.)

When they are done tape a dowel to the back of the puppet. If you don’t have dowels roll up a piece of newspaper so that it looks like a dowel and attach that. Let them make a puppet show.

These are some of the shapes you may give them in cardboard to use to attach together

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IDEA: Simple Paper Plate Masks

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

MATERIALS: • Feathers • Yarn • Sequins • Small stickers • Markers • Small pom poms • Pieces of cut up aluminum foil • Elastic

See page 22 for more materials suggestions

DIRECTIONS: Give the child a paper plate that has 2 holes already cut out and let them decorate with an assortment of materials like ribbon, buttons, feathers, sequins Attach a piece of elastic for them to put it on.

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Pesach/Passover

IDEA: Afikomen bags

CATEGORY: Process only art product

MATERIALS: • Piece of white cotton material. • All kind f flowers and leaves from a walk outside • Hammer • Needles • Thread.

DIRECTIONS: Have the children arrange the flowers on the floor preferably outdoors. Lay the white materials on top of the flowers and pound them with a hammer. The colors and shapes of the flowers and leaves will come though. When material is as colorful as they like then place 2 pieces together inside out and sew them along the edges. Make sure the side you want on the outside to be on the inside when sewing. When done turn inside out. If you want you can write AFIKOMEN on the bag

Idea: Tie dyed Matzah covers CATEGORY: Process only art product

Materials: • Either use RIT brand dye for this or you can cook up beets or onion

skins to get natural dye.

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• Trimmings for edging cover • Rubber bands and • For second method you will need glue

DIRECTIONS: 2 methods. 1- For first method using rubber bands take up small pieces of material in bunches in a few places and tie them up with rubber bands. When done dip the material in the dye solution. If using commercial dye. Follow manufactures instructions very carefully. With vegetable dyes just make sure it’s not too hot when using. After material dried a bit take out rubber bands to see die dye a effect 2- Use glue to paint patterns on material. When dry dip in dye. After that is dry, stick material in cold water to remove glue and to see effects of dye. Use pieces of trimmings to finish off the edges of the matzah cover.

IDEA: Wine cup and wine plates

CATEGORY: Transformed Art

MATERIALS: Any type of hard plastic cup either with a stem or not and a hard plastic plate. Use materials you would use with mosaics or decoupage see page 25-28

DIRECTIONS: Do either a decoupage or a mosaic style decoration over the cups and plates

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Easter

IDEA: Batik eggs

CATEGORY: Process only art

MATERIALS:

• Hard boiled eggs • Masking tape • Crepe paper dye •

DIRECTIONS: First make crepe paper dye by putting strip of crepe paper in bowl and adding hot water to bowl. Take crepe paper out and add about 1 tablespoon of vinegar to help dye set. (Do a few colors in a few different bowls) Take some pieces of thin masking tape and put a bit over egg. Dip in bowl if dye is cooled. Remove tape when egg is dry, add more tape to different area and dip into different color bowl.

IDEA: Baskets

CATEGORY: Transformed art

MATERIALS: • Baskets or boxes found or bought in art supply store • Papers for decoupage • Glue or mod podge

DIRECTIONS: See pages 25 for decoupage

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IDEA: Easter Hats

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

MATERIALS:

• Paper plates • Ribbons • Crepe paper • Trimmings, • Yarn lots of dangly stuff.

See page 22 for more ideas for materials

DIRECTIONS: Allow them to decorate as they’d like and then attach ribbon or elastic on two sides of plate put on head and tie

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Yom Haatzmaut IDEA: Israeli Flags

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

MATERIALS: White Manila tag board either in rectangle or already cut out with triangle. Materials that are all shads of blue Dark blue and light blue ribbons Yarn Dark and light blue pieces of tissue paper A few size Star of David’s

DIRECTIONS: Have them look at some pictures of the Israeli flags and let them decorate the flag using blue and white materials available. Use a dowel on the back of the flag along one edge and attach with strong tape to hold.

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St Patrick’s. Day

IDEA: Green collages

CATEGORY: Process art product

MATERIALS:

• Any kind of materials that is green. • Paper, • Buttons, • Pipe cleaners, • Leaves, • Stickers

See page 22 for more material ideas

DIRECTIONS: Let them collage using only green items of different shades

IDEA: Shamrock people

CATEGORY: Cafeterias style

MATERIAL: • Cut out a whole bunch of shamrocks all sizes. • Manila tag board • googly eyes, • Strips of paper, • Ribbon • Yarn, • Sequins

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• Buttons See page 22 for more ideas for materials.

DIRECTIONS: Let them make shamrock people.

IDEA: Green on green resist

CATEGORY: Process only art product

MATERIALS: • Green construction paper • Green crayons • White paint • Paintbrushes • Water and • Containers

DIRECTIONS: Let them draw a design on green paper using green crayons, pressing hard as it is hard to see. Then paint over the picture with white tempera paint. If paint is too thick water down a bit.

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Mothers day

IDEA: Cards

CATEGORY: Process only art

MATERIALS: See list of activities that are process only pages 30-40 Large white or manila tag board for activity itself and then use white computer paper or construction paper for the inside. Whatever paper you decide to do the art activity on that is larger than drawing paper See list of activities to choose which one you will do for these cards

DIRECTIONS: After you choose the activity you will use as a base for the new years cards, have the children do the activity and then put them aside to dry. Then take a piece of drawing paper and have the child dictate to you what New Years wishes he or she wishes to put on the paper. If they are old enough they can write them out themselves. Take the written words and staple to the inside of the artwork. When card is folded you can see outside artwork. If you want smaller cards then use the smaller tag board

IDEA: Plants with transformed art vases

CATEGORY: Transformed art

MATERIALS: • Containers, • Coffee cans, • Milk cartons or whatever can be use to make a vase and to plant in

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DIRECTIONS: Decoupage or mosaic a container. See pages 25-27 Fill with dirt and plant some beans in it. Do a week before Mothers Day to give beans a chance to sprout.

IDEA: Placemats

CATEGORY: Process only art

MATERIALS: Either nature collections or see pages 30-40 for art activities

DIRECTIONS: Laminate when done or contact paper and use for placemat

IDEA: Glue squiggle necklaces and bracelets

CATEGORY: Decorations

MATERIALS:

• Wax paper • Glue in glue squeezes bottles • Paint • Needle with string • Paint, OR colored glue

DIRECTIONS: You can do one of two things to color the glue. You can put some paint in the glue to make colored glue or you can paint the glue after it has dried. Using a glue bottle squeeze glue all over onto wax paper in little globs and don’t stop too often. After you make the globs with the glue and they dry, use thread or yarn to make necklaces and bracelets.

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Shavuot

IDEA: Flowers

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

MATERIALS: • Cut off tops of egg boxes to use. • Cupcake holders. • Coffee filters, • Chenille stems otherwise known pipe cleaners • Toothpicks, • Pieces of Styrofoam, • Buttons, • Pieces of tissue paper

See page 22 for more materials ideas

DIRECTIONS: Allow kids to make types of flowers they’d like They can then make some vases using transformed art on containers to put the flowers in. They can use the pipe cleaners as stems.

IDEA: Placemats

CATEGORY: Process only art products

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MATERIALS: Collected flowers and leaves from outside along with some pieces of tissue paper and cellophane paper and other delicate pretty materials.

DIRECTIONS: Have children decorate hard pieces of manila tag board with materials provided and then laminate or cover with contact paper.

IDEA: Mt Sinai mural

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

MATERIALS: • Manila tag board or other choice of background. • A few different sizes of large humplike pieces that look mountains

cut out from brown and green pieces of paper All kinds of materials that suggest spring and flowers.

• Tissue paper, • Cellophane paper, • Ribbon, • Yarn, • Fake grass pieces, • Shiny pieces of material • Buttons • Strip of white paper

See page 22 for more material ideas

DIRECTIONS: Have them create scenes at the mountain

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Fathers Day

IDEA: Paperweight rock with decoupage

CATEGORY: Transformed art

MATERIALS: Either rock found outside or crumbled up aluminum foil

DIRECTIONS: If you can’t find a rock then take some aluminum foil, crumble up, paper mache over it and then decoupage on top

IDEA: Tee shirt

CATEGORY: Process only art

MATERIALS: • Old white tee shirt of Dad. • Rubber bands, • Fabric dye • Fabric dye in a spray paint bottle.

DIRECTIONS: Bunch up pieces of the tee shirt with rubber bands. Stick in the dye or spray it with the dye from the spray bottle. Remove rubber bands and it will be tie dyed.

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IDEA: Frames

CATEGORY: Transformed art

MATERIALS: Cut out cardboard frames. Decoupage materials

DIRECTIONS: Either mosaic or decoupage frames. See pages 25-28 Can also wrap various materials around like ribbon and trimmings to decorate frame. Actually can use any material to decorate frames Can give children the chance to choose how they would like to decorate. Make sure to give them at least 3-4 choices.

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July 4th

IDEA: American flags

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

MATERIALS:

• Hard Manila paper preferable the 8x11 size. (If you’d like you can give the kids already cut paper with the triangle cut out at the end that makes it look more like a flag.)Or can leave them rectangle shape.

• Glue • Ribbon/ red and white and blue • String or yarn/ red and white and blue • Cellophane paper pieces/ red/white and blue • Tissue paper/ red/white and blue • Feathers red/white and blue

See page 22 by list of materials for more ideas. Depending on how old the child is will determine how cut up the pieces should be. Older children with more experience do not have too have many cut up pieces as they can cut pieces themselves from the larges pieces available. Younger children would do better with smaller pieces in various shapes of the different materials.

DIRECTIONS: Let them decorate flags with above materials.

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IDEA: Scratch Art fireworks

CATEGORY: Process only art MATERIALS:

• Manila tag board • Crayons • Black paint • Wooden skewers

DIRECTIONS:

Have children color entire paper with bright colors Cover entire picture with black paint. Make sure it’s not too thick so that it will not crack when it dries Once paint is dried each child can take a wooden sewer and scrape off a design. It might make it easier for the children to see what they are scratching off if they make the design first with a pen and then scratch off over the pen marks

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Fall

IDEA: 2 dimensional trees

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

MATERIALS: • Large background of manila tag board or large construction paper.

(can be brown or green to set the mood) • An assortment of rectangles in various shades of browns and

greens for the children to choose as a base for tree. • Corrugated pieces of cardboard, • Fake green grassy stuff, • Cotton pieces, • Various types of papers in various shades of brown and greens, • Fall colors, tissue paper, • String • Ribbon, • Yarn • Small pom poms

See page 22 for list of materials for more ideas.

DIRECTIONS: You can first show the children many pictures of trees so they know that there are many types of trees. Have them then choose what they will they use for the base of the tree and let them glue it down. Then allow them choose the materials they will use to decorate their tree.

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IDEA: Leaf art placemats

CATEGORY: Process only art products

MATERIALS: • Leaves of all colors, pine needles, flowers and other outdoor

collected nature stuff. • Large manila tag board • Glue

DIRECTIONS: Glue all of the found outdoor leafy things in a pleasing arrangement on the tag board and then decoupage over a few times. Or once its done you can laminate it or cover with contact paper and use for a placemat. If you framed it with construction paper before laminating it is much prettier.

IDEA: Leaf crumbles

CATEGORY: Process art products with prepared shapes

MATERIALS: Large cut out leaves from either construction paper or manila tag board. Give kids a choice of which background leaf they will use. Leaves and bits of flowers and stems collected from outside.

DIRECTIONS: Crumble up leaves and other bits of flowers and mix into glue. Use this mixture and have the children paint it onto their leaves. It will be an artsy, gluing, decoupaggy look.

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IDEA: Collage with leaves and all things leafy

CATEGORY: Process only art

MATERIALS:

• Leaves and other stuff from outside • Tag board • Clear thinned glue

DIRECTIONS: Have them collage on tag board and then treat as decoupage and paint over picture with glue a few coats.

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Winter

IDEA: Winter snowman collages

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

MATERIALS:

• Blue or black construction paper • White circles of different sizes cut out of a few kinds of white paper,

Cotton balls • Q tips, • Small shapes of different colors.

See page 22 for materials for other idea

DIRECTIONS: Arrange materials for them to make beautiful snowman collages

IDEA: Winter chalk pictures Category: Process only art

MATERIALS: • Black or blue paper

• Chalk DIRECTIONS: Have them create pictures using chalk on black or dark blue paper.

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IDEA: Black paper and Ivory snow pictures

CATEGORY: Process only art

MATERIALS: Black or blue construction paper Ivory snow Glue Paintbrushes

DIRECTIONS: Have them glue on paper with glue brushes or paintbrushes and then sprinkle ivory snow on top of glue. Wherever there is glue the ivory snow will stick.

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Spring

IDEA: Flower collages

MATERIALS:

• Manila tag board, • Coffee filter, • Pipe cleaners, • Cupcake holders, • Buttons, • Ribbons

See page 22 for more material ideas

DIRECTIONS: Just tell them these are for spring pictures and let them create.

IDEA: Real flower collages

CATEGORY: Process only art

MATERIALS:

• Leaves • Flowers • Manila tag board • Glue

DIRECTIONS: Have them collage beautiful real flowers and leaves and other flowery stuff on tag board. Laminate or contact paper for placemats when done.

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IDEA: Kites

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

• MATERIALS: • Pieces of manila tag board cut in kite shape to work on. • Ribbon • String, • Feathers, • Sequins • String • Paper scraps (e.g. wallpaper) • Streamers • Glue • Scissors • Stapler

DIRECTIONS:

Decorate kites cafeteria style and then let them choose ribbon for the tail and give them bunch of string for the front of the kite

When all of this is done, it is time to make the kite's tail

A piece of string and different colored pieces of streamer secured by a staple to the kite's bottom (tie a knot for extra security)

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Summer

IDEA: Individual underwater sea murals

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style.

MATERIALS: • Large manila tag board • Lots of markers • Different shades of blue paint • Brown paint • Green paint • Construction paper • White copy paper

DIRECTIONS: Have them paint bottom part of the tag board as water or sand and the other part as beach or grass. Let them make many different pictures of the things they think they will find underwater and on top of the water. Then let them cut out and paste these items in the proper place like coral and octopuses, and boats and sun and birds etc. Brainstorm with them. The great thing about this is they don’t have to use the picture if they don’t like it they can just cut something else out.

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IDEA: Beach Bags

CATEGORY: Cafeteria style

MATERIALS:

• Piece of canvas or burlap • Fabric glue • Yarn • Ribbon • Pieces of felt cut into different shapes • Fabric markers • Needles • Thread • Long pieces of rick rack or trimming

DIRECTIONS: Give the children 2 equal size pieces of burlap large enough for a bag. Have them decorate the bag with above materials. Turn inside out Sew along 3 edges. Turn back to the right side. Help children attach long pieces of trimming for handle.

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How to figure out Educational Arts and Crafts Project ideas on your own

What happens if there comes a day or an event that we have not covered in this book?

Do not fear: You are well prepared and below are the steps you can take to come up with your own ideas.

1. Think of what the day represents to you 2. Think of any symbols that characterize the day. 3. Does this day call for any gifts or cards…if so look thru

transformed art and process only art activities 4. Can it be a project that can take a cafeteria style

project/…make sure if you want to do a cafeteria type project that there is enough room to give a lot of choices without making it difficult for your child..

In cafeteria style projects you can do many mural like pictures. You can even prepare some of the items you may use in a more traditional arts and crafts projects.

For example : When you are making candle…you can cut out small flames of orange and yellow and put as part of the choices but always add a few sizes and materials and always give more than what you think they would need. They then can use their own choices and creativity.

Mural like projects can be done with the children creating pictures by drawing on separate papers and then cutting out their pictures and pasting onto their prepared baseline pictures along with some materials that you have prepared.

Be careful not to dictate to the child where and what should be put onto their papers.

Enjoy! It’s been fun

If you come up with any interesting ideas please email me…I may use them at some point

Thank you

Faige Kobre kobres@gmail.com