Elephants are such amazing animals that it is no wonder that they are so often depicted in art. Their iconic form is easily recognizable to children and a wonderful subject matter for this art project. When I present the project to my art class I will show the children images of elephants that have been decorated in India and ask them if they can think of any famous elephants from children's books. I am thinking right now of Babar, but I am sure there are others.   I cut the elephant shape from a heavy paper, slightly lighter in weight than chipboard. The feet I cut from corrugated cardb ..read more

I made clothespin dolls with a group of Kindergarteners yesterday and it was a great deal of fun. I used an electric hand drill with a a very fine bit to drill holes just below the "head". The children inserted pipe cleaners through the holes to represent the arms. They used magic markers to draw shoes directly onto the doll. I had a wide assortment of fabric, ribbon,pompoms, lace, beads, buttons, and sequins so that their dolls could be properly attired. Skirts were made from a circle of felt or cloth with a tiny circle cut out in the center for the waist. We used white glue to hold everythi ..read more

Painted little terra cotta pots with three to five year olds today. We set the pots on a paper plate so that we could keep pur work table clean and easily move them to a safe place for drying. We used sponge brushes and acrylic paint. I imagine that if we wanted them to hold up outdoors we would have to coat them with a sealant. We planted a lemon seed in each pot. One child pointed out that they would probably need to be transplanted if we expected the seed to grown into a tree. Agreed ..read more

Each flower in this piece was painted by a different Kindergartener. We used acrylic paints and I started with a demonstration. The children painted on a 11 x 14" sheet of paper. I requested that they not have the flowers overlap so that I could cut them apart. They basically worked across the sheet from left to right. There were enough flowers so that I could mat one or two for them to take home, as well as have extra to collage together. I painted a wrapped canvas a light yellow and then glued the flowers to the canvas with diluted white glue ..read more

Providing children with a sturdy base, strips of paper and a glue stick is a simple and fun intro to 3D art and a springboard for imaginative thinking. I purchased a sheet of foam core and used an x-acto knife to cut the board into jigsaw type pieces. The jigsaw shapes are the bases for their sculptures. I showed them different ways to fold and twist the paper, and explained that we were not gluing the pieces so that they were flat against the base. I empasized that for stability each strip of paper should be folded back at the points where it would attach to the base and that plenty of glue ..read more

This is a simple, no-fuss method for doing collages with very young children. Assemble different materials that you may have from other projects, such as pieces of yarn or ribbon, scraps of pretty wrapping paper, tin foil, bits of fabric, cotton balls, small pom poms etc. The list is really endless. You can also collect some lightweight 3D objects like paper clips and buttons. Attach a sheet of contact paper to the back of a picture mat. No extra adhesive needed with contact paper. You want the sticky side facing up. The children arrange the objects on the contact paper. No glue required. Thi ..read more

Pictured are the lay-outs for two folding books that I illustrated for a non-profit in India. This organization provides reading material for underpriviledged children. The books can be printed on one sheet of paper and very economically distributed to children who lack access to books. I was asked to illustrate one book written by someone else, and one that I would write and illustrate about my background as an artist. After printing, the books can be folded up to function as an accordion book with words and images on both sides. The concept can be great fun when used as a bookmaking projec ..read more

We eat a lot of oatmeal in my house. We have it hot in the winter, I make my own muesli for the warmer months, and we love oatmeal raisin cookies. The wonderful cardboard containers with plastic lids that the oatmeal comes in are begging to be turned into small storage units to be used in the kitchen or for whatever odds 'n ends that accumulate at your house. The paper label easily strips off the oatmeal box. I layered on acrylic paint in comlimentary colors with small stiff brushes overlaying the colors. When dry, I added a shiny coat of water-based acrylic to strengthen the carboard and gi ..read more

Teachers during the pandemic have used creative strategies to keep their students engaged from home. Thank goodness we have the technology to stay connected. I initially hadn't thought of how teachers could incorporate my masks into their zoom readings and plays until a mom in Florida ordered my wolf mask so that her daughter could play the wolf in her Kindergarten reading of the Three Little Pigs on Zoom.   The four little guys pictured here are the Rat, the Badger, the Mole and the Toad from The Wind in the Willows,a children's novel by Scottish writer Kenneth Grahame, first published ..read more

During this stressful time during the pandemic, with parents taking over the task of educating their children, I thought it might be a good time to share the download of my illustrated ABC flashcards. Just send me an email request and I will happily send you the four PDFs to print. Below is a photo of what they look like from my home printer before they are cut apart. If you would care to share, I would love to see how you use them at home. If you print two copies, you can turn them into a matching game. Be well! Follow me on IG @vicki.smith.art ..read more