Art In the Wild Woods Fall Recap

The children have been hard at work all year, learning and expressing themselves through a variety of art projects. Going forward, I will try to have a weekly update of the art project for the week, ways to use or display art, extension activities, etc. If you ever have any questions about the projects , please feel free to email me anytime. rachrip@gmail.com Thanks to all the families that sent in glass jars! They made the Winter Solstice party so magical! They ended up getting a little wet and droopy but they dried again, we will be sending those home soon.

In September, the children explored leaves. We began with leaf rubbings, then leaf printing. They also explored watercolor paints and tempura paints.

In October, we read the book “It looked like Spilt Milk” by Charles Shaw. The story is about looking at the clouds and seeing different shapes and images. Then the children painted clouds using white paint on blue paper and then told what they looked like. (Look for a separate post next week with the final product.) We also continued exploring leaves but creating suncatchers from leaves. We also had some Halloween fun and painted festive ornaments.

In November, we worked again with leaves but this time drawing our own. Using pictures of leaves and templates, the children were able to trace a variety of leaves then color them using soft pastels, which have more of a chalk like texture. Next, we created turkeys using pine cones and other natural materials (pine needles, feathers, ornamental grasses and lamb’s ear).

In December, the children created the lanterns for the Winter Solstice party. First, during a rainy day, the children used watercolor crayons and food coloring in squirt bottles to color coffee filters. Once they were dry, they were ripped and glued onto the glass jars. The children also created a large wreath using pine clippings from my yard and other found items from the wild woods. During the Winter Solstice party, children were able to decorate wood stars to add to the wreath.

Some ideas for using the art… paintings can be used as a card. If there are no blank spaces, write a message on a plain paper and glue it on. They can also be cut up and used a gift tags. (My children never wanted to do this tho lol) Another idea to save creations is to take pictures of each item and create a photo book of all of their art.

I am looking forward to some cold and snowy days to create more winter art!