Art for kids - part 1

I've volunteered in art class at my children's elementary school for many years and pondered the idea of teaching my own art to kids many times.  This week my 10 year old and I did a "beta test" of the first project I'd like to do.  It involves crayons, school glue and poster paint and was so much fun!

We decided on a flower theme and both of us are drawing poppies, mine are California Poppies while Rose is drawing the Icelandic variety.

I am amazed at how nice a crayon drawing can turn out.  I might have to use crayons more often!  Besides being fun to draw with the color variety is astonishing.  I loved digging through the crayons and being amused at the names.  One crayon I used was called "Outer Space."

Once we were done coloring, we crumpled up our paper.  

This was kind of scary...because wrinkles are usually avoided!  I crumpled mine up 2 or 3 times for good measure, flattening out after each so that there would be lots cracks in the crayon wax.

Then we painted over with blue poster paint, making sure it got in all the nooks and crannies.

Before the paint dried we rinsed in off with water.  I learned that you must act quickly or the paper will become too saturated and tear.  Not too worry, though, I put it on a metal rack (a cookie sheet!) and set out in the hot sun to dry.  As soon as it was dry I was able to apply clear tape to the back to fix the rips.

Stay tuned for the next step where we make lovely antiqued, gilt frames for our works of art - see part 2 here.

I'm sharing at Paint Party Friday, it's been far, far too long and I'm happy to be here!