Monday, October 22, 2007

art explorations

art activities: 16-22 October

I'm not done with this post, but I need to post it today for the First Unplugged Project. I'll finish it up tomorrow.


First Unplugged Project

Thanks to Mom Unplugged for suggesting this group project and to Jenny for spreading the word!

On Friday, Eliza and I went to the Quail Botanical Gardens to enjoy a pleasant couple hours and also to be on the look-out for anything on the ground with an interesting texture. I only ended up bringing back three items: a fern frond, a Magnolia leaf, and a whatchamacallit from Araucaria columnaris, the New Caledonia Pine native to Australia.

Eliza spent a few minutes on it today, then lost interest. I'm keeping it out just in case she's more in the mood to try more later. She has been very unfocused today. I think being housebound due to the wildfires has made us all a little stir-crazy. So far, our neighborhood is not threatened (the high school is serving as an evacuation center), but the neighborhoods immediately north and east of ours are under mandatory evacuation orders.


Early Scissors Experience: Stage 3 - Paper Factory


This was just a simple activity to work on scissors coordination. Eliza has her own pair of blunt-tipped scissors that she can use at any time with supervision. Usually, I give her junk mail to cut up, but on Monday and Wednesday of last week, I gave her patterned tissue paper and semi-heavy card stock for a change of texture and color.

Snow Paint

The snow is simply a mixture of flour, salt, and water, which looks like slush on black paper.

This paper was the one she was most proud to show to her daddy when he got home from work. "Look, I made snow!" Funnily enough, Eliza has never touched snow in her life - she has only seen snowflakes and snowmen through picture books.

Here's a video of the process.


Zooming Wheels

I uploaded a video to YouTube, but I haven't figured out how to embed it here yet, and I didn't take a still photo. Eliza took her wooden cars, dipped them in washable tempera paint, and zoomed all over the paper.

First Rubbings

Usually I stay out of Eliza's art explorations, but this time I did about a quarter of the rubbings because she isn't familiar with them, looked confused, and asked for help. Once she saw that patterns emerge when you scribble with the chalk, she thought it was a great activity - she still didn't get it (she would say before scribbling on a random patch, "now I'm going to make a key!"), but she found it entertaining.




7 comments:

Garden State Kate said...

I love these "art experiments"!
Glad to hear you are ok, I've been thinking of you today as your area is filling the news!

Anonymous said...

I like Eliza's painting, thanks for doing this with us!

I live in an area that is constantly under threat of wildfire and we had to even evacuate one year. Very scary for all. My oldest was 2 at the time and my middle child was 12 days old. My 2 year-old was quite upset, even though she didn't understand what was happening. Little ones pick up on all the upsetting vibes I think.

I am thinking of you and hope that they get this awful monster under control soon.

Jenny said...

How incredibly stressful to be housebound due to the wild fires- I know how that drives Eliza (and then you) crazy. I hope they get them under control soon so you can all get back to your normal lives.

I loved that you posted the pictures (and video- I love hearing her voice) of all the art you two have been doing- it's so helpful to see the projects in action and gives me ideas of what I'd like to try with CJ. And that last picture of her with the rubbings is a gem- you should frame it! :o)

I'll be thinking of you tonight- stay safe.

chanale said...

Thanks everyone for the good thoughts. It's 6 p.m. on Monday now, and our neighborhood is still not on alert for possible evacuation, although we have a big duffel bag packed with food, water, and clothes, plus the cat's travel sherpa bag ready just in case we need to leave.

My husband was supposed to be in New Jersey right now, but his company called off the trip early this morning. I'm so glad he's home with us... being together is keeping us more calm.

Kate - She had a lot of fun with art last week, and I enjoyed watching her!

MomUnplugged - How awful to have to be evacuated at all let alone with a newborn. Eliza and our cat have picked up that things aren't right around here. The air is so smoky, and last night it felt like a hurricane was outside our door.

Jenny - I only wish I knew how to edit. They're so long, and I never know going into it whether she'll just sit there or actually do something. :)

Daphne said...

I saw the Unplugged on Kate's site before I saw it on yours. What awesome fun! We're definitely going to jump on board for the following projects. I love seeing other kid's art work, it makes my heart smile.

Anonymous said...

It is Wednesday now. I hope you all are still OK and "unevacuated." Thinking of you!

veganmomma said...

So I just watched Eliza's video and yeah, she and Athena have very different approaches. Athena just went back and forth over and over and over. She wasn't playing while doing it (like parking the cars and making sounds), but more focused on doing something on the paper. It was funny to watch. I have a short video of it.