Kindergarten artists at Bauer Elementary had a blast with this lesson! This project concluded our Eric Carle artist study and was a big hit, especially because clay was involved! First, we read the classic book The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which the students read along with me. We then drew very large leaves - big enough to feed the hungry caterpillar, of course! Next, students used tempera cakes for painting the leaves. The following class period, students were each given a small amount of…

Hi! I’d like to welcome you to the last Craft Connection for October! (seriously? it’s the end of O...

Perhaps if you follow this blog, or have come here via Pinterest like some 680,000 of you (seriously, there were 15,000+ visits last month?!), you have noticed that I have not posted in over a year and wondered what's up?? I mentioned in an earlier post that maintaining our school blogs became less encouraged at one point, so I sort of slowed down and was mostly posting within our school's class pages for parents to see. Then, during the last school year, my family made the decision to move…

This week has been super fun for many of our students and that's because there has been lots of partying going on. I like to reward students for positive behavior and when they have earned 9 "Green Days", they earn an art party. Green days are earned when no reminders are needed for classroom rules. As much as the students love having an art party, these art parties drain me. They take so much effort and being the organized person that I am... art parties can get a bit chaotic and not as…

Try a few new ideas for making leaf prints and show kids some of the science as you create! #nature #stem

There are so many amazing Fall Leaf Art Projects online that it's hard to go wrong! We've done quite a few over the years with great success, but this year I think we've hit gold

This nature-themed bookmark craft for kids is so simple to make and is perfect for a wide range of ages. Children will enjoy the process of pressing flowers and leaves and then using the natural materials to create all kinds of designs for their homemade bookmarks! Follow Buggy and Buddy on Pinterest! My kids …

Autumn / Fall kids art & craft activities, printables, free downloads, colouring sheets featuring acorns, leaves

This is how I made the leaf mosaic pieces. Press leaves into a smooth slab of clay.- Thickness should be uniform.. Mine was about 6mm thick in this case. I have used wild geranium, nasturtium, bouganvillea and cluster fig leaves. Then, when the clay has firmed a little more, cut around the shapes with a pottery knife (or an ordinary kitchen knife- that works too) Leave overnight. Do not pick up the pieces or handle them while the clay is soft. The next day, once the clay is past the floppy…

Color, collage, and much more - art lessons galore... help yourself and explore!

Preserving the beauty of fall leaves is easy and fun. Here are five basic methods for preserving your leaf treasures.

Autumn / Fall kids art & craft activities, printables, free downloads, colouring sheets featuring acorns, leaves

Watercolor greeting cards using leaves as stencils - Autumn Cards

This week the students finished up some monochromatic value-based leaf paintings. Last week we drew our outlines on black paper with glue. There was one exploding glue incident-only slightly distracting-and we let them dry for a week before finishing our work. Tonight we tried mixing some paint use with white and/or black to fill in the spaces and create our leaves. Kids had a great time, we talked about value, and it took the whole class to finish these.