RAWR!

For about 5 sessions, I lead the kindergarten group in an art directive using dinosaurs as the point of interest. There would be four dinosaurs to create: Triceratops, Brontosaurus (Apatosaurus), Stegosaurus, and the finale, Tyrannosaurus Rex. Maybe this was my favorite directive. Anyway, each dinosaur was special and unique. Triceratops had bumpy skin (bubble wrap), Stegosaurus had spikes (corrugated cardboard), Apatosaurus had rough skin (sandpaper)...and T-Rex had real reptile skin!

The herd.

T-Rex.

Not really real, but I actually made this really cool texture out of tempera paint mixed with glue. I overlaid a strip of mesh material on the gooey mixture and let it dry on a piece of wax paper for a day or two. Then, a peeled off the mesh overlay created my own reptile skin. The colors I used were bright and all mixed together. I tore the "skin" into little pieces for the group to glue onto their T-Rexes.

Road Trip

I thought about the idea of the tires from the previous art directive with the treasure hunt. Long story short, I asked the kindergarten group to make cars, roads, and take a road trip into the big city! They each made little cars from cardboard (not-yet used fry scoopers donated from my restaurant job), bottle caps, and foam "tires".

My demo car

My demo city, occupied by a lone penguin.

The intro to muddy vs. smooth roads. Sand mixed in.

In their next session I cut out curved roads for them to paint either muddy (brown and white) or smooth, like pavement (black and white). To make the roads have texture, I walked around to each participant and sprinkled a bit of sand into the paint. The sand I used was red, yellow, black, or white. When dry, it sparkled a little. For the cityscapes (my favorite part), I gave each child cardboard cutouts of different shapes for the buildings. They could then paint whatever colors they wanted onto the "buildings" and right onto the black background, which was like the night sky.

Treasure Hunt

Here, I tried to add a bit of intrigue and mystery to a magazine collage directive. I took the group of kindergarten-age children on a brief imaginary journey. They were to make believe that they were going on a treasure hunt through the forest. Then, I told them that each of them finds a sack of treasures...some find it behind a tree, others under a rock or under some shrubbery. I brought them back to the art therapy room (just by talking; not literally - it was a pretend story for the group) and presented a tray of treasure sacks. I cut out pictures of toys and other goodies and wrapped individual piles in pieces of burlap, loosely tied with thin rope. It looked quite earthy, as if the sacks did come from the forest. Next, I had the individuals choose their treasure sack, and explore their bounty. While they did that, I passed out glue and cardboard "canvases" so they could start making their own unique collages. I thought it was more adventurous than simply handing the children piles of pictures to glue onto a board. I liked the mixture of fun foods and toys, along with some "golden nuggets" and foam bits that someone said looked like tires...which actually led me to my next art directive (Road Trip) with this group.

Save Cardboard Tubes

With this project, I learned how important it is to save up your toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls. Paint them, glue them, add stuff, display. My supervisor started this kindergarten group out by having them all paint a bunch of plain cardboard tubes. She had a huge bag full of them. The kids painted the tubes with bright colors. Then in the next session when the tubes were dry, I stepped in to lead the group in gluing individual abstract sculptures. The results were glorious.

Arty the Smarty needs a place to live!

I love the book Arty the Smarty. Nowadays it's super rare and hard to find. I read it to the pre-school group, just a few parts, in order to introduce a new art directive. This was about making an aquarium, complete with little fishy-friends (made with coffee filters and watercolor) for Arty. Just some shoe boxes and tempera paint were used to make the aquariums. The paint was applied with big sponges to  create the watery and bubbly effects. For the finishing touches, the children were given a few sea shells, pebbles, seaweed (green pipe cleaners) and model magic to create the bottom of their aquariums.

My mock-up of Arty, in the illustration style of the book.

Little Crab Friends

 

I read a part of the book Arty the Smarty to the pre-school group. It was about Mean Old Crab. At the end of it, I told the children that Mean Old Crab might not be mean anymore...if we make him some friends. And what colorful little crabs they made!

My painted image of Mean Old Crab

Cookies! (pretend)

The cookies! This was my very first directive that I came up with and worked on with a group of pre-schoolers. They started with a paper plate, or "cookie tray" and began by painting it with little sponges and adding brightly colored tissue paper. After that, they each got round cardboard "cookies" to decorate with foam "frosting", chocolate and mint "chips", pom-pom "cherries" and "marshmallows" and various other "toppings". The result was a fun, fake cookie-filled pile of creativity.