A graphic art project...from a random CVS run
Yesterday I took Truman, my 10 year old, with me on a quickie CVS run to pick up a few odds and ends I needed for my trip to Vegas tomorrow. Mini shampoo and conditioner? Check. Makeup remover wipes? Check. Stupid celeb. magazines? Double check.
He was looking for some duct tape with which to create a basketball key on the carpet of his bedroom. The house cleaners (with possibly a wee bit of help from me), removed the computer paper one he had made last week. It was all ripped up, so you'd have taken it down too. He initially wanted to buy spray paint and paint the court onto his rug, so I was happy to take him to buy hockey tape instead.
He should actually thank me, because he ended up making THIS one, which is way cooler.
I have been traveling more than normal lately, and I was feeling like I hadn't really provided enough creative experiences for my dudes lately. They are getting older and its gotten harder to get them away from their devices and back to basics. back to open-ended art. Gone are the days of slapping down 5 cans of Playdoh, some spiffy tools, and calling it a day.
So back to CVS. As I passed by the tape and scissors and other random drugstore fair, I noticed these brightly colored yard sale pricing stickers. I decided immediately that they needed to be used for something way more fun than letting people know how much old muffin tins and outgrown baby clothes are.
I came home, found some plain white paper, and laid them out all over the kitchen island.
We were also in the midst of making these AWESOME haystack cookies for my brother, their Uncle D,'s, visit. (He's our kid-sitter for the next four days as Jon and I try and win back the 500 bucks we just blew at the vet)
If you don't know how to make these cookies, LMK and I'll share, and you and your hips will never be the same.
Anyway, I sat down and began to create what I'm calling a "dash and dot" piece of art.
I knew this little art project was WAY below my boys' art level. But just like when someone pulls out a box of 64 Crayola crayons and a blank piece of paper and we are drawn in like a moth to the flame, using the most basic of materials and being given the permission to just play is sometimes the most creatively liberating experience of all. Being allowed to revert back to the simplicity of cutting and pasting and openly creating often fuels that inner core of creativity like nothing else.
Truman started by helping me with my picture. He's usually the one I need to bribe at first. He made the sun and the grass and the lovely blue background. And Maxwell went all graphic and video game on me. Tetris anyone? Max is always open to messing around with random materials and I love that at 14, he still doesn't have to look "cool" all the time.
What I totally dig about this simple and random artsy little project is that the supplies cost under 5 bucks total and it was just silly enough that a 10 and 14 year old boy had no trouble jumping in. And no one tells anyone how to do it "right".
Here's the one Tru and I are working on together.
And here is the one Max started.
The next part of this experiment is to leave these things out for a few days and see what comes of it. We so often clean everything up in the name of organization and basically stab creativity right in the heart. Summer is made for messy.
For the rest of the break, I'm planning on putting out odds and ends from the ol' neglected arts and craft box in the attic and seeing if we can all reignite our artful selves, one kindergarten craft project at a time. Creating art in all forms came so easily when my boys were 2 and 6, or 4 and 8. No coaxing required. But times, they are a' changing.
If you have "older" kiddos, I challenge you to provide some basic "for-the-younger-kids" stuff for them to explore once again. Just leave them out and don't say anything. Especially "hey, come make an art project with me!!" Here are some ideas for things to just lay out with no direction for how they are to be used. And then sit back and watch the magic happen,
* a box of rubber bands
*a jar of popsicle sticks and some Elmers glue
* a big mason jar of different types of pipe cleaners...this is one of my faves
*pastel chalks and flattened brown grocery bags
*several bars of ivory soap and a few plastic knives for carving
*a box of tooth picks and a fresh clump of clay
* a box of drinking straws, scissors and playdoh
He was looking for some duct tape with which to create a basketball key on the carpet of his bedroom. The house cleaners (with possibly a wee bit of help from me), removed the computer paper one he had made last week. It was all ripped up, so you'd have taken it down too. He initially wanted to buy spray paint and paint the court onto his rug, so I was happy to take him to buy hockey tape instead.
He should actually thank me, because he ended up making THIS one, which is way cooler.
I have been traveling more than normal lately, and I was feeling like I hadn't really provided enough creative experiences for my dudes lately. They are getting older and its gotten harder to get them away from their devices and back to basics. back to open-ended art. Gone are the days of slapping down 5 cans of Playdoh, some spiffy tools, and calling it a day.
So back to CVS. As I passed by the tape and scissors and other random drugstore fair, I noticed these brightly colored yard sale pricing stickers. I decided immediately that they needed to be used for something way more fun than letting people know how much old muffin tins and outgrown baby clothes are.
I came home, found some plain white paper, and laid them out all over the kitchen island.
We were also in the midst of making these AWESOME haystack cookies for my brother, their Uncle D,'s, visit. (He's our kid-sitter for the next four days as Jon and I try and win back the 500 bucks we just blew at the vet)
If you don't know how to make these cookies, LMK and I'll share, and you and your hips will never be the same.
Anyway, I sat down and began to create what I'm calling a "dash and dot" piece of art.
I knew this little art project was WAY below my boys' art level. But just like when someone pulls out a box of 64 Crayola crayons and a blank piece of paper and we are drawn in like a moth to the flame, using the most basic of materials and being given the permission to just play is sometimes the most creatively liberating experience of all. Being allowed to revert back to the simplicity of cutting and pasting and openly creating often fuels that inner core of creativity like nothing else.
Truman started by helping me with my picture. He's usually the one I need to bribe at first. He made the sun and the grass and the lovely blue background. And Maxwell went all graphic and video game on me. Tetris anyone? Max is always open to messing around with random materials and I love that at 14, he still doesn't have to look "cool" all the time.
What I totally dig about this simple and random artsy little project is that the supplies cost under 5 bucks total and it was just silly enough that a 10 and 14 year old boy had no trouble jumping in. And no one tells anyone how to do it "right".
Here's the one Tru and I are working on together.
And here is the one Max started.
The next part of this experiment is to leave these things out for a few days and see what comes of it. We so often clean everything up in the name of organization and basically stab creativity right in the heart. Summer is made for messy.
For the rest of the break, I'm planning on putting out odds and ends from the ol' neglected arts and craft box in the attic and seeing if we can all reignite our artful selves, one kindergarten craft project at a time. Creating art in all forms came so easily when my boys were 2 and 6, or 4 and 8. No coaxing required. But times, they are a' changing.
If you have "older" kiddos, I challenge you to provide some basic "for-the-younger-kids" stuff for them to explore once again. Just leave them out and don't say anything. Especially "hey, come make an art project with me!!" Here are some ideas for things to just lay out with no direction for how they are to be used. And then sit back and watch the magic happen,
* a box of rubber bands
*a jar of popsicle sticks and some Elmers glue
* a big mason jar of different types of pipe cleaners...this is one of my faves
*pastel chalks and flattened brown grocery bags
*several bars of ivory soap and a few plastic knives for carving
*a box of tooth picks and a fresh clump of clay
* a box of drinking straws, scissors and playdoh