Flextangles

Flextangles are so much fun to create and play with. They are a nice activity because they don’t take a lot of materials, but can easily kill some time.

The Flextangle template can be found by clicking on the link below. The instructions are even on the template, so there is no need to include them here.

Materials

 

 

Tips

  • A tacky glue such as rubber cement or tacky craft glue is best. Glue sticks will not hold the paper together well.

Source

Puzzle Piece Murals

As the title suggests, this mural is in pieces. Each piece is printed out, colored in, and hung on a wall in order. For our mural, we bought a PDF kit of pieces to print out. If you want to do the same, the link is in is the Source section below. If you don't want to buy a kit, find an image to color, adjust the size, and print it out in pieces.

"Baby (Cradle)" by Gustav Klimt.

There are puzzle piece murals for paintings created by Gustav Klimt on Art Projects for Kids.

Materials

  • Printed out copies of each puzzle piece

  • Markers

  • Tape

Instructions

  1. Color puzzle pieces. 

  2. Put all of the colored pieces in order.

  3. Hang on wall with tape.

Tips

  • Color in, or at least decorate, the whole page (even in-between/empty spaces). It makes the finished project more striking and fun to look at.

  • This is a good project for older and younger kids to do together.

Sources

Artist Biography Books

Artist biography books are a fun way to teach kids a little art history. These books contain a short biography of an artist to read aloud, an example of their work, and the bookmaker's interpretation and impressions of the artist.

We make one book about each artist, Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. We used photocopies of a book's (see Sources below) biographies and painting examples which were then cut out and glued to the book pages. Tweak this project to your heart's content, though. Two ideas are to make one book including both Picasso and Matisse, or include little biographies about other artists.

Materials

  • Several sheets of construction paper (depending on how many pages you want in your book)

  • Paper scraps or drawing materials

  • Stapler w/ staples

  • Glue sticks

  • Print outs of biographical information, Picasso painting example, etc. (See Sources or click image at bottom for PDFs)

 

Instructions

  1. Fold a few pieces construction paper in half (short end to short end) to serve as the outer cover and pages of the book. Tuck them inside each other and staple along the inside crease.

  2. Using the example painting as a model, decorate the cover in the style of Picasso. Using the paper scraps makes a more interesting visual than markers, but use anything.

  3. Cut out and paste the biography and painting example inside the book.

  4. On the last page, write your thoughts about Picasso - do you like his art work? How did you use his ideas/style in your own artwork on the cover?

Source

  • Book: " What’s the Big Idea?: Activities and Adventures in Abstract Art” by Joyce Raimondo

  • For more artist biographies, check out these websites:
CLICK THE IMAGE ABOVE FOR PRINTOUTS

CLICK THE IMAGE ABOVE FOR PRINTOUTS

 

Many Pointed Star

Materials

  • Triangle pattern printed on cardstock (PDF below)
  • Duct tape or paint & brushes
  • Masking tape

Instructions

  1. Cut out the triangles on the pattern. There are 30 triangles per page. You will need 60.
  2. Tape three triangles together to make 20 pyramids (without bottoms).
  3. Tape two sets of five pyramids together along bottom edges.
  4. On both sets, tape five more pyramids on the edges.
  5. Reinforce all the edges so that the star is solid.
  6. Cover the star with duct tape or paint.

Tips

  • Make sure there is plenty of tape on the edges so the star does not fall apart.
  • It helps younger kids to have cut out for them.
  • This project takes a lot of time.
CLICK TO PRINT PDF

CLICK TO PRINT PDF