Alesia’s Art Activities
Alesia Lacina has a long history of arts education in Grinnell. Here are some of her favorite art activities for you!
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
Color puzzle pieces.
Put all of the colored pieces in order.
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
- Puzzle pieces: artprojectsforkids.org
Georgia O'Keeffe Flowers
The famous artist, Georgia O'Keeffe, is known best for painting huge flowers. Here's our O'Keeffe inspired paintings. Go ahead and give this fun project a try!
Materials
Large pieces of paper
Paint (any kind)
Paintbrushes
Big artificial flowers for examples/inspiration (optional)
Paint shirts
Instructions
Let the kids pick a flower they like and their colors. Mix new shades if necessary.
Paint! Encourage the kids to paint the entire canvas - the flower should be pretty large and have a background.
Starry Night Paintings & Dioramas
These cool paintings are inspired by Vincent Van Gogh's famous painting, The Starry Night.
Materials
Canvas
Black acrylic paint
Rubbing alcohol (91% isopropyl)
Paint brushes
Glow-in-the-Dark duct tape
Glow-in-the-Dark paint
Paintbrushes
Miscellaneous materials
Glue
Spray bottle
Cardboard box
Instructions
Water down the black paint to a thin consistency.
Cover the canvas with the paint very quickly.
Use the spray bottle to dribble/spray some drops of the rubbing alcohol over the wet black paint. Watch as the paint and alcohol mix
Paint the inside of the box black.
Let the canvas and box dry overnight.
Trim the canvas if necessary and tape or glue to the back of the box to create a background.
Use the glow in the dark paint and duct tape to create a starry scene. With other materials, add other objects to the scene---just remember that they won't glow.
Take the diorama into a dark place to see the scene glow.
Tips
Test out the project several times to make sure that the alcohol will react correctly. It can be tricky.
For another project, create just the canvas as the cover for a book about constellations.
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
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.
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.
Cut out and paste the biography and painting example inside the book.
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