stART- It's Pumpkin Time

Michelle at A Mommy's Adventures has a great weekly feature called stART. She reads a book to her little girl and then they do an art project. I've enjoyed seeing the great projects that other bloggers have done with their kids so I thought I would join in this week.

For our story we read It's Pumpkin Time by Zoe Hall and Shari Halpern. This simple story chronicles the growth of a pumpkin. The simple, bold illustrations inspired our project this week.

We copied the style of the illustrator to make these pumpkin vine mobiles.

We began by tracing pumpkin shapes on white construction paper. We used the medium sized pumpkin from Preschool Express' pumpkin patterns.

The girls painted the pumpkins orange.

Then they used a little red or yellow paint to add dimension to the pumpkins.

I love the different colors of the pumpkins!

To make the vine, the girls painted a paper plate green and then added a little yellow paint. They also cut out and painted leaves.

We cut the plate into a spiral.

We used curling ribbon to attach the pumpkins to the vine and hung them from the ceiling fan.

To see what others have done for stART visit A Mommy's Adventures.

American Girl Collages

The American Girl catalog provides fun cutting practice. The girls like to cut out their favorite dolls and glue them to a piece of paper.

Transparent Drawings

One afternoon we made transparent drawings, an activity in the wonderful resource Preschool Art by Mary Ann Kohl. The girls drew and colored pictures with crayons, pressing hard.

Then they used a cotton ball to apply a coat of vegetable oil to the back of the paper.

We dried the papers overnight on a piece of newspaper. Now lots of light shines through the paper.

Colorful Sun Catchers

We always have seasonal sun catchers hanging on our kitchen door but I had a hard time coming up with a sun catcher for August. During a trip to the Lakeshore store I saw these and decided to make a simpler version. When I set out the materials, Julia had her own idea of what she wanted to make (yeah!).

To create a frame for her sun catcher Lauren attached 9"x 1.5" strips of black construction paper to the perimeter of a nine inch contact paper square.

She placed several colors of tissue paper squares on the contact paper and glued sequins to the frame.


Julia created a flower using tissue paper for the stem and leaf. The flower sequins made lovely petals for her flower.

Paint Blending

This art exploration came from the book I Made It! Process-Oriented Art for Kids.

We squeezed small amounts of tempera paint onto construction paper.

After covering the paint with a piece of wax paper, the girls used their hands to blend the paint.

Once the paint was blended the girls peeled off the wax paper to reveal their design.

Lauren enjoyed using a paint scrapper to add texture to her designs.

Bug Racers

These adorable bug racers are fun to make and fun to play with! This craft idea came from Evan-Moor's Crafts for Young Children.

I cut apart a cardboard egg carton and the girls painted each cup. We threaded chenille sticks through two holes that I poked in the top of the cups. We finished the bugs by adding googly eyes and drawing mouths.

We placed a marble under each bug and raced them down our ramp.

Tissue Art

This art exploration is as easy as it gets. I provided some liquid starch, paint brushes, white construction paper, scissors, and colored tissue paper. Lauren brushed some starch onto the white paper and pressed on pieces of tissue that she tore or cut.

Julia cut her tissue paper into shapes and used them to make a clown face. I love to give the girls art materials and see what they create on their own!

Big Painting

My latest order from Lakeshore arrived with several large, crumpled sheets of paper. The girls are using the paper to make these wonderful murals. Painting on such a large surface is a new experience for my girls who have had many opportunities to paint at the easel. Julia loves the freedom of painting outside. She has been exploring splatter painting and making prints with different body parts.

Salt Drawings

Mix a few drops of food coloring into a bowl of salt. Let the salt dry over night or spread it on a cookie sheet and place in a 350 degree oven for a few minutes.

Use a paintbrush or cotton swab to apply glue to a piece of construction paper.

Sprinkle the colored salt over the glue. Shake off the excess salt.

When the glue is completely dry, gently tap the paper to remove any loose salt.

Enjoy your bright, textured drawings.

Collage Box

Creating collages is a popular activity around our house. We use this compartmentalized box to hold various collage items. Our current materials are sequins, small shells, aquarium rocks, feathers, googly eyes, died pasta, paper and foam confetti, popcorn, and a string of beads.

My two year old uses a paint brush to spread a little glue to attach her items to her paper. Collage is a great sensory and fine motor experience for toddlers. The materials offer a variety of textures for her to explore. She develops finger muscles as she picks up and carefully places the items on her paper. As she decides how to arrange the items on the paper she develops spatial reasoning and problem solving skills.

Five year old Julia uses a bottle of glue to adhere the items. Sometimes she creates pictures from the collage materials and other times she enjoys just gluing to items to her paper. Below are some of Julia's creations: