We had a fabulous day during the holidays. Noah asked me to run an art class for his friends. Am I a teacher um no. I didn't want to say I can't so we did. I was nervous but it was fantastic.
We had 14 children in total ( all my mothers group kids over 5) around the kitchen table. I limited it to 2 hours just like a usual school holiday activity. I thought I would blog it so you can see how easy it is.
Pick a topic - have ice cube trays and a few jars for water plus a brush for each child
We concentrated only on water colour primary & creating secondary colours.
•Professional paints are so vibrant it is best to use these as you only need a little.
( I had left over ones from my uni days a long long time ago)
• watercolour paper. we used rough as it really catches the colour and is different from most papers the kids use daily
I printed a circle template for the colour wheel. This way the kids can paint in the blue, red and yellow. Pop a small squirt of each of the blue red and yellow in the paint trays.
encourage freedom, I just let them go. don't worry too much about keeping in the lines etc.
then 2 primary colours together to make the secondary. it's great to hear oh yours is dark orange mine is light etc . Dry on the laundry floor or similar. then ask the kids to label the colours. these they can keep for colour mixing in the future.
hand our small blank pieces of paper to test washes, dry brush, loading the brush etc . Just different techniques. each child tends to discover something new. set aside to dry
hand out an A4 piece of watercolour paper and give a subject. I had some poppies well past their used by date and put them in the centre of the table. the painting was to be inspired by... and the artwork that resulted was amazing.
the 5 year olds were much more free and the results were begging to be framed. The 7 & 8 year olds were more concerned with getting it right . So had lost a little of that freedom but the artworks are lovely.
For us it will be a regular holiday activity
even better it was such a success one the other mums is a science teacher is planning a wonderful day of science experiment next holidays.
sign me up I am definitely doing this again...
