Art/Rainbow lesson

Gathering Activity:

I filled plastic cups with a little dish soap and a little water and gave each boy a squiggle straw to blow in the cup with. I also put a plate underneath to catch the bubbles as they spewed over the cup. The boys had a lot of fun making the bubbles overflow the cups. I also asked the boys if they could see any colors in their bubbles. They all seemed to see the rainbow colors.J, EM, and T blowing bubbles

J smiling as the bubbles grow out of his cup

Welcome:

EW was our helper child this week and actually wore the vest for the first time. We said the pledge of allegiance and talked about the weather. Then we talked about number 6 and how there are six basic colors in a rainbow. We then talked about the letter R and how rainbow starts with the letter R.

Activities:

Each boy was then given a plastic prism(actually they were handles from some plastic serving sets I found at Dollartree but they worked great!) and a white piece of paper. We went outside and tried to reflect rainbows onto our paper. Most of the boys were able to see the rainbows.G making a rainbow on his paper (The photo isn't very good but there was a rainbow there I promise)

Then we went back inside and each boy was given a pair of sunglasses with different colored lenses(one for each rainbow color). The lenses kept falling out of the glasses so eventually we just had the boys hold the lenses up to their eyes so they could see all in one color. We then traded colors around so everyone had a chance with each color.

EM, C, EW, P, J, G, (and T walking away) trying on their colored lenses.

Next we did a mixing activity. We started out with Red, Yellow and Blue water and talked about how these were the primary colors, then we mixed colors together to make the other three colors Orange, Green and Purple.C, EM, J, and T observing the different colors

Blue Book Activity:

Now that the boys knew how mixing the primary colors together made new colors we did a little mixing craft. Each boy was given a plate filled with shaving cream and several drops of Red, Yellow, and Blue dye. With a Q-tip the boys mixed the colors around to make fun swirl designs. When they were all done they pressed their white paper into the shaving cream and when the shaving cream was wiped of the design was preserved on the paper.

Shaving cream and dye

The finished masterpieces drying

Free Play Time:

Snack time:

For the snack the boys were given a bamboo skewer to make a rainbow fruit-kabob. I was a little nervous giving them wood sticks with a point but they were all very good and didn't use them as weapons.

Strawberries - Red
Orange slices - Orange
Pineapple - Yellow
Apple - Green
Grapes - Purple

I did some research and there actually aren't any fruits that are truly blue. I debated using blueberries even though they are purple but decided since most of the boys didn't seem too crazy about them last time we would just go without.

Fruit-kabob

Singing Time:

S led the boys in some fun songs about colors and also some of the boys favorite songs.

Story Time:

We read a short story about Noah from the bible and then put together a giant puzzle picture of Noah's ark.

Noah's Ark puzzle

Take Home Craft:

Each boy was given a paper plate cut in half with holes punched along the bottom. With yarn in each of the six rainbow colors they sewed along the bottom (They were all taped together so they could sew all of the colors and once) When they were done sewing we trimmed the ends so they were even. Each boy was then given a rainbow pen to draw a rainbow on their plate. The pen was made by taping six markers together flat in rainbow order.

P, J, G, and EM showing off their rainbows

We didn't have time to go over the various mediums of art (Watercolor, Colored pencil, oil, pastels, etc.) but they got a little of that on Tuesday so that is okay.

It was a fun lesson and all the boys were FANTASTIC!!! (Maybe we should switch lesson days to Thursday ;)

Art Gallery

We had the amazing opportunity to visit the William's Fine Art Gallery today.  The kids got to see some amazing paintings and sculptures by real artists.  They were so great to let us come and to give our kids a great art experience.

They first took a walk around the gallery to look at all the art then they each got the chance to make their own work of art.  They painted with acryllic paints on canvas using the primary colors.  They got to paint like a real artist using one color as a base, then adding a little of the second color, and finally signing their name with the third color.  The kids all loved painting and their art looked so good when it was framed! 

They even got blue 1st place ribbons for their works or art!

Finally the kids got to walk around and find their favorite painting and get their picture taken with it.  It was really interesting to see which paintings each kid picked and why it was their favorite.

T's favorite painting.  A landscape with mountains.

 EW's favorite. An oil painting of a train yard.

 G's favorite painting of a typewriter.

 EM's favorite painting. A town with traintracks.

 P, J, and K all had the same favorite painting!  A farmer plowing a field with horses.

Spring/Seasons

W gave a great lesson last Tuesday on the Seasons and Spring. 

Gathering Activity- The gathering activity was scissor practice.  Each kid got to trace their closed hand then cut it out with scissors (3 times to make 3 petals).  They then glued those on a blue paper with the stem and leaves they got to cut out.  It was really cute and those little boys concentrate so hard trying to cut on the lines!  They put their finished flowers in their binders.

Circle Time- She then had the kids do the pledge and weather wheel.  They took turns holding pictures of the four different seasons and learned the number 4.  They learned about the letter Q and talked about how Winter changes "Quickly" into Spring.  They also learned about the diamond shape and how a kite can be in the shape of a diamond.

Color Experiment- The kids then gathered in the kitchen while W did a color experiment with them.  Each boy chose a favorite color and they turned water that color in a baby food jar.  W then told them how if you make the color a lighter version it is called pastel.  She then added liquid dish soap to each color and the boys watched the bright colors change to a pastel color.  They then colored two eggs- one with pastel colors and the other with bright colors. 

Spring Planting- W then showed the boys some flowers that she needed to plant outside.  She cut off the stems then took all the boys outside and each one got a turn to pick a bulb, dig a hole in the dirt, and plant the bulb.  After each boy planted a bulb they took turns using the watering can to water the bulbs. 

 T planting his bulb.

J planting his bulb.

G digging up the dirt.

E watering the flowers.

Spring-time Walk- We then all went on a walk around the neighborhood looking for signs of Spring.  The boys all did pretty well and were good at listening when they were asked to wait.  J was really good at spotting the buds on the trees.  We also saw a few flowers on our walk.  We ended up back at W's house and looked at the blossoms just starting on her tree and talked about and sang "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree" and how the blossoms look like popcorn. 

Snack- We then had popcorn and apples for snack.  While the boys were eating W read A Seed Grows to them. 

Seed Growing-  All the boys got to put a bean into a baggie with a paper towel and water to take home and watch it sprout.

St. Patrick's Day Party

We got the kiddos together for a fun St. Patrick's Day party that J had put together.  First W had the kids play Simon Says while they were waiting for their special breakfast to be made.  Each kid got a turn to be Simon and tell the others what to do.  The favorite actions seemed to be- fly like a dragon, jump, and stomp your feet.

We then had a great breakfast made by J. We had green shammrock waffles with green grapes, blueberries, apples, and bananas.  The kids really liked those waffles and the Moms too!

 

The kids then made St. Patrick's Day hats for a little parade we did.  Each kid had fun glueing, stickering, pipe cleanering, and glittering their hats.  It was fun how each hat was so different!

We also had fun playing hot potato, musical shammrocks, a parade, and story time from B.  This is the best group shot I could get.  Silly kiddos weren't very happy about the pics and E is being attacked by his sister so you can't see him:)