A Fabulous Fine Art Show by Kids, Ages 2 through 6

Our enrichment program recently put on our first official art show at Wonderland Arts.  The artwork was created by students ages 2 through 6 after lessons taught by 4 teachers of Wonderland Arts.  This includes our primary teacher of the 2's class, two primary teachers from the 3 through 6's class, and myself (the Little Wonders art teacher).  We all worked very hard to get this show up and running, and needless to say, it was a great success.  The kids had some amazing and original art that parents and friends appreciated.  Here are just some of the displays that we set up to give you a feel for the show.

The display above shows some of the finished products after I gave lessons on shading and highlighting. To learn more about this lesson, click here: Shading and Highlighting for Kids

The 3 through 6 primary teachers gave a lesson on melting wax crayons.  This technique is all over Pinterest and there are lots of great tutorials, so just search on Pinterest for melted crayon art f you are interested in tutorials.

To the left, we have some pastel drawings.  To the right, we hung watercolors, and on the stand are some objects on display painted with acrylic.  This grouping was all made by ages 2 through 3 during lessons in my studio.

Created by ages 3 through 6 with our primary teachers, what you see here is some fun and colorful sand art.

Yarn bottles were also done by ages 3 through 6 with the primary teachers.  To learn more about this lesson, I made a tutorial here: Yarn Wrapped Bottles

On the walls above are some more pastels done during my classes, along with painted objects on display, all created by ages 3 through 6.  To learn more about how I teach pastels, click here: Lessons on Pastels   and if you are curious about teaching acrylics to kids, I mention some techniques here: Acrylic Paintings Lesson

Abstract shape art painted with acrylic on cardboard by ages 3 through 6 during my Little Wonders classes.  To learn more about this process, visit my post here: Abstract Shape Art

To the left, images with the black matting were created by 2 year olds with our primary 2's teacher, after she gave some experimental art lessons with paints and glues.  To the right are some more abstract shape paintings by the 2's class.  

These are some of the acrylic painted objects my students ages 2 and 3 worked on.

Wooden wall hangings painted in acrylic, by my students ages 3 through 6.  

More acrylic objects by ages 3 through 6

People in action, mingling and enjoying our gallery set up on the opening day

Our primary teachers who work with ages 3 through 6 worked with the kids to prepare some delicious treats during the art show.  

Thanks for visiting and checking out our art show!  We hope you were inspired!

~Angelique Bowman & the Wonderland Arts Team

Group Painting on an Old Window Pane

Acrylic Painting on Glass by the Little Wonders of Wonderland, Ages 2 through 6 

The window pain was purchased at the Scrap Exchange, a creative reuse center in Durham, NC.  To learn more, visit the Scrap Exchange Website

Recently, my students, a.k.a. the Little Wonders, enjoyed a group project where they took turns painting with acrylic paint on a window pane. Small groups of kids, about 6 to 8 at a time, sat around the window pane which was laid down on the floor with small globs of paint scattered on the glass.  The kids were each given damp brushes and encouraged to take their brushes to the paint that was placed closest in their reach.  In between sessions with each group of kids, we let the paint dry for a day before working back into it so that it wouldn't get muddy.  Also be cautious that if the acrylic paint is not completely dry, it can peel off of the glass when a brush is working new paint into it.  Just to be safe, I encouraged the kids to only paint areas that have not yet been painted.  We considered it finished once all of the glass was covered up. 

Until we decide where to hang it, we have the glass on display at the school in front of a big window.  It looks really pretty on sunny days as the colors brighten up like a large sun catcher.

City Art: Craft Activity by Kids

City Art Project Taught to Ages 3 through 6

The summer program has begun at Wonderland Arts, here in Durham, NC.  While we art teachers love to focus on art, especially while school is out and summer is here, it is also important that we continue to teach global education to our kids.  That said, after a fun lesson on cities around the world, I thought that building our own cities would be a creative way for the lesson to sink in.

The Process:
I had lots of pre-cut shapes that I cut from craft paper to offer the little ones who are still learning to cut, and each child could paste them on a sheet of construction paper however they wished.  But first, I gave a quick demo to the kids to give some ideas on what to do with the shapes.   My students were given markers and crayons as they were free to draw whatever they wanted.  They could also use scissors to cut up extra craft paper if preferred.  I offered to draw a vertical line on the construction paper to represent the ground, like a straight horizon line near the bottom of the paper, for kids wanted help determining where the ground was.  Others could draw their own with rulers.

Some children based their cities off of specific cities that we learned about, while others invented their own cities.  They all got really involved and felt really proud of their original artwork.  We displayed each city side by side for everyone's eyes to enjoy during the week.

Creating craft paper cities is a fun way to encourage kids to be original.  

Thanks for visiting!  Feel free to email me about signing your child up for our summer program at Wonderland Arts.

~Angelique Buman