Finger Painting Flower Love

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I love the Happy Heart Made blog and so I was eager for Michelle to share one of her posts,

Her crafts are really inventive and you can see that she has a real love for art!! if you are looking for some inspiration you should check out her out at Happy Heart Made.

The post she has shared is about the process (and the wonderful creations) she has gone through teaching art to children and I love it (and am a little jealous because these pictures are great and I can’t paint that well!) 

So without furthder ado, here is Michelle on the finger painting flower love!!

*Guest Post*

Finger Painting Flower Love!

When I started teaching 1^st – 3^rd grade art classes, I wanted to have children make things that would be kept and not thrown away.  At first, it would take nine weeks to complete one project.  Although, we made very involved art pieces (i.e. glass mosaics), parents wanted to have several works from their children.   This did over whelm me at first, but I soon realized kids are able to create almost anything if it is broken down into steps.

With a lot prayer and gleaning from the input the children offered, teaching has become such a joy.  I love investing in the lives of these precious little ones and learning from their honest responses.  Many times, when I was not sure how to break something down to their level, a child would comment with the most helpful explanation.  I realized, if I allowed them to be involved in the teaching process, I would be able to know they are learning something and become a better teacher in the process.

We work on 3 to 4 art designs in the 9-week time frame. One of my favorite projects the students worked on is a painting (Hedgerows (Kaleidoscopic) II) inspired by artist, Yvonne Coomber,

For this project we incorporated the element of shape called the “dot”.  I gave each student an 11×14 canvas. They were able to decide on a background color of yellow or blue to represent the sky.  We discussed (the terms) background and foreground in a painting.  This gave the students an opportunity to share what was the furthest element (background) in the painting that we would need to paint first and what we would paint last (foreground – is the closest).

With each new item (sun, grass, stems, petals…) added to the painting, I demonstrate and explain what I am doing.   For this project, the students were given the option to use a small (round) stencil brush or “one” finger to paint their flowers (emphasis on “ONE” or else the kids would have both hands covered in paint and paint on everything).  They were provided hand wipes to clean their fingers off between colors.

Most students wanted to use their finger so I am glad I adventured down that path…but with clear instructions!

As you can see their work is so happy and just beautiful!  Made to brighten any wall with a little cheer!  Plus, the kids had fun learning and creating these masterpieces with just a touch of a finger!

Michelle ♥

Where You Can Find More of Michelle:

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What do you think of how the pictures turned out? Have you tried teaching your kids something similar?