Saturday, June 29, 2019

What's In the Box: Art Studio

Hi! I'm Leslie- a homeschooling momma to an almost 5 year old girl and 18 month old boy.  The 2 are as different as night and day.  I share our adventures here to both inspire learning at home and chronicle our lives, because honestly, I never started the baby books and my kids will just have to look back on their childhood through this blog... ha! #keepinitreal



To say I am excited about this next month would be an understatement.
I have been waiting for this box for 3 years and it is now finally here!!

How amazing is it that we will be traveling the world as we enjoy the art of famous artists and methods of making Art!  Included this month is our monthly magnets (colored paintbrushes), 2 books, and a puzzle!  I love everything about these books!


I don't usually do What's In The Box posts, but the Art Teacher in me just could not pass up sharing all the Art awesomeness in this box.  We had already done Day 1 and Day 2 when I had decieded to make this post.  That is why you see my girl's self portrait and the art picture puzzles cut. 
Let's check out this box, shall we?

** 2 items I forgot to picture were the plastic button manipulatives and the inflatable globe.**

Week 1: Art in Italy
Lesson 1- Self Portrait.  
A self-portrait is a picture or representation of the person creating it. 


Lesson 2- Portrait
A portrait painting is a painting of a person.  The intention to to capture their mood or personality.
 

Lesson 3- Printmaking
Printmaking is a form of art that prints pictures on paper.  Many prints can be created from one plate, block, stencil, stamp, or image.


Lesson 4- Fresco & Mural
A fresco is a painting done on a wet plaster wall.  A mural is a large painting on any type of wall or ceiling.



Lesson 5- Architecture
Architecture refers to the building and structures designed and planned by architects.  An architect decided the shape, size and what the structure is made out of.



Week 2: Art in France
Lesson 6- Water & Landscape
Claude Monet is well-known for his Impressionist oil paintings that focus on capturing the feeling of real-life scenes such as water, bridges, people, gardens, ect.


Lesson 7- Monet & Flowers
Monet painted many different types of flowers such as in gardens, ponds, and vases.


Lesson 8- Haystacks & Texture
Monet created a famous series of paintings of haystacks in fields.  He achieved texture by using different brush strokes and dots of light.


Lesson 9- Pointillism
Pointillism is a technique in which many tiny dots are made to create one picture.  George Seurat was a famous French artist who helped establish this technique.


Lesson 10- Modern Shape Art
Shape art focuses on shapes, lines, and colors rather than the subject (such as a person or flower).


Week 3: Art in the Netherlands & Spain
Lesson 11- Starry Night
Vincent Van Gogh was a Dutch artist from the Netherlands.  He painted Starry night in 1889.


Lesson 12- Sunflower
Vincent Van Gogh painted a famous series of paintings called "Sunflowers."  He painted
 "Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers" in 1888.


Lesson 13- Mixing Colors
Mixing colors together can alter those colors or create a new color.  Two primary colors will create a secondary color (red and blue make purple).


Lesson 14- Cubism
Pablo Picasso, a Spanish artist, is known for creating an art movement called Cubism.  Cubism is when an artist represents an object by using geometric shapes, cubes, and multiple angles.


Lesson 15- Girl with a Pearl Earring
This famous painting was created in 1665 by the Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer.  His paintings are known for how they depict light.


Week 4: Art in England
Lesson 16- Chalk Art
Chalk art is often used to create art on cement or sidewalks outside.  It does not last long and can easily be washed away.


Lesson 17- Stenciling
Stenciling is a technique that uses a cutout design placed over paper or another material.  When ink or paint is applied, the stencil creates that design on the materials underneath.
By clicking on the picture you can see the stencils better.


Lesson 18- Coat of Arms
A Coat of Arms is a visual design on a shield with symbols that represent a family or place.


Lesson 19- Castle
Castles are large buildings usually made for the wealthy or royalty to live in.  The biggest castle in England is the Windsor Castle.


Lesson 20- Museum Day
Museums are places to visit and are open to the public.  They collect and display works of art, historical artifacts, or other interesting objects.  There are many famous museums around the world such as the Smithsonian and the Louvre.


As you can see this month is going ot be AWESOME!!!
Be sure to like us on Facebook to keep up with all our fun from the Art Studio!




Thursday, June 27, 2019

W is for Wolf: Retelling of The Three Little Pigs

Hi! I'm Leslie- a homeschooling momma to an almost 5 year old girl and 18 month old boy.  The 2 are as different as night and day.  I share our adventures here to both inspire learning at home and chronicle our lives, because honestly, I never started the baby books and my kids will just have to look back on their childhood through this blog... ha! #keepinitreal

We have been having so much fun with our A to Zoo theme this month from Mother Goose Time!
The last 2 weeks have been non stop busy as our church has prepared for VBS, but being able to pull a bag of our little bus box out, and make some memories with my kids while they learn, is so wonderful!

On this specific day, we went over Wolves and X-Ray Fish.
My girl started her day by making the letters X and W from loose letter parts.
You could use sticks, buttons, blocks, paper strips, or whatever you have to practice making letters without even picking up a writing instrument. 



I have had this amazing book called Wild Animals ABC: An Alphabet Book  
by Gary Fleming for years waiting for my children to reach this age.
The book has rhyme and illustrations that are beautiful.  The W and X days happened to match our animals of the day! Perfect!


My preschooler is recently obsessed with the story of The Three Little Pigs.
We have read multiple versions of it.   Her personal favorite is James Marshall's retelling.
However, everytime we turn on Netflix, she asks to watch the old Walt Disney version.  
When she saw the puppets for our Make and Play craft from MGT, she quickly cut them out, and created her own 3 Little Pig scene.  She then told me her version, incorporating elements from both the Walt Disney version (the wolf dressing like a sheep), and the classic tale.   I didn't even have a chance to read the version MGT sent us! Ha!


I am so glad MGT sent us these materials!
I might have never caught her retelling this and I love all the details she shared in her story.
Our month of A to Zoo Animals is coming to a close, but next month is the box I have been waiting for for THREE YEARS....

the Art Studio!

Can't wait to share with yall all the awesomeness that is in that box! 






Saturday, June 15, 2019

A to Zoo Field Trip

Hi! I'm Leslie- a homeschooling momma to an almost 5 year old girl and 18 month old boy.  The 2 are as different as night and day.  I share our adventures here to both inspire learning at home and chronicle our lives, because honestly, I never started the baby books and my kids will just have to look back on their childhood through this blog... ha! #keepinitreal

A few months ago my husband and I came to the realization that we hardly did any adventures as a family.  Yes we had fun at home, but asking us to get in the car and go somewhere made us both break out in a sweat.  You see, my son is not a great car rider.  However, we came to the conclusion that once a month, we would go on a family adventure.  It didn't have to be far and we didn't need to spend any money, but we were to be intentional about doing something together as a family and create lasting memories with our kids.



Our Mother Goose Time theme this month is A to Zoo which inspired us to head to our local zoo (about 30 mins away) and see what the animals were up to.  MGT sent us beautiful Animal Alphabet Cards ,and although we didn't have most of these animals at our local zoo, we did have some!

F is for Flamingo


P is for Porcupine 


G is for Galapagos Tortoise


C is for Clouded Leopard


It has taken my girl YEARS to climb the 6 metal see through stair steps and get into this train.
My cautious child is getting braver!


M is for Macaw


P is for Peacock

The peacocks roam freely all over our zoo.  It's quite a show when the males try to impress a lady friend.  I love how this female just walked on by! It was pretty funny.  God sure did make an amazingly beautiful creature with the peacock.  Finding peacock feathers is always a special souvenir although we didn't find one today.



L is for Lion.
This guy was fast asleep at the front fence!  We could get a super close peek at him.


J is for Jaguar


T is for Tiger


Every single time, she's got to climb on this lion statue and take a picture...
as do all the kids who come to our local zoo.  It's kinda a kid ritual.  
Oh you went to the zoo? Can I see your lion statue picture? Ha!
Everett just made lion roars at it.... so cute!


R is for Rhinoceros 


G is for Giraffe
Their long tongues stretched out of their mouths catching leaves!  It was quite a sight!


T is for Tortoise
Our zoo has lots of these guys.


E is for Eagle


S is for Sloth
This guy was moving all over the place!  I thought they were supposed to be slow, but he was really moving.  It was amazing to watch how methodical he was as he moved from limb to limb. 


O is for Otter
Avaleigh loved watching him dance and play in the water! Simple sticks make the best toys.... for both kids and otters!


S is for Snake
This was her favorite.  Not mine.  Get me outta the reptile exhibit pronto!


Our final stop was boarding the train that zips around the zoo.  So much fun! 


I know I am not really discussing one of our MGT activities, but this trip to our zoo was inspired because of our studies, and I know as we continue our learning adventure this month, much of what we witnessed at the zoo will be brought back up as we study the animals MGT has for us.

Go have fun! Make intentional memories and have adventures with your kids...
 even if it gives you the heebie jeebies a little!