Inspired by Monet

 Hi! I'm Leslie- a homeschooling momma to an almost 5 year old girl and 19 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

Bon Jour! Today we traveled to France, made the French flag, learned a few new words in French, toured a bridge in our local native plant center, and created our own landscapes inspired by Claude Monet all thanks to our Mother Goose Time preschool curriculum!

Our day started out by finding France on our blow up globe from MGT.

After my daughter found it, we learned the words "Bon Jour!" and "Au Revoir" 

and practiced saying it and waving to imaginary friends out of our window.

We then compared the French flag to the Italian flag (which we learned about last week).  

Using torn paper and glue, my girl created the flag of France and I placed it on our wall.  

We had a beautiful picture provided from MGT of Monet's Garden in Giverny  .

Looking at this bridge inspired me to take my kiddos on a quick field trip to a local bridge that once overlooked a pond.   It's dried up now, but the ground is so fertile it has now transformed into a garden of the native plants of our area.  While we walked along the bridge, the children pointed to flowers, chased butterflies, and inspected plants.  

Although we didn't see any lily pads, we had a wonderful time exploring 

what God has graced us with here. 

When brother went down for his nap, my daughter and I headed to the table to make our own 

Water Lily Pond.  MGT supplied us with everything! Even this amazing bridge cut out.  The only supplies I brought to the table were scissors, glue, and crayons. 

I asked my daughter to study Monet's Garden in Giverny asking her:

-What colors do you see? 

-What things are pink? green? blue?

-How will you use your blue paper? green paper? What about the tissue paper?

-Will you make your own bridge or use the cut out?

Then we got to work.  I say we because I could NOT WAIT to use these materials to make my own artwork! :)   She drew a lily pad on her tissue paper and included a flower on it.  She needed a little help cutting it out which I did, but she also cut out some of it. 

I didn't take tons of pictures of the process since I was working on my artwork alongside her.

We did have great conversation!  She told me about the dead tree she was drawing, but that it could still produce orange apples.  The pond inspired her to make a frog on her green paper because you would find frogs on lily pads.  Using our Ed Emberly How to Draw Animals book, we went through step by step how to draw a frog, which she drew on her green paper.  I cut it out for her, and my girl glued her frog on her lily pad where he belongs. 

He's my favorite.

Our finished work. 

There is so much that I love about this lesson.  I loved making art, the conversation I had with my girl, traveling and learning French, and exploring a bridge and the nature surrounding it.

I am so grateful for the inspiration from our MGT lesson because these moments I treasure,

 and I know they probably won't remember because they are so little.

And that is the reason why I keep this blog.   They can look back and know.

Until then... have fun learning, friends! 

Preschool Art Studio: Printmaking

Hi! I'm Leslie- a homeschooling momma to an almost 5 year old girl and 19 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

Oh my goodness yall....

This Art Studio box from Mother Goose Time is my dream in a box!  If you want to see what's inside, check out this post.  If you have a little who is into art, I would highly suggest getting it.  You could even get it as a Christmas or Birthday gift.  It's just awesome. 

We have already studied self-portraits, portraits, and today we dived into Printmaking

 (one of my favorite art techniques).

Our day started with this book that came in our box.  It has great rhyme, and shows how trying something new can lead to unexpected and amazing results.  Perfect for little kids.

My girl already knew what colors made what, but this book allowed us to have some great conversations as we read...plus cuddle time. Win Win.

I then told her today we would do study printmaking.

We played "I Spy" as we looked around the room naming prints. 

"I spy with my little eye.... a flower print."  It was on her dress, which led to the inspiration for her printmaking project.

MGT supplied us with the foam shapes, cardboard lid, and paper.

All I had to add was a glue stick and paint.  

I asked my girl what 2 paint colors she would like to use (red, yellow, or blue), 

and she chose blue and red.

She decided she wanted to make a flower.

Starting with a circle for the center, she then made a petal pattern design from the little shapes we had.  We worked on placing her design first before gluing it down so the result would be what she wanted.

Now the fun part!

Using a paintbrush and some of our fingerpaints, she covered her flower design well before turning it over and pressing it onto her paper.

"Momma! It looks like coral!"

Can you see it too?  The line design created by the print, especially in the middle of the circle of her flower, led to this thought. 

She made red flower prints, then decided to try blue.

The result was beautiful purple flowers.

She applied paint to her stamp with both a paintbrush and her fingers, because little kids always have to get their fingers in the paint.  That's also why you see little blue areas on the finished piece below....little blue finger painted flowers. 

I love it.

She decided to gift it to her Daddy when he came home from work.

He loves it too. 

What can you do with this?

Make cards, or do prints all over some big sheets of paper so you can have your own gift wrap!

Art can be made for arts sake, but also to bless others!  This is the perfect summertime activity to do on those rainy afternoons or when the kids say "I'm bored."

If you would love more art ideas, be sure to follow us on Facebook where I attempt to share a few times a week what we are doing.

Hope you have a blast printing with your kiddos!

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!!

Welcome to the Art Studio Mother Goose Time box....

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!

Preschool: Exploring Waterfalls

Hi! I'm Leslie- a homeschooling momma to an almost 5 year old girl (seriously can't believe I just typed that) and 17 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.

In my life before being a homeschool preschool momma, I was a public education teacher.
I taught 3rd, 4th, 6th grades (all subjects), and high school Art. You can read about those days here,  Creating "Wonder" in learning can be tough in public school, but it's one of my most favorite things to observe in my preschooler. 
As we explored waterfalls, I got to see that wonder again and again.  

We've been using Mother Goose Time as our preschool curriculum for almost 3 years, and this month is all about Bubbles, Boats, and Floats!

Our STEAM station on Waterfall Day suggested going outside to do this activity.  Anytime I can take learning outdoors, I try to do it!  Who says learning has to be at a desk inside all day anyway?

Grab some spray bottles and put different colored water in each one.  I put water in our bottles and added these liquid watercolors.  They are my FAVE, but you could definitely use food coloring.

Using primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) will lead to the best results, and a great experiment in color mixing!  I just used red (turned more pinkish) and blue since I only had 2 bottles.

I used some long copy paper and the kids got right to work spraying the top of the paper and watching the water drip down like a waterfall.

I love this picture below!  Look at them observing the paper... even little brother got in on it!  

They began to notice that the water kept going down the same path and eventually it tore.

They noticed the tear before I did.

"Why did it break?" our little friend visiting asked.

This led to a great discussion about how powerful water is!  

I wanted my girl and her little buddy to each have some artwork to hang on the walls at home, so I got out some watercolor paper- one for each of them and attached it to the fence just like the long piece of copy paper.  They then took turns spraying the papers and watching the water trickle down.

What did they learn?

-Water is powerful.  It can tear and break things.

-Water always goes down.

-Water likes to go down the same path over and over.

-When red and blue mix, it creates purple.

We had so much fun!

I am so thankful MGT has all these wonderful ideas I can pull from to create fun learning experiences for my kids (and their friends)!   Honestly, my brain is fried by the time they go to bed, and the thought of creating a lesson from scratch each and everyday makes that fried brain, spin.  

If you are looking to make learning fun, check out Mother Goose Time!

You can see our adventures daily on our Facebook page,

and if you are on Pinterest, you can follow me here or pin the image below. :) 

Happy Learning, friends!