Category Archives: Art

Art activities for children and youth of differing abilities and needs. Many were posted during the pandemic and are suitable for quarantine and social distancing.

Gifts Kids Can Make at Home, Part Two

June 10-13

Some of these ideas feature Dads, but they would really make great gifts for any important adult in your life, male or female. Make a gift for an adult who means the world you you.

Calm key chaos with a beautiful cardboard key holder.

Transform an Altoids Tin. Love this. Take any tin box, it doesn’t have to be an Altoids box really, and turn it into…. a case for something small that needs organizing, a game, a work of art, just a few ideas offered on this website and you’ll probably think of more cool ideas.

Mustache Mugs are easy and trendy. Just don’t paint someone’s favorite mug without asking 🙂

Homemade Cards can be truly awesome. This link provides instructions for cards that go WAY beyond your classic folded piece of paper with a drawing in crayon.

Enrichment During Shutdowns. Rowling’s World.

June 3-June 5.

Did you know that Jk Rowling is releasing a new children’s fantasy novel, one chapter at time, at no charge as a gift to us all during social distancing? New chapters of The Ickabog are posted daily, but you can start at the beginning, not matter when you first access her website.

It gets even more exciting, because for each chapter, Rowling provides suggestions for illustrations. Children between the ages of seven and twelve can enter their drawings in a competition to have their illustrations included in the book when it is published in November!!! All royalties of of the book will go to people impacted by COVID-19.

So let’s load you up with some great tools for illustrating a child’s fantasy tale. We’re picking a few links on drawing fantasy beasts, followed by a few general links to some of the items listed in her suggestions. These links are deliberately selected for children of all abilities, so if one looks too hard or too easy, just check out a different link.

Rowling’s new book is not a part of the Harry Potter world, however it does feature a legendary beast. Some videos on drawing fantastic beasts might help get those creative ideas rolling (pun intended).To get some more basics on monster drawing, visit this wikihow.

Drawing dragons is always a useful skill, is it not? And some say the Ickabog is like a dragon. Try a simple step-by-step dragon, perfect for any age. Or, if you are up for a challenge, create a more intricate dragon, using the same techniques professionals employ.

Now, let’s look at just a few of the specific items Rowling lists in her suggestions.

Royalty, Simple.

King, Moderate Difficulty.

Cheese, Very Simple.

French Pastries, advanced. (Don’t do this on an empty stomach).

Peacock, Simple. Peacock, Moderate Difficulty. Peacock, Advanced. Dog, Simple. Bush, simple.

For more ideas to get you going, enter “how to draw” plus the name of the item, and you are likely to get a useful hit. These are tutorials: just a place to get you started. Try them out. Master some skills. Then start having fun by changing things up. This is YOUR art, not anyone else’s. Now that you have learned how one person draws a king, what’s your own very unique way?

Social Distancing Butterflies

May 18-19

Use materials from around the house to make a butterfly feeder. It might attract hummingbirds as well, although for hummingbirds you may need to position it differently. Craft foam is listed in the materials for the project, but we made ours without any. Use what you have on hand. That makes it YOUR project.

You’ll want to know who’s visiting your feeder, so try some of these identification activities, including the butterfly scavenger hunt.

All the butterflies you’ve been observing could serve as inspiration for some gorgeous art work. This Pinterest board is filled with butterfly themed arts and crafts activities suited to all ages.

Gifts Children Can Make at Home

April 6-7

Bath Bombs. This is just so cool. Make bath bombs with household ingredients. Be creative about using items you have on hand if you can’t find the decorative silicon ice trays.

Pipe Cleaner and Yarn Trivets. Making these lovely trivets or coasters is a simple activity, but these instructions do require a glue gun. Try craft glue, tacky glue, or paste glue if you don’t have a glue gun and/or an adult to supervise.

Once you’ve made your gifts, you’ll need a card. Wouldn’t a pop-up card be especially fun?

And you’ll need some wrapping paper of course. You can make that with supplies on-hand. These instructions call for a sea sponge, but experiment with other materials.

Every great celebration involves food. Here’s a Fruit Salad that could be a side dish or a dessert. It’s a light, simple dish a child can prepare, with or without assistance depending on age and ability. Consider substituting low fat yogurt for the sour cream and/or pudding.

Activities During Quarantine: Printmaking and Foil Art

May 2-3

This promises to be a very lovely weekend, so get outside to collect some natural materials for these captivating art works.

Foil Art. Instructions for this activity suggest drawing with glue. The effect is marvelous, but here’s a suggestion: gather some natural objects and glue them under the cardboard as well.

Sun Prints. You may have seen commercially available paper for sun prints, but did you know you can make them if you have acrylic paints and a few other supplies?

We like to start every month with a gallery crawl. Visit the National Gallery print collections online to see some examples of beautiful prints through the centuries and from all over the world.

Quarantine Enrichment:Birds and Bird Nests.

April 19

Movement.

Go on a nest walk. Walk around your community, carefully looking for nests. The link to the left will give you some hints for looking. Follow the guidelines on the Cornell Nest Code of Conduct so you don’t disturb the nests, eggs, or fledglings. Take a camera if you have one. You can zoom in more, plus you may want some pictures for the final activity.

Art

You’re almost ready for the next activity, but you’re going to need a bird. We’re providing two sets of instructions for origami birds.

Origami Flying Bird. Recycle some gift wrap to make a bird with flapping wings. The instructions for this activity are presented in diagrams, with accompanying instructions detailed in words. There are fewer folds than the more common origami crane, so if you have found that one frustrating, you might like this one better.

Origami Flapping Bird. People who benefit from a “step-by-step side-by-side” style of instruction might really appreciate this wikiHow, which offers both written instructions and short videos.

Science

Make like a bird and build a nest. Now you are finally ready to make your own nest. The instructions say to make it big enough for at least one “egg” but let’s try making one big enough for your origami bird to warm that egg.

Take some pictures and take enrichmentalliance.

April 16. Inclusive Home Quarantine Activities: Recycled Magic.

Art and Literature

Magazine Strip Crafts

Picture Tutorial. Ever see those colorful magazine baskets and wish you knew how to make them? This series of photographs takes you through the process step-by-step.

Video Tutorial. If you need a more detailed explanation, watch this video. The video calls for decoupage glue, which most people don’t have on hand. Try making this substitute.

Science and Math

Seed Paper

Turned used paper into seed paper. Gather up used paper from around your house and turn it into handmade recycled paper with embedded seeds. The whole page can be planted. These make fantastic greeting cards.

Movement

The Poetry of Trash

Cast Away Young People’s Poet Laureate, Naomi Shibad, finds treasure in trash, writing poems about objects she encounters in on her walks. Download this book, and play it while you take a walk in your neighborhood. Why do YOU notice while you’re out walking?

April 12. Inclusive Enrichment Activities During Home Quarantine: Chalk Art and Growing from Groceries.

A Spring Celebration.

Chalk Magic. We’re continuing the sidewalk chalk theme from a couple of weeks back, because we’ve been introduced to some astounding new materials. Because it is an incredibly beautiful spring day, and many people are celebrating Easter, we are giving this a page a spring theme, with additional ideas for those who are celebrating Easter today. But first, just enjoy this video of a stunning chalk artist.

Sidewalk Art Photo Shoots.

Follow the link above to get some for chalk art that you can add yourself to. Our Easter challenge for those who celebrate this holiday: hide real Easter eggs in your drawings. Send your friends pictures and see if they can find them.

From Grocery to Garden.

You don’t need a fancy seed packet to start your own garden. All you needs are some fresh fruits and vegetable. Find out how to collect and grow seeds from some common items from the produce section.