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Today, I’m sharing the most amazing kids’ art book written by my dear friend, Barbara Rucci. In case you aren’t familiar with Barbara’s work, she’s a mother, artist, graphic designer, and blogger at Art Bar Blog.
The Art Workshop for Children is a fantastic guide for parents, caregivers, and teachers who would like to give their children more process art experiences.
Moreover, when I received a copy of Art Workshop for Children, I couldn’t put it down! Every page was a sugary delight of artistic goodness. Barbara concisely illustrated how to set up 25 amazing process art projects. So, if you are a novice in the process art arena, this book is for you!
How To Use This Book
This book shows parents, caregivers, and teachers how to set up art invitations for their children ages three and up. The creative invitations begin with simple prompts. Then, they gradually become more complex by adding more materials. However, each project is adaptable according to a child’s skill level.
Children will begin to explore their materials and make art that is meaningful to them!
Other Features
- What is Process Art?
- What is a Creative Invitation?
- How to Set Up An Art Space?
- How to Gather Art Materials?
- Essays by Betsy McKenna, Reggio-Inspired Educator
- 25 Process Art Projects
Process Art Christmas Tree Mobiles
We were inspired to take Art Bar’s Heart Hangers and turned them into Christmas Tree Mobiles. My kindergarteners loved everything about this project, especially the possibilities of using various colorful materials.
Materials
- wire hangers
- cardboard
- tempera cakes
- paint brushes
- jars with water
- washi tape
- beads
- pumpkin seeds
- pom poms
- googly eyes
- pom pom maker big pom poms (optional)
- low-temp glue gun
- sequins
- scrap pieces of fabric or felt
- foam beads
- Bend wire hangers into a triangle shape, then cut out cardboard pieces into triangles. Use an Exacto knife or utility blade to cut the cardboard.
- Paint the cardboard pieces using tempera cakes and a paint brush.
- When the trees are dry, add beads, fabric, googly eyes, sequins, pom poms, etc. with a low-temp glue gun. This was our first time using a low-temp glue gun. The girls felt very confident and capable gluing their pieces together. I helped facilitate this process and thankfully there were no burnt fingers.
- Finally, attach strips of washi tape on the cardboard and wrap around the wire frame. Kids will definitely need some help with this part. Tip: if the washi tape doesn’t stick well, add a dab of hot glue under the tape to make it secure.
- *Optional* Make big fluffy pom poms to add through the top of the wire hanger. We chose white yarn, but you can make them with using any fun color yarn.
This holiday season, I’m so excited to hang our process art Christmas Tree Mobile along with our other kid-made decorations. This is definitely going to be a piece I will pull out year after year.
If you would like to get inspired and learn more about process art you can buy Art Workshop for Children: How To Foster Original Thinking with more than 25 Process Art Experiences, by Barbara Rucci, here.