Spooky Halloween crafts!

It's been a fab couple of weeks at ARTventurers with some great spooky art and craft sessions with different age groups - Halloween is a great time to really go to town with colour and paint! Thought I'd share with you a few of the things we've been doing this fortnight.....

Pop up ghosts/monsters

These were really popular with all age groups - its a great craft which can easily be adapted for different ages and abilities. You'll need - a polystyrene or paper cup, a craft stick (or lolly stick), some tissue paper, card, sellotape, pens

 One of the pop up ghosts from a toddler session

The first step was to decorate the cup - in the toddler sessions we did this with tissue paper (orange of course!), halloween stickers and pens. I try to get the little ones tearing up the tissue paper rather than cutting it for them - great for coordination and strengthening muscles!

For the littlest ones I had then pre cut some ghost shapes which they sellotaped onto the sticks. With the older groups they let their imaginations run riot and created their own scary monsters (just make sure they're not too big to fit inside the cup!)

The last step was then to push the stick with ghost/monster attached through the bottom of the cup so that the ghost could then fit inside the cup and then "pop" out. We used thin craft sticks which could easily be pushed through the base of the cup but if you're using lolly sticks then just snip a slot in the bottom of the cup with scissors.



Scary spiders

A really easy but effective toddler craft is these hanging spiders - really popular with little ones, can be used as spooky decorations, and we danced around with ours at the end of the sessions!

All you'll need is a circle of black card, some white card or paper, some coloured strips of card and some wool. I don't think I need to put any instructions with this one as hopefully it's self explanatory - for the littlest ones I pre cut all of the shapes, the older ones could cut out their own legs and features.

Spooky spider at the top of this pic!

We tried to concertina fold our spider legs - not necessary but just another skill I was trying to introduce into the activity. We also used paint dabbers to add detail to the eyes but again not absolutely necessary - I just know they're always popular at my classes :)

Eyeball painting!

I think I've blogged before about bouncy ball painting - one of my all time favourite painting activities and this is just a spooky variation on it! I bought some eyeball bouncy balls in the pound shop and set them in the middle of the painting table with some large trays, black paper and plates of paint (we used Halloween-y colours). The children put the paper on the tray and then dipped the eyeballs into paint and placed them on the paper. Moving the tray around and therefore the balls around the paper makes some really great patterns, plus its great exercise in hand/eye coordination plus lots of fun too! I think the paintings produced looked quite spiders web like - once dry you could get your little one to make a spider to stick onto it!

 A spooky eyeball painting!

Pumpkin lantern craft activity

Another paper based craft which works well with different age groups - just black and orange paper required!

We decorated a piece of orange paper with a pumpkin face made of black paper shapes - for the youngest I provided some pre cut shapes but for the older kids it was a great chance to get scissor happy and produce their own scary faces. We then sellotaped the two edges together to make the lantern and simply added a black paper handle. Simple but cute - I've got a family of these dotted round my kitchen  and they look great!

You can see a pic of one of the lanterns made in the spooky spider picture above!

So what else did we do??

We made haunted house cards with paper shapes, cotton wool and Halloween stickers..



We painted Halloween pictures with stamps and stencils......

We made spooky spider biscuits with Oreo cookies, strawberry laces and coloured icing - yum!



With the older children we created our own Halloween masks!

Phew - what a fantastic, busy Halloween it's been! Well done and thanks to everyone who's been ARTventuring with us this past fortnight :)

So now its onwards and upwards into a new half term and the countdown towards Christmas begins....we're already taking bookings for our super sparkly Christmas art and craft sessions so get in touch if you want to reserve a space! And this week sees the launch of our new Thursday morning class at Washington Arts Centre! This week is "Fireworks" so join us as we create glitter firework pictures, bonfire collages, make rockets, try string painting and lots more!



Autumn Crafts!

Last week at Little ARTventurers our theme was "Autumn" - I am a huge fan of autumn crafts and our kitchen is already covered in them!

I asked all of the children to collect some autumn leaves and bring them to the session - we then tipped them all out into the middle of our circle and the kids loved showing each other the leaves that they'd brought and rustling them around.

Then we created some autumn art using some of our leaves......

We made Autumn Tree collages - this was great fun! I'd drawn a tree trunk outline on a large piece of coloured card for each child and had also pre-cut some tissue paper leaves in autumny colours. The children had loads of fun gluing and sticking the leaves they'd collected onto the tree together with the tissue paper leaves, they looked fantastic. Lots of glue was needed and we pressed each leaf down well to make sure it was stuck down (I use glue sticks in my session as they are so easy for the littlest children to grip hold of and use but PVA might work best). We finished with a good old sprinkle of gold glitter!

We also used our leaves for leaf printing. I've done this activity many times before but it isn't always the most succesful, especially for toddlers. This time I revised my technique and we made the prints using rolling pins which was lots of fun and worked really well. We painted the leaves first them places them flat down on the paper. We then popped a piece of newspaper over the top and then rolled over the top with a rolling pin - then peeled the leaves off to reveal the prints. Like I said, the prints came out really well......

We also made scarecrows on sticks (very cute!) - a really simple activity but took a bit of prep. Basically I cut out all of the pieces - the scarecrow head, jacket, hands and drew the face on. The children then stuck it together and added texture through the buttons and hair (I found adding a hat made him too top heavy and floppy). And then we stuck the scarecrows onto sticks. The children really seemed to love them - we ended the session with a game of Musical Scarecrows!

I also run a Saturday art club for older children and I found it tricky to find autumn crafts that weren't going to be too "babyish" for them. However one autumn activity that did go down well with them was doing some linear autumn leaf drawings. I had pre cut some leaf shapes which they drew round on a large piece of paper (or they could just draw their own leaf shapes) - making the outline in thick black marker. They then drew in the veins of the leaf using the marker, taking the lines right to the edge of the leaf to divide it up into different sections. I then asked them to use lines and patterns (no shading) to fill in each section of the leaves. Some of them did find this quite challenging - thinking of different combinations of colour, lines and pattern to fill each space. We finished the pictures by drawing energy lines around the leaves themselves. I think the finished results look great, really effective!!







Long time no blog!

I've been quite neglectful of this blog of late - running the business on a day to day basis while juggling it with family life is quite a challenge in itself!

The ARTventurers summer classes went really well and I can't believe that we're already on the countdown to half term! We've got some great Spooky Halloween sessions lined up for October half term - on the Tuesday at Ashbrooke and the Thursday at Washington Arts Centre. Think pop up ghosts, creepy spiders, big black bats and eyeball painting.....it's going to be lots of creative (and sometimes messy!) fun! And if you're coming along to one of the sessions please feel free to come along in Spooky fancy dress (I will be!!)

Talking of Washington Arts Centre, I'm thrilled that we're going to be running a weekly Little ARTventurers class there from November. This will be in addition to our Tuesday class at Ashbrooke. The centre is such a vibrant, creative space in the heart of the community and it's great to be part of it in a small way. The Little Potters course there over the summer was a huge success and I also hope to run some more sessions for older children (6+) there in the run up to Christmas so watch this space!

Some of the handprint tiles created at the Little Potters summer sessions - fab work!

ARTventurers Autumn Newsletter

ARTventurers Autumn

Newsletter

Spooky Halloween Craft Party!

We’ve got some fantastic spooky crafts planned for our half term sessions – pumpkin lanterns, creepy spiders, witches and ghosts and lots more! Pre booking essential, £6 per child including all materials and refreshments for the little ones. Suitable for ages 18m-7yrs.

Tues 25^th Oct – St Johns, Ashbrooke

Thurs 27^th Oct – Washington Arts Centre

Little ARTventurers

We’ve had a great couple of weeks so far this term exploring and creating with our “Space” and “Bugs” themed sessions. Coming up – “Under the Sea”, “All about Me”, “Autumn”, “Crunchy, Scrunchy Textures” and lots more!. Little ARTventurers is suitable for children aged 18 months plus – painting, collage, modeling, sensory activities and lots more.

NEW WASHINGTON CLASS!

We’re delighted to be launching a new Little ARTventurers class at Washington Arts Centre on Thursday mornings after half term. It’s a fantastic venue and we really enjoyed running our Little Potters course there over the summer. Little ARTventurers is suitable for pre school age children from 18 months upwards. To book a place contact Fiona - mail@artventurers.co.uk. Sessions are £4.85 per child including materials and refreshments, sibling discount available. We also hope to run some pottery painting activities for children aged 6+ in the run up to Christmas – register your interest now!

Christmas Crafts!

Christmas is a fantastic time of year for childrens art and craft activities – what better excuse for lots of glitter and sparkle?!

Our Christmas craft holiday sessions will be taking place w/c 19^th December in Ashbrooke, Washington and Roker – places are already filling up so book your space now! Suitable for children 18months – 7 years.

Weekend Sessions

 If you can’t make our weekday sessions don’t forget we also run weekend sessions – our Saturday morning Diddy Art club suitable for 4-11 yrs runs at Hawthorn Arts in South Shields and we also run  occasional workshop sessions on Sundays at the Seaburn centre. Watch out for Spooky Crafts on Sun 23^rd Oct and Christmas Crafts on Sun 27^th November!

Birthday parties

Looking to do something a little bit different for your little one’s party? Our creative birthday packages are great fun for age 2-12 years. Themes such as Glitter and Sparkle or Pirates, activities like pottery painting or teddy bear making….let us host the activities and then clean up the mess too!

www.artventurers.co.uk

07775911990 mail@artventurers.co.uk



Summer Holiday fun!

Phew - it's been a busy week for ARTventurers, the first full week of our summer holiday schedule!

Tuesday and Thursday mornings we ran our Little ARTventurers summer fun sessions for children up to 6 years old at Ashbrooke and Roker. Both sessions were fantastic - we made pirate hats, parrots and telescopes, tiaras and wands, got mummy/daddy/gran to draw round us and made life size pirates and princesses and we also tried loot rubbing! Great and very very glittery - the life size drawings were especially popular! I love to do activities like that where the kids can get down on the floor and really get stuck into what they're doing, moving around their artwork - it makes for great creativity.

On Tuesday the Sunderland Echo came to visit the session to take some photos - always tricky to get toddlers to stay still for more than 2 seconds, especially when they're full on engaged with what they're doing but hopefully we've got some great action shots which sum up exactly what ARTventurers is all about - having lots of fun experimenting and creating! The article should be in the paper later this week - watch out for us (and me with a face covered in glitter no doubt!). I'm really pleased that the Echo is supporting us as a local business, having publicity like that really helps spread the word.

Wednesday also saw the first week of our Little Potters course at Washington Arts Centre where we worked with clay to make some handstamped coasters and also tried out different pottery painting techniques on a breakfast mug. Really looking forward to seeing how they've turned out when they come out of the kiln - will try and post some pics!

Tomorrow is a day off with my little ones (fruit picking hopefully) then the weekend is a busy one with two things booked in for Sunday. Sunday morning we're running a craft workshop at the Makers Market at the Seaburn Centre (fabric painting and keyrings) - come along and say hi and treat yourself to some gorgeous handmade goodies. Then later in the day we're off to run some activities at the Leighton Cook family fun day at Quayside Exchange, Sunderland. Leighton is a little local lad - just 4 years old, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 Neuroblastoma June 2010, four days after his 3rd birthday.

Leighton's family and friends have set up a fund to raise the £50,000 they need to raise to send Leighton to Germany is to increase his chances of survival from 30% to 50%. Leightons story is such a heartbreaking cause and I'm just pleased that there is a small something that I can do to help with their fundraising efforts. Please take a minute to pop over to Leightons page to show your support and to see if there is anything that you could do to help them reach their target. http://www.facebook.com/TeamLeighton?sk=wall#!/TeamLeighton?sk=info Thank you!! Next week's holiday sessions - The Very Hungry Caterpillar! Caterpillar hats, butterfly puppets..... it's going to be tons of fun!

Phew - a busy weekend!

Have had a jam packed weekend to top off a manic fortnight so whilst I'm just chilling on the sofa catching up on emails and Facebook/Twitter thought I'd jot down what I've been up to and what's going on in the next few weeks in the world of ARTventurers....

The last couple of weeks have been really mad - getting the summer programme sorted, venues and planning activities. I've had some really exciting meetings too. Perhaps the most exciting was a meeting with a local art shop - they already run a fantastic Saturday morning art club for kids age 4-11 and I'm really chuffed that they've asked me to take over the running over it from September :). It's a big responsibility to take over what is already a very successful and happy class run by a very talented artist but I'm always keen to take on new challenges and have some great activities planned for the kids....

As some of you might know my great love is ceramics and so I can't wait to run "Little Potters" over the summer - a three week course which is an introduction to ceramics for kids aged 6+. There'll be some handbuilding with clay as well as pottery painting and I've found two fantastic venues to hold it in, including the Washington Arts Centre. The struggle I've had is with the pricing as the cost of glazing and firing is becoming so expensive, as electricity prices are shooting through the roof!

And for littler ones I'm teaming up with Music Bugs in Sunderland to run a Teddy Bears Picnic party in the first week of the summer hols which should be tons of fun - then launching straight into 3 weeks of Little ARTventurers Summer Fun classes. Pirates and Princesses, the Very Hungry Caterpillar and On Safari - three themes I can't wait to get cracking on! I've run the same summer programme a couple of years ago back in Yorkshire and they were really good fun and feedback was excellent so I'm hoping that the kids and parents/carers here will be just as enthusiastic!

And as for this weekend - yesterday was a school fayre at Durham High which was a lovely afternoon. Didn't start well as I had the wrong start time so was running late and then the roads were all closed in Durham due to the Miners Gala. To top it off I also managed to lose my voice somewhere along the way (don't ask!!). All that aside though, the children and parents were all great and very friendly making me and the other stall holders feel very welcome. Then today I was down in Seaburn running a couple of pottery painting sessions for kids at the Makers Market in the Seaburn Centre. If you've never been to a Makers Market then you really should get down there - they are fantastic markets packed with gorgeous handmade goodies, cupcakes, jewellery......www.makersmarket.co.uk. I've got a few kids craft sessions booked in there for the course of the year - next one is Sunday 7th August, T shirt printing (and might do some keyrings too!)

Hope everyone has had a lovely weekend!

Hot hot hot - warm weather activities for the garden! Part 1

It's so warm here at the minute - who knows how long it will last but we're all making the most of it by opening those doors and windows and letting the summer in! We've got the paddling pool and water slide out already this morning (and it's only twenty to ten!) but when they get bored with that it's a good opportunity to try out some outdoor art and craft activities that we might not have space for in the house (or just not want to do in the house!!!)

Here's some ideas you might want to try.......

Ice cube painting

My kids LOVE doing this - it's great for all ages but takes a wee bit of pre planning. Make some ice cube painting sticks - you can either do this by using ice lolly moulds or alternatively ice cube trays and toothpicks/lollysticks. Make up the ice cubes/lollies by pouring paint in and then freezing overnight. You can use normal non toxic liquid paint or try watercolours mixed with water. Then when frozen the kids can have great fun using the lollies/ice cubes to paint pictures - make sure the paper you use is quite thick. Just remember to remind the kids that the lollies aren't for eating!

Life size self portraits

Fab activity for on the lawn! Get a large roll of paper (wallpaper is great for this) or stick a few sheets together. Get your child to lie down and then draw round them and cut the shape out. They can then paint the figure, make a collage person......

Football painting

In a previous blog post I talked about bouncy ball painting - this is a super sized version! Get a large piece of paper and a tray of paint. Roll the football through the paint then have fun kicking it around the paper (best to do this barefoot!). If you're not too precious about garden toys you could try scooter painting or even space hopper painting using the same theory - but thick card or even board will work best.

Painting with water

This is one for the teeniest tots - give them a bucket of water and a paintbrush and set them off to "paint" the fence, the patio....keeps them entertained for hours and is a good way of mastering holding a paintbrush, a fun way of learning to draw shapes etc.

Den building and decorating

All kids love building dens - easy enough to do with chairs and a couple of sheets. Then they can spend many happy hours decorating then den and getting really creative designing bunting, keep out signs, pictures to decorate the den....!

Hope this might give you a few ideas to be getting on with - my ice cube paints are now frozen so off we go...!

Why do we have music at our pre school sessions?

At our Little ARTventurers art and craft classes for pre schoolers we always round the session off with a well deserved snack and a drink and a noisy sing along  joined by Arty the Bear!

For me it’s an integral part of the class structure – the kids absolutely love it, it's part of the routine of the weekly classes and it got me thinking again about the importance of music for babies, toddlers and pre schoolers.

So why is group singing and music making so important for young children?

-         It’s a sociable activity – it stimulates a basic desire to join in and interact with others

-         Music encourages self expression  and self confidence

-         Engaging with music encourages children to develop gross and fine motor skills and coordination – moving and dancing in time to the music and using instruments to tap and shake

-   Sing a longs are great fun!

One of the most fun sing a longs was when we ran a carnival themed session and the children made their own musical shakers as well as party hats and pasta jewellery - they then had loads of fun  using their shakers during singing time! One for this coming term again I think.....:)

And don't forget our Teddy Bears Picnic party on Tuesday 26th July when we'll be teaming up with Music Bugs to run a jam packed session of teddy bear art and craft activities, biscuit decorating and a fab and noisy Music Bugs session! Session is to take place at St Andrews Church, Roker, Sunderland and places are limited so must be pre booked! check out our website http://www.artventurers.co.uk/ for more details!

All About Me Collage Craft Activity - for all ages!

I first used this craft as part of an “All About Me” themed session where we also made a fingerpainted house and created some fantastic self portraits on the painting table!

It's really simple idea and craft but very often the most simple ideas are the best!

It was such a popular craft for younger children that it’s one I’ve taken out and about again and again. Kids love to make their whole family so it’s worth printing out quite a few extra templates – and it’s a craft that can be used as a great learning tool for colours, families and body parts as well as exploring different textures. Older kids can also use it as a scissor practice exercise!

This is what you’ll need

Stiff a4 card

Glue

Pens or crayons

A box of different materials – fabric, card, papers,wool, tissue……..

Firstly, print out the A4 template below onto card – like I say it’s a good idea to print out a few! You should hopefully be able to copy and paste this template and then resize it if needed - if not then you can download templates elsewhere or just draw your own person!

Let your child get creative with the template, materials and glue – dress it, colour it in, add hair (or not!).

You can either leave the person as he/she is on the card – or try cutting it out to make a cardboard doll!

Yum Yum Yum - paper plate pizza craft!

Yum Yum Yum – paper plate pizza craft!

This craft was a great hit at a Food and Drink themed c raft session where we also did printing with various fruit and veg and decorated sensory gingerbread men (details to follow….!)

This is what you’ll need

-         White paper plate

-         Red paint

-         Sponge

-         Yellow tissue paper

-         Card or foam in different colours

-         Glue and scissors

-         Green glitter (optional)

First thing is to put the tomato sauce onto the pizza – when I do this craft I just squeeze the paint onto a big dinner plate and let the kids dip into the paint with sponges and sponge paint the paper plate (pizza base). Uses less paint than brushes and less chance of the plate going soggy – no one likes a soggy pizza!!

Whilst the paint is drying let the children rip up some pieces of yellow tissue paper – this will be the cheese. I always like to get the kids ripping their own sheets up – much more fun than adults sitting and cutting it out for them and I think a good exercise in coordination and strengthening those arm muscles for the littlest ones!

Then stick the cheese onto the pizza with the glue and begin to add the toppings using whatever card you’ve got or foam pieces. Pink can be ham, black = olives, green can be peppers (or peas!)….. a good chance to talk about likes and dislikes and even introduce the concept of a few things they mightn’t have tried before.

The pizza pictured is missing the Italian herbs – green glitter of course!

Happy pizza making!

Summer's here - a sandcastle craft!

It's a lovely June sunny morning, I opened my curtains this morning and the sea was sparkling and I'm feeling all summery! So what better than this fab and simple sandcastle craft activity  – grab yourselves the following

-         A piece of stiff A4 card (or bigger if you like!)

-         Some glue – PVA with a spreader or brush is best

-         Sand, either play sand or beach sand

-         Some small pebbles and shells

-         Lolly stick and card

If you’re lucky enough to be able to get to the beach it’s great to go out and collect all of the things you need for this craft together and then you can have tons of fun reminiscing and chatting about the beach when you do this craft. You can buy craft lollisticks (they’re dead cheap and useful for tons of different crafts) – but I prefer to use it as an excuse to get the ice lollies in!

Firstly, draw a simple sandcastle outline on the card. Now this is why the spready glue is better for this craft – get your little one to paint inside the shape with lots of glue. Good practice for older toddlers at trying to keep within the lines – but if they go outside of it no worries!!

Now for the fun/magic bit. Sprinkle lots of sand over the gluey area, count 1-2-3 then shake off the excess sand leaving a sandy sandcastle shape. Use the leftover glue to decorate the castle with the  pebbles and shells and make a flag using the lolly stick and some more card or paper.

For older kids adapt this craft by using kitchen roll tubes and a paper plate. Cover the tubes with glue and roll them in the sand so they're completely covered - then stick to the paper plate with sellotape. More glue and sand on the plate gives the sandcastle a sandy base, then decorate with stones, shells and a flag in the same way!

Happy sandcastle building!!!

Let's start with paint........

All children love paint. The brighter, the bolder, the messier the better! With youngers children especially, painting is more about the process than the end result - experimenting with tools, brushes and colours and just having fun seeing how it turns out!

You can use a painting session at home to encourage your child to look at everyday things in a different way - ditch the brushes and use fingers, sponges, fruit and veg, toys.....I know though that many parents are put off by the amount of mess they think painting at home creates so heres's my top tips before you get started :

• cover the work surface before you start. I have a huge plastic table cloth I bring out for all our painting activities. Really cheap from Dunelm Mill, local market etc.
• cover up clothes and roll up sleeves! A big old T shirt, plastic pinny etc
• get the wipes handy for spillages
• squeeze out the paint ready to use - I use old dinner plates at home instead of traditional palettes or pots. That way we can mix, squish, print with large objects.
• run a bowl or sink full of warm soapy ready so you can wash hands straight away when needed and get a towel handy

Now you're ready to get started!

Use the session to talk about colours - what happens if you mix blue with red? Or white or black to a colour? Try mirror painting - fold a piece of paper in half then open it, paint on one side leaving the other blank then fold the paper and give it a good press down. Try painting with toy cars - whizz the wheels through the paint and onto the paper (this is a great way to get boys engaged in the process as often toddler boys are less keen to engage in art and craft activities than boys). Or give bouncy ball painting a go - one of my personal favourite and pictured below at one of our sessions! Get a shallow tray, pop a piece of paper on it and dip some small bouncy balls in some paint. Get your child to hold the tray and roll the balls accross the paper making a fab and funky pattern. It's a great experiment in cause and effect (what happens if I tip it this way?....) as well as great for coordination skills. And if the weathers good and you've got a big roll of paper try this outside with tennis balls or a football!

Bouncy ball painting!



Hopefully this might give you a few ideas to get started - more painting ideas and techniques to come including ice cube painting for the summer we're expecting (!) and adding smells and textures to paint!