The Very Hungry Caterpillar week!

This week at ARTventurers we've been running some Very Hungry Caterpillar sessions - inspired by the Eric Carle classic!

So what have we been up to? Well, we've been making paper plate suns, fantastic Hungry Caterpillar hats, butterfly puppets, collage fruits and trying butterfly painting as well as making some delicious looking lollipop bookmarks! Then at circle time we used the things that we made to tell the story of the Very Hungry Caterpillar - it was great fun! I love to get the children using and interacting with the things that they've created during the classes rather than them just getting stuck on the fridge, it's a great way to get them inspired and thinking creatively and I'm sure that the book has been read and read over this week at home!



Making our paper plate suns

I think that the buttefly puppet was the most popular activity this week. Here's how we made them -

You'll need - a butterfly shape cut out from stiff card, glue, some collage materials (we used tissue paper and sequins as well as squares of coloured paper), a wooden stick or lolly stick, some sellotape.

We decorated our card shapes with the collage materials (the more colourful the better), of course remembering that buttefly wings are always symmetrical! We attached some tissue paper streamers to the bottom of our butterflies and then attached them to the sticks with sellotape - they were then ready to be fluttered around the room!

Butterfly puppet making!

Next week we're going On Safari - can't wait!!

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!

Make a Summer Suncatcher!

The photo of this craft doesn't really do it justice - when we made these they looked really pretty and sparkly hung up in the sun and the children in the session really loved making them!

What you'll need is some sticky back plastic (2 circles of it) - an assortment of sequins, tissue paper and maybe some glitter, a hole punch and some ribbon.

I cut the two circles of sticky backed plastic out by drawing round a tea plate - leaving the paper backing in place of course! Then we peeled the backing off one circle and laid it on the table sticky side up. The children then had loads of fun arranging the tissue paper and sequins on the circle.

To make the suncatcher we then peeled the backing off the second circle and placed it over the first (so both sticky sides together if that makes sense!). Hole punched a hole at the top for hanging, threaded ribbon through and there you go - a lovely suncatcher that really sparkles!