fairy capes

Sadly this was the last class of the month for the Preschoolers and it is always hard to say goodbye to this adorable group.

I wanted to do something special for the last class and the week before when I asked the three year olds what they wanted to do next week, they had all exclaimed, "Fairies!"

So I came up with a fairy project to end the art session.

A special fairy project thanks in part to my friend and Seymour Art Gallery curator, Sarah, who in the fall had given me the end bit of a canvas roll she had at her house.

I cut the canvas into large rectangles and with a few quick stitches, put some ribbon on either side so the girls could tie it around their shoulders to make a cape.

And just like that, the fairy cape project was created.

I pulled some fairy pictures I had collected from my reference files and asked the girls some leading questions, like where do fairies like to live?

The forest!

Do you notice who the fairies are friends with?

Squirrels, bugs, butterflies!

Are the fairies big or small? How do you know?

Small! The mushrooms and leaves are bigger than them.

Are the taller or shorter than the flowers?

Shorter

My goal was only to plant a few seeds in their creative brains that may or may not come out in their artwork, simply a frame of reference when creating their own fairies on the canvas. 

(It was also a quick little delve into practicing observation skills in a fun way.)

I'm a firm believer with this age group that the main focus should be on exploration and discovery. So the project started with me giving them primary color only and a very big paint brush and asking them to mix colors and tell me what they discovered.

Although we have done this every week for the past four weeks, each new discovery of color still brings on squeals of excitement, like they are seeing green being made for the very first time. It is so stinking cute.

These colors became the base for their creations because the other thing I know leads to success when creating art with preschoolers is a project where materials are added throughout to build upon, build upon, build upon.

So once color was on their canvas, I handed each child some bubblewrap. I would of given them bubblewrap regardless of the day, but it just so happened to be National Bubblewrap day too!

With the bubblewrap, I put out some white paint and told them to have some fun painting the bubblewrap white and stamping it into their painting. Needless to say, they loved stamping bubblewrap and it made for some great clouds!

You'll notice in this work, white paint wasn't the only color used to stamp.

Then in hopes of letting the paint dry a little bit, I gave each child some styrofoam circles and a dull pencil. I asked them to make the circle into a flower by drawing into it with a pencil. They they added some white paint and stamped them on the canvas.

This did not work as well as I had anticipated and so the girls had the chance to go over the printed circles with a water soluble graphite.

With that same graphite, they drew in their fairies. The only thing I encourage when drawing people with this age group is to draw shapes, not lines. What shape is an arm, a leg, a finger?

That way they have something to paint.

Then they all mixed orange, added a lot of white, and painted their fairies.  Or at least that is how we started this part of the project.....

The children painted dresses

and wings

and skirts

in a multitude of rainbow colors.

Then I brought out some fabric crayons and they drew in hair and other details.

They dipped the fat water soluble graphite into water so they could make very dark lines to go over their fairies and flowers so they stood out too.

Then it was time to wash up little hands as their mothers and nannies arrived.

I did my best to get these dry enough with a blow dryer for the girls to wear home, which is why they are so loosely tied on in these pictures-just in case there was a bit of wet paint missed. 

How can you ask them not to walk out the door wearing their royal fairy capes they created? 

Not me.

Not their moms and caregivers.

The girls were thrilled at the end of class and I hope these beautiful capes bring them hours of fun when playing dress up. My hope is each time they wear don these creations, their confidence soars as they proudly remember their little hands made them.  All by themselves.

Or they just become a great jumping off point for lots of imaginative fun.

It was hard to watch these sweet three year olds and their capes walk out the door at the end of the last class session, but I look forward to seeing them again soon.