Multi-step Art

School time in our house has become non challenging lately.  I had re-structured our plans a little bit, so that school would not be so long for Carter, in hopes that it would make school more appealing to him.  The great news?  It worked.  Carter now asks for school in the morning, and he will now sit through at least half of our story time.  Victory, right?  Wrong.  Now Pierce man is quickly becoming bored, and while he has fun teaching Carter too, he asked me to please think of harder projects.  And so I did.

We do some type of art project nearly every day.  Art is too important of a learning block for me to skip it...and plus, how can you not have fun coloring and creating?  (Well, I guess you can, but that is alright too).  So, with us focusing on Eric Carle this week, I have really pushed the concept of two step art.  It is great for them, since they have to slow down and plan.  Carter is not really at this level, so he and I have been working together.  And I do not expect a two year old to be into multiple step art.  Without further adieu, here have been our favorite projects this week.

Mr. Seahorse

The boys and I have always loved this story about the beloved Mr. Seahorse that is in charge of taking care of his babies, while introducing us to other male fish that keep watch of the eggs as well.  It is nice to have a book that shows just how important the father is in a relationship, and to have a male as a role model.  We also love the beach, coral reefs, and the bedroom needed more art.  Here is how we captured the essence of the book:


Supplies Needed:
Canvas
Tempera Paint
Modge Podge
Tracing Paper
Sharpie Marker


The first thing we did was get really creative with the colors on our canvas.  There is no right or wrong way to paint, but we wanted to create something similar to Eric Carle's coloring style.

While we were waiting for the paint to dry, I traced the sea horse onto tracing paper with the Sharpie.  Once the paint was dry, I used the modge podge to glue it onto the canvas.

I was hoping that the tracing paper would not become so transparent once everything dried, and I did make sure to cover the entire canvas, not just the sea horse.  Once it dried, we had new art for their bedroom.

I have to admit; I actually love how it came out.  And of course the boys are so excited to have their sea horses hanging in their bedrooms.


The Very Lonely Firefly

This was a project I pulled out of thin air and added onto as we went.  Tuesday was yet another snow day for us, and I had nothing planned for their school time.  They love this Eric Carle book as well, so I knew I had to do something with it.

Supplies Needed
Tracing Paper
Tissue Paper
Modge Podge
Sharpie Marker

We started off with circles of tissue paper that I had the boys rip.  Of course they loved this part of the project.  What toddler and preschooler does not like ripping paper?

Once the paper was ripped, Carter left Pierce and I stranded.  :)  But, that is alright.  Pierce and I then used Modge Podge to glue the tissue paper to the tracing paper.  I was so proud of Pierce; he did not get upset over the glue on his hands!  Yippee!

We let everything dry, and then I traced the outline of a firefly onto our colorful, shiny, Eric Carle style, paper.  I could have extended this project even farther for Pierce and had him cut the fire fly out, but he was not in the mood by the time the paper dried.

Ta da!  We have our own fire flies now, and are thinking summer.  Forget spring, we want camping, fireworks, lemonade, swimming, skim boarding, ocean, etc.  :)

Hope you have fun making these art projects if you try.  Do you have any other suggestions for multiple step art?