Epsom salt 'Snow project!'

This project was so much fun! I stopped by Pat's office to find a painting to inspire my next lesson and she gave me this whole lesson idea! It was perfect for December.....even if we are in Arizona. (Or should I say, ESPECIALLY since we are in Arizona!!) First we read the book "Snow" by Uri Shulevitz. We talked about the art in the book just as we would have talked about a single painting. For the project I had the kids use a dark blue sheet of construction paper, and oil pastel crayons to draw themselves in snow clothes in some sort of winter scene. We talked about different textures of warm cloths, and how we might draw those textures using different patterns, and shapes. Then I had them all paint a thin layer of equal parts epsom salt/water over the entire drawing with a foam brush. Next I gave them a supersaturated (or the closest I got to it) Epsom mixture that they used to make heavy snow patterns on top of their mountains...on the ground...on snowballs..ect. It didn't take long for the mixture to start changing but the coolest part is that it takes days for the epsom salt to fully crystallize and look like snow.





This one was right after we finished that day...



Here are all of the kids projects a week later....notice the tiny crystals formed.





My son Andin's teacher told me the kids loved watching the paintings up on the wall change each day! It was such a fun lesson! Not sure how to link the lesson plan to the blog...but if you want it please email me and I'll forward it to you. andyland23@gmail.com I also found that boiling the Epsom salt and water together worked best for me. You can find Epsom salt in the pharmacy section.

Four Ice cream cones

I did the ice cream project we did in training last Friday in my son Andin's Kindergarten class. I decided to start with one that I had practiced! It went SO well! I was amazed at how long we were able to analyze the painting, (Four ice cream cones) the kids all had a lot to say about what flavors they thought the ice cream scoops were ect. We talked about the shapes in the painting, where they thought the cones were, what they would taste like, feel like, why the artist chose ice cream to paint. They thought it was pretty cool that the artist was from Mesa, Az and that he liked to paint cupcakes, pie, and ice cream. After we finished that we made the ice cream cones. I brought a zip lock bag with flour inside and just sprinkled some on top of the squirt of white paint I gave them, they just mixed it in with their Styrofoam piece. I loved watching all the kids come up with their own creation! Some tried to make it like my example, one made 2 cones instead of one, one made a frame around his using the cardboard, some made muffins instead of cones, one blended the brown and white for her ice cream color to be different, some made it drip or puddle at the bottom, and then my favorite the boy that just made a huge mess of brown paint and described it as "A chocolate black hole." Where "if you fall into it, you are just in chocolate!" I thought that sounded like a great place. Pat had suggested letting them all talk about their art when they finished, and that was probably my favorite part. They are each so different, and each artistic in their own way. They were all so interested and it was just very fun! Here is the link to Andin's teacher, Mrs. Cahill's blog where she posted the photos of the paintings! (I forgot my camera!)

Blog photos