We love art in our home-school! My husband has a pile of kid-paintings 4 ft thick in his office to prove it. He can't bear to get rid of any of the kid's precious projects. It is for this reason (and this reason only!) that we don't do art projects every day.
But how about you? Do you have a love for art in your home-school? Not everyone does, but I am fully convinced that everyone could like art if we could address whatever is holding them back. I'm going to address three of those hurdles today, and see if we can't make believers out of some of you.
Hurdle #1- It's so Messy!
Yes, it really is. It can be horrendously messy. But what mess can't be cleaned up? And, really, with a little forethought and preparation, you can cut the worst of it off at the pass.
Make a plan. Decide ahead of time what kind of project you want to do or what kind of medium you want to explore. If you are going to be using glitter, cut open a paper grocery bag and lay it under the project. It will catch the glitter, and is stronger than newspaper so you can easily pour the glitter back in the bottle. Keep a lint roller handy to pick up stray pieces from floor and furniture. If you are going to paint, put your easel or table on a washable sheet to catch drips, and keep a rag and spray bottle nearby. Dad's old shirts make perfect smocks to keep their clothes clean.
If you think ahead, you can have everything you need at hand, and that takes care of most of the challenge. After the project is over, make sure the kids help clean it up. This is a great teaching moment. :)
Hurdle #2- I don't know what to do; I'm not artistic
That's okay! There are a lot of resources out there that can give you ideas as your kids get older, but if your kids are the same age as mine, just letting them explore different mediums is the most important thing. My girls love to paint. They'll paint with washable tempera, watercolors, fingerpaint, Colorix (which can be used wet) and even with water on their chalkboard. They think markers of different widths are awesome! They will use them on all sorts of different kinds of papers. Then there are crayons, pastels, colored pencils, regular pencils, pens, stamps and ink, do-a-dot markers, smelly markers, chalk...and that is just the stuff to draw with. Then there is playdoh, clay, foam, feathers, glitter, googly eyes, popsicle sticks, paper plates, construction paper, scissors, hole punches, shape punches, confetti, tissue paper, contact papers, sand, beads, macaroni, plaster, papier mache, and wood. Well, there is about a million other things as well, but I'm not trying to overwhelm you. Even if you just let the kids play with the stuff and take their own direction (supervised of course!) you are set for a while. For the rest of the time, pop over to pinterest.com. If you haven't discovered this little gem yet, I highly recommend you toddle over there and get pinning. You can do a search for kids art projects and get all sorts of results. I like to search for art projects that go with our read-alouds. A lot of the time if you type in the book title and "craft" you can get great results.
Hurdle #3-But it's expensive!
Yes, just like any part of home-schooling, it can be expensive, but it doesn't have to be. Here are some of my favorite ways to save on art stuff:
First, reduce, reuse, recycle! (Am I the only one that remembers that being drilled into us in elementary school?) Reuse everyday items as art supplies. Have a sock whose mate disappeared long ago? Hey, sock puppet! Package arrive in the mail? That brown packing paper can be re-purposed for painting, and hang on to that box; dioramas are art, too. Save the yogurt cups to make banks or instruments. Only have 3 inches of tin foil left on the roll? Save both the foil and the roll as art supply. Save buttons, and cut old shirts into squares to use in a collage. See the value in old greeting cards and magazines for gluing practice. It just takes a little imagination, but you can really glean a lot from what you already have.
Second, make what you can. There are recipes all over the internet for DIY washable paint, play-doh, sidewalk chalk, moon dough, modeling clay, etc. Just do a little research and make what you can. It can really cut down on the cost of things.
Third, know where to buy the rest. Whatever you can't make with your own two hands, you can find for pretty cheap. Again, with a little planning, you can get some good deals. Before you start the school year, think about what kind of projects you hope to do. Then make a master supply list. Put everything you could ever hope for on there. Before school starts there will be ridiculous amounts of sales, and a good bit of your list will be very cheap. Namely, glue, crayons, pens, markers, pencils, tape, construction paper, and folders (for lap books). Pick a bunch of these up while they're so cheap. For the rest, search for the best price online. I like to go to www.discountschoolsupply.com. They have pretty much everything you could ever hope for there, and the prices are very good. Oriental Trading Company sometimes has craft kits, too, so they can be worth checking out. If you can't make or buy everything on your list, highlight what you need/want most, and buy that first. Then go back to the list every once in awhile and see what you can find on sale when you can afford it.
Kids love arts and crafts by nature. They learn through the fun of it, and it really is worth it to give it a go. Have an art question or hurdle I didn't address here? Leave a comment, and I will do my best to give you a good answer. ;)
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