Nature's Art

A true wonder happened in our yard today. After many months of being forgotten about in a 1st grade classroom, we had a swallowtail hatch. Is hatch the correct word? Anyway, you know what I mean.

At the beginning of the school year, our neighbor gave us a large bunch of parsley with caterpillars munching away for the kids to discover. We immediately put them in the kids bug house. The following Monday Elly took them to school with her favorite bedtime story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle.

The class watched them make their cocoons and they waited and waited and eventually lost interest. After all, doesn't the story say it takes "More than two weeks"? So in kid time, they should have been hatched out and flying around the classroom by the following Friday. Right?
At the end of the school year, Mrs T. returned the house with a, " So sorry I forgot about this".
I in turn put the bug house and it's dried out contents on the porch and promptly forgot about the whole thing, just like Mrs. T.

Well, the kids hadn't forgotten and apparently opened the cover several days ago. Today we had a beautiful surprise. One of the 3 pupa had opened and warmed its wings so we could snap a few photots before it flew away.

Ready. Set. Blow! Watercolor with Straws

We've had our 1st art group and it was so much fun!
Elly blowing her small droplets of paint

This was a small group with my 2 little ones and 4 other friends. I wanted to start out small so I could make sure I was headed in the right direction with set-up. Plus, I know how artistic the others are and wanted to see about these girls. Which ones would quite literally "go with the flow" and which would be confounded by using straws to paint with? I very quickly got my answer.

We painted watercolor with straws. You drop colors of paint onto paper and then blow the colors around with the straw. You can leave the designs as is, or once dry, you can expand on the shapes you have created; ie: flowers and birds are often made out of these shapes. But many things can be seen.

Little Gracie put every straw handed to her into her cup of lemonaid! She painted for a 5 minutes and then played on the swing set for more entertainment. 2 of the other girls really had a blast once they saw what the were creating and Sammi could have painted for hours! She did paint with a brush and the straw, but being 4, she used the straw as a tradional tool.

Ian being creative in getting his cake of paint wet

Sammi's bird-girl

Welcome to Garden Art Play

Hello. As you can see from my short description, I am the mama of a very creative grade schooler. She and her friends have helped me discover my first love - art. So how could I deny their request for an art group?

This summer, we will be exploring a world of color and creativity. We will be doing art based on favorite stories and poems, watercolor painting with straws, Artist inspired projects such as Chagall inspired dream collage and land art. Mostly my intent is for the kids to have fun. Join us on our summer projects.

Oh yes, where does the garden in garden, art, play come in? When weather and temperatures permit we will be meeting in the garden. I can't think of a better place to bring out their creativity; and if a child isn't having fun with a project, she/he can go for a swing nearby and still be a part of the group.