How To Social Distance Without Giving Up WONDER

Social distancing is just wrong in early childhood. You know it. I know it. But what if you are mandated to do it? Recently, I was on a Zoom call, and an educator told us about her colleagues who had made taped squares in their rooms. In those squares they put a chair...

How to Save Space with a One Shelf Atelier

Do you feel you do not have the space in your classroom for an atelier?   All it takes is one shelf.  You could call it a mini-atelier. The word "Atelier" comes from the French word meaning the studio or workshop. It is a place for children to create, imagine, play...

Fine Motor Bottle Activity with Loose Parts

In my Waldorf training, the young child's development of the fine motor skills was viewed as more important than teaching rote skills(such as recognizing the sounds of the letters).  The hand can be considered as an instrument of intelligence. Philipp Martzog, a...

Creative Monoprinting with Loose Parts

Art making is an ever-evolving process that involves research, invention, and risk-taking.  At the heart of process art is experimentation.  It is important to offer art experiences that children can bring their own ideas to test and explore. I love introducing...
https://fairydustteaching.com/2017/09/clay-dont-forget-the-explore-stage/

Clay: Don't Forget the Explore Stage

I think many times when it comes to material introduction, we jump to the "create and make stage" yet forget the explore stage. Yes! The magic and wonder of the explore stage is crucial! The language of clay! It’s different from playdough. Clay comes from the earth....
How To Social Distance Without Giving Up WONDER

How To Social Distance Without Giving Up WONDER

Social distancing is just wrong in early childhood. You know it. I know it. But what if you are mandated to do it? Recently, I was on a Zoom call, and an educator told us about her colleagues who had made taped squares in their rooms. In those squares they put a chair...

read more

How to Save Space with a One Shelf Atelier

Do you feel you do not have the space in your classroom for an atelier?   All it takes is one shelf.  You could call it a mini-atelier. The word "Atelier" comes from the French word meaning the studio or workshop. It is a place for children to create, imagine, play...

read more
Fine Motor Bottle Activity with Loose Parts

Fine Motor Bottle Activity with Loose Parts

In my Waldorf training, the young child's development of the fine motor skills was viewed as more important than teaching rote skills(such as recognizing the sounds of the letters).  The hand can be considered as an instrument of intelligence. Philipp Martzog, a...

read more
Creative Monoprinting with Loose Parts

Creative Monoprinting with Loose Parts

Art making is an ever-evolving process that involves research, invention, and risk-taking.  At the heart of process art is experimentation.  It is important to offer art experiences that children can bring their own ideas to test and explore. I love introducing...

read more
Clay: Don't Forget the Explore Stage

Clay: Don't Forget the Explore Stage

I think many times when it comes to material introduction, we jump to the "create and make stage" yet forget the explore stage. Yes! The magic and wonder of the explore stage is crucial! The language of clay! It’s different from playdough. Clay comes from the earth....

read more
Toddler Tales ~ Painting a Gift

Toddler Tales ~ Painting a Gift

Having toddlers make gifts is such a wonderful way to add a personal touch during the holidays. Painting a gift can be a wonderful experience for the toddler and makes a lovely, unique gift. This painting process can also be an essential learning experience for...

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Toddler Tales ~ Pumpkin Painting

Toddler Tales ~ Pumpkin Painting

One of my favorite October traditions is pumpkin painting! We take our annual trip to the pumpkin patch and the next day, we paint our pumpkins! It is such a fun and easy activity and the kids get to be more creatively involved than they do with pumpkin carving. Full...

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Birthday Rocks

Birthday Rocks

Celebrating birthdays with classroom traditions is an important component in setting up my class community. Each child’s birthday is celebrated exactly the same — and it is deeply meaningful. I am amazed at the comfort the children take in the sameness of the...

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Mother's Day Masterpiece!

Mother's Day Masterpiece!

When searching for Mother's Day gift ideas this year, I came across two ideas that I really liked and decided to combine them. This created a 3 step art project that yielded a masterpiece of a gift. Step One: The painting I decided to try a new technique for the...

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Make Your Own Nature Folk

Make Your Own Nature Folk

Making simple nature fairies and people is really quite easy. Each one takes on its own personality!  I love the leaf dress! This little one has lovely leaf wings! INSTRUCTIONS:  Begin by gathering nature's gifts.  I had my students bring in things they found in their...

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Let It Go. . .Frozen

Let It Go. . .Frozen

The movie Frozen has dominated the children's conversations and they absolutely love singing "Let It Go." A few weeks ago I decided it was time to channel the energy into a collaborative art project. Day One:  I put out different shades of purple and blue tempera...

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Jennifer's Handmade Twig Paint Brushes

Jennifer's Handmade Twig Paint Brushes

I had to share the pure magic Jennifer Dean created in her art center! She had handmade twig paint brushes! The children had handmade paint brushes PLUS materials to make their own! Q-tips on a twig (wrapped with twine). Parsley wrapped on a twig. Cotton balls wrapped...

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Picasso's Playdough

Picasso's Playdough

Guess what?!!  I am a contributing blogger to mom.me.   I am loving the opportunity to share my ideas with parents.  My latest post is my Picasso's Playdough Project.   I took loose parts, playdough and inspiration from Picasso's abstract portraits.  The level of...

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Chinese Painted Fans & Dancing

You are currently reading our archived blog. While these older posts may not reflect our current vision and direction, we encourage you to visit our new website at wunderled.com to explore our latest, updated content. There, you'll find a wealth of valuable articles,...

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Recycled Chinese Dragon

Recycled Chinese Dragon

I saw this Chinese New Year's Dragon last year at Zarrow Art Center.  It was created as a collaborative, multimedia, recycling project. Children from kindergarten through 6th grade students from Kendall-Whittier Elementary School took part under the direction of Art...

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Autumn Collaborative Painting

Autumn Collaborative Painting

I love group paintings. I began by setting out a canvas I had painted black.  I put out a variety of fall colors including purple (tempera). I just let the children paint.   I put the canvas out everyday for a week.   I just let it unfold as the children decided what...

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Dice Art

Dice Art

This is a very simple but effective arts integration idea for reinforcing number quantities 1 -6.   It is a great way to check 1:1 correspondence and number conservation. Each child will need: a dice, a construction paper blotter (Dapper or Bingo) paint bottles How to...

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Teaching Children How to “Make Their World”

Teaching Children How to “Make Their World”

Elizabeth des Roches is a Wild Waldorf Mama & a Vintage Crafts Explorer. Just over 3 years ago – she & her husband decided to sell their house in Toronto after buying a beautiful old house in the French countryside. They packed up her books & materials,...

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Procedures: Learning to Use Glue

Procedures: Learning to Use Glue

Teaching young children how to use glue can be as simple as a song and strong visual instructions.   Just click on the image to download a copy of this song.  My co-teacher, Patty, has a wonderful additional line I have never heard - "It is strong!"   The children...

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Easy Beautiful Embossed Metal

Easy Beautiful Embossed Metal

  This is a super easy and fun project.   It requires adult supervision. What you will need: metal foil sheets (Dick Blick 12 aluminum sheets for $2.84) wooden styluses or pencils newspapers optional:  cardboard frames (Dick Blick 12 white for $3.68) Here are the...

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Glue Multi-Media Paintings

Glue Multi-Media Paintings

This is a very fun way to produce a process based painting. I love the texture and dimension it produces! I begin with a canvas that the children have previously painted.  These canvases were painted with red, yellow, and orange paints. What you need: glue liquid...

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Global Art Lesson Pack + Bonus Wish Pouch Lesson

 PLUS a special bonus lesson plan from Handwork Homeschool! The lesson pack includes these four multimedia art projects: African masks            French Windows      India Elephants      3-D Chinese Lanterns  Over 38 pages of instructions including: Recommended...

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Snowman Village

Snowman Village

Here is a peek at the Snowman Village project.  I love the diversity of their villages.   I love providing a palette of choices.  In this project the children: embellished their houses with markers and watercolor paints painted the cardboard "earth" with snow created...

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Red Birds in a Nest

Red Birds in a Nest

Foam clay has to be the most amazing invention.  Ever.  It is so cool what you can create.  At the museum, I had the children make little nests out of the brown foam clay - adding sticks to give it the "nesty" look. We formed our birds by making; a large oval for the...

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Red Birds in Snow

Red Birds in Snow

This is an art project I did at the local museum.  I used the extra large black construction paper (24 x 36) which gave it such a "wow" factor.  We painted this in three stages: Drew and painted the bird.  Let it dry. (Used oil pastels to draw the bird.) Drawing...

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Pattern Owls

Pattern Owls

I love collage work.  For this project I gathered some of my old scrapbook papers for the children to make their pattern owls.  I made tracers out of old file folders as well.  Here's how I made the tracers: 1 large oval tracer for the body  (I had pre-cut...

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Polar Bears in Snow

Polar Bears in Snow

This was such a fun painting project.  I ordered the largest size construction paper (24 x 36) in pale blue.   This gave it the "wow" factor.  I love large paintings!  We drew the bears on the paper before painting.  I gave the children crayons. Step One:  I had the...

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Reggio Inspired: Child Art

Reggio Inspired: Child Art

The final photos from my visit to Rosa Parks Preschool: This is a child painted embroidery hoop with a fine netting.  I love the multi-colored yarn that the children used to sew on the netting. A wonderful collaborative art piece made with bottle caps.  Love, love....

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Reggio Inspired: Tables

Reggio Inspired: Tables

Rosa Parks Preschool in Tulsa, Oklahoma - had so many wonderful tables.  Here are some amazing ideas from their classrooms. A large wooden spool with log stumps for chairs.   I love the beads sorted in the muffin tin for stringing for the hanging art. I adore this...

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Reggio Inspired: Hanging Art

You are currently reading our archived blog. While these older posts may not reflect our current vision and direction, we encourage you to visit our new website at wunderled.com to explore our latest, updated content. There, you'll find a wealth of valuable articles,...

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Snowball Village

Snowball Village

Last week I taught two classes for a new local museum.  My featured projects for both days - little habitats.   I have rarely seen a child who does not adore the task of creating a miniature world.  There is this amazing ability of a little world to pull the...

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Leaf Lanterns Tutorial

You are currently reading our archived blog. While these older posts may not reflect our current vision and direction, we encourage you to visit our new website at wunderled.com to explore our latest, updated content. There, you'll find a wealth of valuable articles,...

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Thankful Turkeys

This is a simple project. All you need are four simple items: brown construction paper colored copy paper clothes pins download of the hand and leaves: CLICK HERE  Cut out brown thankful hand. Write four things you are thankful for - one on each leaf! Cut out the...

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Leaf Sewing!

Leaf Sewing!

What you will need: Leaves, hole punch, child' plastic needles and yarn. This one of my favorite fall activities!  There are two ways to do this! Hole Punched Leaves Using a hole punch - make holes around the edge of the leaf. Or let the children make the holes....

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Artist Study: Willem de Kooning

Artist Study: Willem de Kooning

"Light in August"  1947 In a recent museum class I taught - we explored the world of the gray scale and the work of Willem de Kooning.   We looked at several examples of de Kooning's work and identified the values lightest to darkest (the gray scale). STEP ONE:  Make...

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5 Great “Where the Wild Things Are” Ideas

5 Great “Where the Wild Things Are” Ideas

Who doesn't just love "Where the Wild Things Are"? This is a wonderful book to bring a good dose of art. Just watch the story come alive in your classroom. . . IDEA #1:  Wild Things Cardboard Tube Puppets For more information go to: Funderberg  IDEA #2:  Have a Wild...

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The Shape Robots

The Shape Robots

This is a great project for practicing the major lines in handwriting.  This robot is constructed using shapes and lines.  This helps develop visual perceptual skills, eye-hand coordination, and fine motor control.  I think it is very important to develop a climate of...

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Rock Insects

Rock Insects

These make wonderful paper weights and could be great dad gifts!  We made these as a part of our insect unit. Mexican Pebble Rocks make the best bugs! I found some of these wonderful stones at a landscape supplier. They are a nice size (palm size.) I had the children...

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Flower Study

Flower Study

One of the last big projects I did with the children this year was a flower study.  We looked at the work of Georgia O'Keefe and how she painted her flowers to fill the entire canvas.  We noted three things that Georgia O'Keefe did: She painted the flowers to the...

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Our Fairy Tree

Our Fairy Tree

A few weeks ago I was walking around the neighborhood with my husband when I spotted this wonderful dead tree sitting on the curb -- it still had the roots!!  "Honey, pick up that tree for me."  My husband grimaced.  He knew all too well - another art project! Trees...

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Fly Guy Math

Fly Guy Math

This is a fun activity for math.  First, I taught the children how to draw Fly Guy.  He is a very simple figure to draw.  Next, I had the children draw bugs with Fly Guy.  They had to write a math sentence to go with their drawing.  The room was a peaceful quiet as...

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Quick and Easy Easter Baskets

Quick and Easy Easter Baskets

What you will need:  white paper lunch bags, tag board, hot glue gun, and watercolors.  Step 1: Cut the paper bag down to 5 inches. Step Two: Cut two pieces of tag board for each paper bag - 4" x6" and 2" x 18".  Step Three:  Hot glue the 4" x 6" piece to the bottom...

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Wonder-Full Easter Eggs

Wonder-Full Easter Eggs

I love, love, love this idea from the Artful Parent.  Stickers and sharpies!  Yes! Go to the Artful Parent website for more ideas and instructions.  (Click on image or name) I also adore these gorgeous eggs - the design is made with rubber bands! Go to the Purple...

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Fish Windsocks – Super Cheap!

Fish Windsocks – Super Cheap!

This is another great project for a weather unit.  AND it is super economical. WHAT YOU WILL NEED: paper fish windsocks (Click here to order) Under $8 for 24! Blotters or watercolors Yarn Glue sticks The windsocks come pre-cut.  All you need to do is decorate them and...

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Beautiful Pinwheels

Beautiful Pinwheels

As a part of our weather unit, we made watercolor pinwheels.  Pinwheels are so easy to make and so beautiful to see in the wind.  There are several methods of attaching the pinwheel - the method of I am sharing is from my colleague, Mrs. Flynn.  It works! What you...

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Another Way to Draw the Cat in the Hat

Another Way to Draw the Cat in the Hat

Draw a "U" in the lower half of your paper. Draw a line across the top of the "u." Make that line into a very thin rectangle. Now add a long rectangle to the top of that - almost to the top of your paper. Add the stripes to the hat. Draw another u for the mouth with...

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Drawing Castles

Drawing Castles

This last week, I lead my kinders in drawing castles.  I adapted my original drawing instructions (see below) by adding extra towers to each side.  I demonstrated how to draw stones and bricks on the castle.  The children loved it!  

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Dear Ole Abe and George

Dear Ole Abe and George

Today in class my kinders made a good old fashion project - paper portraits of Abe and George. They traced the major components and glued it together.  (This is my first post made from my iphone. . . a little different but fast!)

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Sweet Little Paintings

Sweet Little Paintings

This is such a sweet little project and super easy.   I purchased 24 - 4" by 4" little canvases for $6 using a 40% off coupon at Michaels.  The best deal available is at http://www.dickblick.com/.  You can purchase 24 for under $5.  I purchased the cheapest brand of...

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Oh how I love Heart Garlands!

Oh how I love Heart Garlands!

I love, love, love the joy of a heart garland.  Aren't they divine?  I found several worth sharing on the internet.  There are a few very creative ideas for making garlands.  My kinders love making garlands.  What a lovely thing to do during centers. . . When I saw...

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