art teacher - Roylco

Art Propellor uses our Straws and Connectors!

One Sunday a month, our local Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery hosts a family drop-in night, which brings in a large group of children of all ages! The programs are organized to help children explore a range of art materials and activities. A popular feature of these art programs is our very own Straws and Connectors!

Our local art gallery maintains its own blog at Art Propellor, also a WordPress site. Check out the artistic posts here!

The KWAG is a great place to be–whether you are gallery-viewing or dropping in for one of the many hosted art programs (ranging from audiences of children to adults), the gallery features a variety of inspirational activities.

Our Straws and Connectors made a big impact at the KWAG Family Sundays events. A post was made entitled: “Family Sundays are Back!” which not only highlighted the success of the event, but also featured images of our Straws and Connectors! The post was published on October 22, 2012.

The Straws and Connectors are versatile enough for a variety of projects. Build sculptures, structures, and more!

Connect the colorful straws together with 5-pointed connectors to make a variety of three-dimensional shapes.

Thanks to the KWAG for this post!

Images and original post © Propelart – KWAG

This post was not sponsored for a review. At LittleFingersBigArt, our mission is to present to our readers and viewers the newest and most creative craft ideas that fans of Roylco have made on their own. Our goal is to allow you and other educators and parents to reuse our products in fun ways so that children always get the best educational experience from them!

We’d love to see more ideas like this one! If you’ve got a brilliant craft idea or have made a version of one of our crafts that you would like to share with us, send an email to subscriber@roylco.ca with photos, descriptions or a link to your work. We will create a feature post and link back to you with full credit. We’d love to hear from you!

Posted on November 15, 2013February 12, 2020 by Raman

Paint Bellows and Lace Circle Stencils

Extending our exploration of Paint Bellows, I’ll show you how to use this unique painting tool to create beautiful stencil art combined with our Lace Circles! Read on for more details!

Age: 5-8

Duration: 10 minutes

You’ll Need:

• R5419 Paint Bellows

• R24910 Lace Circles

• Art paper

• Tempera paint

• Paint tray

I recommend using card paper for the backing underneath the Lace Circle. Depending on what kind of paint you use, the splatter paint may seep through any weaker or thinner paper. You want to make sure that the art paper is strong enough to withstand the paint splatters.

Fill the paint containers with a bit of water to make the paint easier to pick up in the Paint Bellows. Place the template or Lace Circle onto the card paper.

Press all the air out of the Paint Bellow before inserting the spout into the paint. Release the hold on the Paint Bellow to allow it to draw in the paint. Next, aim the Paint Bellow slightly above the art paper and quickly press the back of the Paint Bellows chamber towards the spout and release. Redo this action several times to get a great stippled effect on the paper!

I wanted to use two different colors to make the artwork more interesting, so I used red. Spritz the red paint over the template. Tip: You can also remove your template and place it in another position over the stippled blue paint, then spritz with red to give your artwork a bit of dimension.

Remove your template to reveal a simple yet gorgeous piece of artwork underneath!

Show us some of your artwork using the Paint Bellows! Send us photos of your students’ work to subscriber@roylco.ca for a chance to be featured in our next post!

Posted on November 14, 2013February 12, 2020 by Raman

Craft Spotlight: Paint Bellows!

This week’s craft post focuses on our versatile Paint Bellows! These simple art tools make a big statement with interesting paint effects! The unique accordion-like chamber allows paint to be drawn into the bellow and helps propel the paint out when it is depressed and released. Watch the video for a look at what kinds of projects you can use Paint Bellows in!Visit our project guide at this link!

In order to use the Paint Bellows effectively, you will need tempera-like paint. The thicker the paint, the better the bellows will splatter the paint across the art paper.

The Paint Bellows feature two main parts: the clever accordion chamber to contain the paint, and the spout to propel the paint from.

To use the Paint Bellows, place your thumb on the back of the bellows chamber while cushioning the spout between your pointer and third finger. Press your thumb on the back of the chamber to push the accordion fold closer to the spout.

Next, dip the spout of the empty Paint Bellow into a bowl of tempera paint. While holding the Paint Bellows, release the pressure from your thumb to allow the chamber to draw in the paint. This technique is great for encouraging students to practice their fine motor skills with! Try perfecting this technique first before painting with the Paint Bellows!

In order to guarantee a smooth-running paint session, it’s a good idea to set up a painting workstation that students can experiment at with their paint tools. Place a plastic paint tray beneath the art paper. Poise the filled Paint Bellow over the paper and paint tray and press the back of the accordion chamber towards the spout to release the paint.

As you can see in the video, the paint splatter effect is striking!

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Create interesting visuals with the Paint Bellows! Splatter the paint over top of art paper covered with various card templates. Remove the templates to reveal interesting images! Use different paint colors to create layers in your art!

Show us some of your students’ artworks using the Paint Bellows! Send us photos to subscriber@roylco.ca!

Posted on November 12, 2013February 12, 2020 by Raman

Jeanene from Earth Boys uses our Stained Glass images!

Jeanene from Earthboys posted a great feature on her blog about holiday crafts. One of the crafts featured was our R52085 Snowflake Stained Glass Frames!

Jeanene’s post can be found at her site Earthboys and is entitled, “Handmade Holidays, Yarn Along — Angels and Fairies.” Her post was made on December 11, 2010.

Jeanene’s photos show a beautiful backdrop of the lovely palm trees in her family’s yard. What a beautiful contrast! The colorful snowflake seems to “fit in” with the bright green and golds of the tropical forest.

Beautiful work! Jeanene’s boys helped to cut out each of the individual pieces and glue them to the sections of the stained glass design.

When hung from the window, the sunlight can beam through the colorful snowflakes to illuminate the paper.

Thanks to Jeanene for this illuminating post!

Images and original post © Earthboys.

Posted on November 8, 2013February 12, 2020 by Raman

Craft Spotlight: Touch and Match Animal Cards

A good way to encourage sensory interplay is through games! Try our fun-tastic R76530 Touch and Match Animal Cards, which features colorful cartoon playing cards and animal-shaped buttons. Read on and learn how to play!!The Touch and Match Animal Cards are a great way to get groups of students together to play, especially if you are trying to break the ice!

The Touch and Match Animal Cards feature several types of playing cards. The playing cards are printed with illustrations of colorful cartoon animal and come in 4 sets. Each set represents a difficulty (easy–medium–intermediate–difficult).

The objective of the game is to match the buttons to the cards! Choose one of the decks to play. Shuffle the cards and turn the cards face down. Take one card from the top and lay it on the table. Examine the card. What animal is printed on the card? Match a button to the face depicted in the card.

However, to make full use of your students’ sensory abilities, drop a handful of Animal Face Buttons into the provided blue bag (we recommend about 3-5 buttons at a time). Ask children to place their hands into the bag and feel around for the appropriate button.

This game is great for encouraging visual and tactile skills!

The best way to distinguish the different decks is by the colors printed on the backs of the cards. The features of each deck is as follows:

• Green deck – Easy – Find the face of the animal in the picture!

• Yellow deck – Intermediate – Find the faces of both animals in the picture!

• Red deck – Difficult – Find the correct face out of four provided faces for the animal body in the image!

• Blue deck – Challenging – Find the Animal Face Button corresponding to the animal’s face in the image. There are no other clues provided so think hard about your selection!

Show us your students’ playtime sessions using the Touch and Match Animal Cards! Send photos to subscriber@roylco.ca for a chance to be featured in our next post!

Posted on November 4, 2013February 12, 2020 by Raman

Craft Spotlight: Remembrance Day Poppies

As November 11 is fast-approaching, we recognize the importance of remembering and the bravery of veteran heroes around the world on Remembrance Day. Show your classroom’s appreciation with a beautiful classroom wreath!

The R42005 Remembrance Day Wreath provides you with enough materials for every student to make at least 1 poppy. The kit features pre-cut red tissue paper poppies, and black centers that can be overlain to make the poppies. Tip: Use red marker to draw radiating lines out from the center of the tissue paper poppies. This will give the poppy a realistic appearance when assembled.

To further add dimension, soak the poppies with a light mist of water and drape over an upside-down cup to dry. The dried poppies will appear crinkled like real petals and take the shape of a flower.

Secure the tissue papers with the provided green chenille stem and attach die-cut green paper poppy leaves to complete the look.

Combine all the poppies together to make this wreath a decorative tribute to those who have sacrificed so much. Talk about the deep history of Remembrance Day and research the significance of the poppy. You can read John McCrae’s famous poem, “In Flanders Fields” and encourage students to write their own poems on the significance of Remembrance Day.

Watch the instructional video below to show you how to put together the wreath!

To construct the wreath, fold a card sheet in half and cut out a large half circle above the fold line. Cut out a smaller half circle from the fold line to make the center. Unfold the card sheet to reveal a circle with the center cut out.

Paste all the poppies around the wreath. You can make one large wreath or several smaller wreaths to decorate the classroom.

Show us your Remembrance Day spirit by sending us photos of your class wreaths to subscriber@roylco.ca! We will feature the photos in one of our upcoming posts!

Posted on October 28, 2013February 12, 2020 by Raman

Feely Bag Find-It Letters

Can you find all the letters of the alphabet? Check out our tutorial below for an easy-to-make game students will love playing with during rainy days! This project uses our R2184 Manuscript Letter Beads which help students feel for the shape of each letter as they search for them!

Age: 4-7

Duration: 15 minutes

You’ll Need:

• R2184 Manuscript Letter Beads

• R2114 Colored Rice

• Ziploc® bag

• Tuck tape or duct tape

The objective of the Feely Bag Find-It game is to locate and find all the letters or numbers placed into the bag using touch. Students can “feel” and look for various kinds of letters or numbers, for example, letters that are vowels, consonants, uppercase or lowercase. These different rules help students reinforce different linguistic concepts while playing with the Feely Find It Bags!

This is a pretty easy project that most young students can help out with. You can make multiple kinds of Feely Bags–for uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers or even miniature action figures! Note: Be careful when handling Colored Rice as it can spill everywhere if not properly siphoned into the bags. Use a measuring cup or spoon to transfer the Colored Rice from its container to the Feely Bag.

First seal up all three sides of the Ziploc® bag with colorful or decorative duct tape. This helps to ensure that the Colored Rice won’t seep out in case there is a rip in any of the edges.

Fill the Ziploc® bag with the Colored Rice.

Next, place in the Manuscript Letter Beads or Math Beads.

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Close the opening in the Ziploc® bag and seal with another strip of duct tape. Note: Gently press out all of the air from the bag through the opening before closing it up.

Shake the bag to mix all the contents together and hide all the visible beads in the mass of Colored Rice.

Give students a time frame to find all their beads or have students sit in a circle and pass the Feelie Find-It Bag around so that each student can locate one assigned letter or number bead.

Tell us how today’s project went by sending us an email to subscriber@roylco.ca! Send us photos of your students’ work and we will write up a feature post highlighting your classroom crafting adventures!

Posted on October 23, 2013February 12, 2020 by Raman

Craft Spotlight: Animal Paint Scrapers

What better way to explore patterning, lines and painting than with our uniquely designed paint scrapers in the shape of animal claws, toes, wings or hooves! Check out our R54560 Animal Paint Scrapers here!

Our crafters had a blast experimenting with the Animal Paint Scrapers and paint. We used printed R15406 Rolly Scrolly Paper to bring out the brightness of the paint colors.

First, we filled up bowls with thick tempera paint. Each paint scraper was dipped into the paint to saturate the edges. Next, one of our crafters came up with the idea that she could spell her name out with the paint scrapers using the unique waved edge as a writing tool.

If your students would like to try out writing their names with the paint scrapers, we suggest you first provide them with pencils to write their names out as a guide for when they begin painting. This will help you keep track of how large or small the name will appear on the paper as well. Keep lines light in case anything needs to be erased!

Another crafter decided to try spreading glue across the Rolly Scrolly paper using our Animal Paint Scrapers. She later spread colorful glitter on top and shook off the excess glitter to reveal an interesting pattern.

The crafters learned some important characteristics about the paint scrapers: Each of the paint scrapers had their own distinct edge to create interesting textured lines. Some lines turned out thick while others were thin.

By adding stylistic effects with the edges of the paint scraper, our crafter was able to turn her name banner from ordinary to extraordinary!

Let us know how your students’ paint scraper art turned out by sending photos to subscriber@roylco.ca! We’d love to see your classroom artwork!

Posted on October 21, 2013February 12, 2020 by Raman

Craft Spotlight: Exercise Animals!

Exercise Animals get children up and moving! First decorate the animals with paint, and color in the printed paper with crayons or markers. Assemble the animals in three easy steps. Watch a video below to see how it’s done, then check out our Art Campers taking off in an animal stampede!

Try out various fun activities with the R62030 Exercise Animals. Use our guide and the ideas provided to help get your students’ bodies moving and hearts pumping!

R62030 Exercise Animals are a great way to segue between different educational subjects, such as science, art AND physical education!

The Exercise Animals feature 10 different animal designs. Choose from a cheetah, horse, lion, kangaroo, bunny, eagle, monkey, elephant, bear and giraffe! Talk about the different types of animals as students paint in the details of their Exercise Animals.

Our campers loved picking out their favorite animals! Here, one of our campers finds herself a rare one–a purple horse!

Once students have finished painting their animals, color in the printed paper sheets. The sheets come with two small tubes that can each be pasted onto either end of the sheet as reinforcements. Roll up the sheet with the tubes inside and secure with tape. Finally, join either end of the barber pole with the tab at the bottom of the Exercise Animal head.

Go on an animal stampede outside your school building!

Let us know how your students’ animals turned out by sending photos to subscriber@roylco.ca! We’d love to see your classroom artwork!

Posted on October 15, 2013February 12, 2020 by Raman