kids art - Roylco

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.

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 8, 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

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

Spooky Halloween Masks

Don’t stress about what to wear this Halloween… make spooky faces with our R52076 Folding Fun Masks! A bit of paint and our step by step instructions go a long way with these spooktacular masks!

Age: 6+

Duration: 20-30 minutes

You’ll Need:

• R52076 Folding Fun Masks

• Paint

• Paintbrush

• Paint tray (try our R7512 “No Mess” Fingerpaint Tray™!)

• Tape

• Imagination!

In this tutorial I’m going to show you how to paint a basic scary face. You can add more details to the basic face illustration or change the color for different dramatic effects. The photo at the end of this post shows some example ideas that you can do with minor changes to the look.

Choose “Halloween” colors for your mask. For this project, I chose deep purple, white and black paint colors.

Lay out the R52076 Folding Fun Mask onto the paint tray and cover it in an even layer of paint.

Switch to black paint. First drag your paint brush along the outside edge of the mask to make a black border. Stop right before the bottom edge of the mask. At the middle of the hairline, paint the point of a triangle facing downwards. Finally, add a slight curl to either side of the mask.

Add an eyebrow line above each eye. Trace out the top edge of each eye with black paint. Drag the point of the brush from the outside corner of each eye to add lashes.

Use white paint to illustrate fangs.

Once the paint on the mask is dry, tape the mask slits together. The edges of each slit overlap to make the mask appear 3D!

Secure the overlapped edges with tape on the underside of the mask.

Ready for spook-tastic fun! Tip: Punch a hole through each side of the mask. Thread through some string or pipe cleaners to help secure the mask while wearing.

Change the base color of the mask to form an entirely new mask! Choose a pale green for another vampire-inspired Halloween mask. You can paint the mask deep green and add straight lines with stitch-like notches for a creepy monster mask. Use a thick brush and a deep brown to create the mummy mask. Just drag the paintbrush across the entire mask at different angles. This will create the effect of woven paper strips. Splotch the brush with deep brown around the eyes.

Scare the socks off your friends with these crazy designs!

CRAFT CHALLENGE:

Paint a witch-like mask! Show us your techniques and step-by-step instructions on how to make the perfect witch mask.

Add 3D details! Stitch yarn to the edges of the mask to make hair, or attach thumbtacks to various parts of the mask to make ugly warts. Paint over the thumbtacks with the base color of the face to blend it in.

Send us photos of your work to subscriber@roylco.ca. We would love to feature your project on our next upcoming post!

Posted on October 16, 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

Thanksgiving Hat

Inspired by what our crafters at the Roylco Summer Art Camp made, here’s how to put together your unique Thanksgiving Hat! Use the R28421 Scissor Skills Paper for this craft.

Age: 4+

Duration: 15-20 minutes

You’ll Need:

• R28421 Scissor Skills Paper

• R5870 Linear Rubbing Plates

• Sheet of paper, 8.5 x 11″ (20 x 28 cm)

• Crayons

• Scissors

• Tape

Putting together the Thanksgiving Hat is super simple!

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For this activity, you can decorate the head band with any of our special rubbing plates!

Fold a sheet of paper lengthwise in half. Unfold the paper and cut along the fold line to make two equal strips of paper. You’ll need both strips of paper for the entire headband.

Place the headband on top of a rubbing plate. Use the side of a crayon to rub the pattern onto the headband.

I used a different pattern for the top and bottom headband edges. Try it out with a different color too!

Choose one of the three types of feathers to decorate your headband with. We’ve made an easy set of feathers for beginners with which to practice their scissor cutting skills. The second set is intermediate, with wavy lines. The third, and most challenging, set features jagged edges for students to cut. Choose the most appropriate set of feathers for students to cut.

Attach the two headband pieces together with a piece of tape. Join the two headbands horizontally to extend the length of the entire headband.

Keep the headband flipped over to the blank side. Line up all your cut feathers along the top edge of the headband and paste onto the paper. The feathers are double-sided so you won’t have to worry about which side you paste them onto!

Join the edges of the headband together. Tip: First get students to adjust the headband for wearing. When they have found the right fit, tape the edges at that point.

All ready for wearing! If you would like to add some dimension to your hat, curl out the ends of the feathers using a pencil.

CRAFT CHALLENGE:

What else did your students use to decorate their hats? You can use anything available in your craft supply closet or use scrap paper left over from other projects to cut out feathers. Once students have made their hats, sit your class down in a circle and talk about what each student is thankful for from the previous year.

Send us your responses to subscriber@roylco.ca along with photos of your students’ hats! We’d love to hear from you!

Posted on October 9, 2013February 12, 2020 by Raman

Craft Spotlight: Scissor Skills Paper

Scissor Skills Paper makes it easy to introduce scissor use to young children! We gave our crafters at the Roylco Summer Art Camp our Scissor Skills Paper to create their projects from. One of our crafters had a great idea to turn the feathers into a headband hat! Check out her process below!

There are three features to the feathers, besides being so colorful! The easiest feathers feature simple sloped lines that help students first gain control of the scissors as they cut. The feathers are printed with a small scissor indicators to show students where to start cutting. The intermediate feathers feature curvy lines to increase students’ control of scissor movement. The most challenging feathers consist of zig-zag lines for expert use!

Start off gradually by first showing students how to hold the paper in one hand while cutting with the other. We’ve got some great scissor and fine motor muscle exercise tips in our guide for the Scissor Skills Paper. Begin cutting the easiest feathers first. Progress to the more difficult feathers when students are more comfortable with their cuttings skills.

We provided our camper with a strip of blank paper to decorate. She used markers to draw a succession of lines on the paper.

Our camper placed the feathers along the strip of paper and glued down the corners.

We secured the edges of the strip of paper to make the hat fit! What a great idea!

Show us how your students used the Scissor Skills Paper in other projects! Send us your photos and artwork to subscriber@roylco.ca to be featured in an upcoming post. We’d love to hear from you!

Posted on October 7, 2013February 12, 2020 by Raman