SMMARTideas

SMMART ART: MaryAnn Kohl's Art ideas

As you can see from the list of MaryAnn's books in the "Giveaway" post, MaryAnn knows children's art!

Here are two of MaryAnn's fun ideas to share with your child:

Shampoo Dough
3/4 c flour
1/4 c white glue
1/4 c thick shampoo
Mix all ingredients in a bowl
Knead dough
Add more flour, as needed.
Model or roll and cut as desired.
Air dry
Paint as desired.

We made up a batch and shaped little hearts, then put a toothpick in the top. When they dry and are painted, you have little Valentine pendants to string onto a necklace! You can shape the hearts by hand, or use a cookie cutter.

One of the artists showcased in MaryAnn Kohl's book, Great American Artists for kids, is the work of Alexander Calder. Calder, a 20th century modern artist, is considered one of the most influential and acclaimed sculptors of this time. One of his methods of creating art, involved bending wire to create 3D sculpture.

MaryAnn suggests how you can simulate Calder's "stabile" works. Wrap a rock with a pipe cleaner, leaving a lot at the end to bend and manipulate. Wrap several pipe cleaners around the rock. Now bend the end of the pipe cleaners in interesteing shapes (zigzags, curves...).

You can add shapes of color to the pipe cleaners. Cut out unique shapes from paper, or felt. Fold the felt over the end of the pipe cleaners and staple it onto the. If you like, you can punch a hole into the felt shape and slide the shape over the end of the pipe cleaners. Pretty soon you will have a colorful 3D wire sculpture, after the fashion of Alexander Clalder.

What a fun way to celebrate a big occasion with your child? Here's an adaption of Calder's work...you can "sculpt" around your child's favorite candy bar!

Check out more fun art ideas in the many books by MaryAnn Kohler.

See my SMMART Art segment while it's still up on the ABC4 site:

http://www.abc4.com/content/about_4/gtu/featured_on/story/SMMART-Art/-AAOsHqvUU-LfJ9rrCaNuQ.cspx