“I believe that art is an adventure and an exploration of materials and ideas. I like to say ‘Art is a Process, Not a Product’.”
MaryAnn Kohl is a leading voice in encouraging creativity in young minds through her many resource art books. MaryAnn founded Bright Ring Publishing, Inc. in 1985 when she published her first book, Scribble Cookies (Now in its new edition, Scribble Art, with more of everything!) Her experiences include teaching in elementary school and college, educational consultation and being an author and publisher.
“Children have only themselves to please as they drip, smudge, glop, glue and sculpt their way through hundreds of open-ended art ideas. The art activities in my books have unlimited creative possibilities with no right or wrong way to create and no set rules or expectations for outcomes. Process art expands the creative experience and awareness of children in all aspects of the visual arts through painting, drawing, printing, sculpture, architecture, and other manipulations of art materials.”
MaryAnn is nice enough to share free activities from her books here and here!
Here is a list of MaryAnn Kohl’s books (some are co-authored):
Great American Artists for Kids: Hands-On Art Experiences in the Styles of Great American Masters
Discovering Great Artists: Hands-On Art for Children in the Styles of the Great Masters
Storybook Art: Hands-On Art for Children in the Styles of 100 Favorite Picture Book Illustrators
First Art - Art Exploration for Toddlers and Twos
Preschool Art: It's the Process, Not the Product
Primary Art
Mudworks: Creative Clay, Dough and Modeling Experiences for Children (now in bilingual Spanish Edition)
The Big Messy *(But Easy to Clean Up) Art Book
ScienceArts: Discovering Science Through Art Experiences
Scribble Art: Independent Creative Art Experiences for Children
Good Earth Art: Environmental Art for Kids
Cooking Art: Easy Edible Art for Young Children
Making Make-Believe: Fun Props, Costumes and Creative Play Ideas
Global Art: Activities, Projects, and Inventions from Around the World
MathArts: Exploring Math through Art for 3 to 6 Year Olds
Snacktivities! 50 Edible Activities for Parents and Young Children
And her newest book, Art with Anything: 52 Weeks of Fun Using Everyday Stuff is coming out May 2010!
Mary Ann Kohl is giving away a copy of Mudworks (bilingual edition)!
You can enter to win twice:
1) For your first entry, comment under this post and tell me your NAME and a FAVORITE ART ACTIVITY that you enjoy with your child.
2) For your second entry, become a FOLLOWER of the SMMARTideas blog (on the dashboard of your blog, enter my url- http://SMMARTideas.blogspot.com under “Blogs I’m Following”, or follow me on your Google Reader, or promise that you’ll check in each week for the newest SMMART Activity:) Comment under this post and tell me your NAME and that you are a FOLLOWER. “I follow SMMARTideas!”
(...and I'd be honored if you would add my BUTTON on your blog:-)
I will post the winner's name on January 19th! You must e-mail me at SMMARTideas@hotmail.com with your mailing address by midnight Jan.19th, or I will post another winner on Jan. 20th...process continues until we get a winner!
MaryAnn Kohl is also promoting a special offer on her book, Great American Artists for kids: Hands-On Art Experiences in the Styles of Great American Masters. It sells for $18.95 plus shipping, but for SMMARTideas enthusiasts, she is offering it for $15 (that includes shipping!!!)
Send her a check at:
MaryAnn Kohl
PO Box 31338
Bellingham, WA 98228
You can even request that she autograph it for you…(if you wish, you can fill out this form) and remember to send her your mailing address! Be sure to let her know you read about this offer on SMMARTideas to receive this price and free shipping! Yipeeeee!
27 comments:
we love to ply "playdough". we like to make animals and people.
michelle s.
Tami Evans, I love everything from painting to cutting paper. We would LOVE this book to help us be more creative with our art.
i also follow your blog! thanks for the great ideas!
I teach art in my 1st grader's class and in 3 years old's preschool...so I would love so more ideas! Our favorite art projects at home are: playing with moon sand, marble-rolling in paint, and water colors.
Thanks!
We love to use all the scrap paper and ribbons, flannel etc in the house to create pictures. We then make up funny stories with all the pictures. Just came across your blog.
Thanks, Teresa Almond
P.S. I am now an official "follower" as well.
Thanks!
Loved meeting you today!!! I am excited about the ideas you shared. We are always using your website!
We love to make things with pipe cleaners, or just paint on the easels!
And I do follow your blog! I have it on my favorite blog lists on my personal blog.
Amanda Howells~
We love paper crafts but badly need more ideas!
Amanda Howells~
I'm a follower now too!
Arianne Newton
I am already a follower
I added your button to my blog! :)
Also that shampoo playdo looks awesome, I need to try that.
Kole and I love to do art projects. Water colors and tracing hands and feet to see how much they've grown is a favorite!
Wow! She has written a lot of books! I'd love to win. And I might buy Great American Artists for Kids. It looks like it has great ideas to help teach children about artists while having fun themselves.
I love making cards (cut, glue, paint, draw...) with my children since they're fun to make and easy to send to family or friends and brighten their day.
Just found your blog!! Such fun ideas, we love to do crafts / art!! We love tracing the kids bodies and drawing clothes, faces on them. We are a big fan of playdough also! Thanks for the fun ideas!!! I will also add your link to my blog. My email is bkhalling@gmail.com if you want an invite! Thanks for sharing your fun ideas!
"Draw what you would give me for my birthday" then we draw things that you can't buy etc. Lots of fun
Lisa!
Thanks for stopping by my site! I was going to call Roxanne to see what yours was so I could stop by and say "great to meet you" too! :)
Your segment was fantastic (loved the shampoo dough idea) and I'm so happy to now know about your blog. I'll be stopping by often for ideas to do with the nieces and nephews.
Have a great day!
Krista
We love to make things. Playdough is always a favorite though!
Our 2 favorite art projects are water color painting, & "bead-people". I tear water color paper in to 4 pieces, lay them flat, & tape around the edges w/masking tape. When your mini-painting is dry, you remove the tape & there is a nice frame around the painting. "Bead-people" consist of a paperboard cutout in the shape of a person which we glue beads & feathers to to make outfits, etc.
My baby is due in April but I look forward to playing at the beach with her and reading fun books to her.
I must confess. I hate playdough--but only for the mess it makes. It seems to get tracked everywhere! So we reserve that for a summertime activity and set up a table in our garage which makes for easy clean up. However, I do love doing paper collages with my kids. It's fun to see what they come up with and I love to watch them work their magic with scissors! Plus, paper doesn't get ground into the carpet quite like paydough does. :)
Heather Loader
Our fave would have to be watercolors. My boys love to mix colors + see what they make!
Laura Gleed
I am a follower!
Laura Gleed
Hey Lisa! I love getting out the art stuff and just letting Marcella's imagination go. It is so fun to just have a ton of things that she can create pictures with. The past Christmas my favorite thing we did was make a candy snow globe. ~Kanien
Kamie
I don't currently have children, but I love your ideas and someday hope to use them! :)
I am a follower. :)
My kids enjoy making figures using homemade flour dough. After we bake them, they like to paint them and they are so durable and fun. We also like to keep a collection of odds and ends and let the kids create whatever they want using boxes.
Coloring, painting, and paper crafts are the order of the day here.
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