In short, I am busy: We Explore Artist Denise Fleming

Art Project Part 1: Decoupage

We did decoupage as the closest thing to making our own paper that I could think of. The kids ripped up tissue paper and "painted" over it with glue.

• Supplies
• Shirt cardboard or cardstock
• Tissue paper in small pieces
• Glue, paintbrushes

Storytime

• Books
• Lunch (flannel board)
• Barnyard Banter (big book)
• In the Tall, Tall Grass
• Mama cat has three kittens
• Five little ducks (sing)

Art Project Part 2: Paint

The kids could start a new project or add to their previous one. I encouraged them to get messy and use lots of thick, textured swirls.

• Supplies
• Fingerpaint
• Shirt cardboard or cardstock
• Glue, paper towels, paper plates

Notes

• When doing this program with an older/smaller group, I tend to do storytime first and then the art in one chunk at the end. We have recently been experimenting with paper making, so that's also an option. We have a blender and two small screened molds. We prepared the "slush" ahead of time and had various materials and colors to add to play around with the paper.

• 7-13-18
• Attendance: 6
• Notes: I am seeing a pattern. I felt like crap and it was boiling hot. Two toddlers and mamas, two older kids dropped in until they were collected by their babysitter.
• 7-20-16
• Attendance: 6
• Notes: I was exhausted, we have bad weather coming up, it was mostly toddlers. Painting was fun anyways.
• October 2014
• Attendance: 30
• Connections/Feedback: I had an unusually large group today, with a lot of older kids, and some very enthusiastic parents. I wondered if they'd really enjoy the stories, since Fleming is really directed at younger kids, but they loved them, especially joining in the refrains and animal noises and hanging out to examine the art afterwards and reread the books.
• Notes for the future: All the art projects kind of ran into each other so note to self - this one will probably not work well with a really large school group. We had a ton of fun, but it's one that would benefit from an assistant! The first project was really a little too long to be done in 15 minutes, but it was ok - they enjoyed coming back to it. I kind of threw it together at the last minute, so it could have benefited from a little more planning. People really liked the apples I brought from the farmer's market!