In short, I am busy: We Explore Artist Leo Lionni

Art Project Part 1: Bleeding art tissue

• If you have thick, textured paper or canvas, the kids can color it with crayons before applying the bleeding art tissue.
• Supplies
• Canvas or thick paper
• Crayons (optional)
• bleeding art tissue, paintbrushes, water

Art Project Part 2: Sponge painting

• I have used clean and dry sponges both in squares and cut into fish shapes. I usually put a few colors of paint on platters and they stamp from those.
• Supplies
• Aprons
• Paint (I used biocolor, but fingerpaint works too)
• Sponges cut into shapes
• Platters or paper plates for the sponges

Notes

• Other art projects that can be used are cut paper collage, layering tissue paper, and different methods of stamping and print-making.

Evaluation

• 6-15-18
• Attendance: 15
• Notes: The weather was very iffy. I expect small groups for this though, so it was ok. I had mostly toddler and a couple preschoolers. We read Swimmy, A color of his own, and Inch by inch. Once again, nobody checked out Lionni books. Sigh.
• 6-22-16
• Attendance: 11
• Notes: I used tissue paper for the collage and they just added it to their paper plates. It was a small but very involved group today!
• 2-21-14: 
• Notes: Leo Lionni was a favorite author/illustrator of my childhood and it makes me sad to see how few people seem to read him anymore. Plus, he's got very recognizable art! Alphabet Tree didn't come in time (I need to plan farther ahead!) and I forgot to get fruit until the last minute and then I was too busy, so we just had goldfish. A pack of four sponges didn't make that many shapes, so I found some more sponge shapes in the cupboard, so we had almost 20, and then adding some sponge brushes. The torn paper went kind of fast, so a lot of people went back out to play while latecomers did the craft. I need a bell or something! I just went out and clapped and sang an impromptu "it's storytime" thing. I did read A Color of His Own, but not Cornelius. The sponge painting was a HUGE hit (except for the little boy who thought we were going to be using rubber stamps). They did much better about stamping lightly than I thought they would! Nobody checked any Lionni books out, but I need to get shinier copies I think.