spring

Jewelry Sensory Tray

February 15, 2021 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

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If you have washable heart-themed children’s jewelry pieces lying around or found some in a post-Valentine’s Day sale, they can have a go in a jewelry sensory tray. Add a few complimentary colored loose parts, and your early learners will be eager to explore the tray.

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Loose Parts For The Tray

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heart bracelets
color block silicone bracelets
rainbow heart rings
wiggly eye rings
rainbow heart erasers
foam flowers and hearts
gem hearts
flower eraser
buttons

This tray has loose parts in a variety of cheery colors, taking it beyond Valentine’s Day.

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Making The Jewelry Sensory Tray

Heart-themed jewelry sensory tray that takes tactile exploration beyond Valentine's Day.

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Pick a tray large enough for a few children to play in.

Add a layer of rice. I feature glutinous rice. I love it because it is super white.

Spread the heart jewelry and complimentary colored loose parts in the tray. Invite your early learners to explore the tactile center.

This sensory tray idea also works for individual play. Just divide the supplies into a portion for each child and add them to smaller trays.

Heart jewelry sensory tray with cheery colors that take tactile exploration beyond Valentine's Day.

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Horse Chestnut Leaf Art Activities

October 12, 2020 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

A horse chestnut leaf featured in five easy to do art projects that are suitable for all ages.

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Horse chestnut tree leaves are sizable and showy and have that “wow” factor. They are deep green compound leaves with five to seven leaflets that live on a tree that is beautiful throughout the seasons. The palmate leaves are showcased along with large, spiked flowers in spring. They turn golden yellow in autumn and are accompanied by dramatic, prickly lime green fruits that are coverings for ultra-smooth nut-like seeds called conkers. The leaves are a spectacular subject for art. Featured in this post are five horse chestnut leaf art activities that are easy to do with your early learners.

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Horse chestnut tree flowers in spring. — Flowers in spring.

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Horse chestnut tree with fruit in autumn. — Leaves and fruit in autumn.

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Horse chestnut tree conkers on the left, and broken fruit casings on the right. — Conkers and empty fruit casings.

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Horse Chestnut Leaf Art Activities

Leaf Print

Set a horse chestnut leaf face down on a table with a paintbrush and tempera paint. Invite your child to paint the leaf, turn it over, and press it down on a sturdy piece of art paper.

Horse chestnut leaf paint print invitation.

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Have your little one rub all over the painted leaf carefully, and remove it from the paper.

Horse chestnut leaf paint print in a black and white color scheme.

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A blackish paint produces an unexpected, striking black and white color scheme.

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Leaf Dot Art

Invite your little learner to place a large horse chestnut leaf on a piece of paper, and decorate the area around it with dot markers.

Dot marker art with a horse chestnut leaf.

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Horse chestnut leaves are perfect for dot marker art.

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Removing the leaf reveals a white silhouette.

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Watercolor Resist Leaf

On a large, sturdy piece of paper, help your child trace around a horse chestnut leaf with a black pastel crayon. Carefully remove the leaf, and encourage your little one to add a midrib and veins to the leaflets. Offer a paintbrush and containers of liquid watercolors for painting the drawing. Food coloring hues mixed with small amounts of water can also be used.

Horse chestnut leaf watercolor resist art project set up.

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Horse chestnut leaf watercolor resist art project.

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View a video tutorial of this watercolor resist leaf art project.

Watercolor resist leaf art video tutorial.

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Crayon Relief Leaf

Ask your early learner to place the compound leaf under a piece of thin paper. Offer a selection of peeled crayons. Have your little one rub over the leaf with crayons held upright or laid flat.

A pastel rainbow color scheme adds softness to this art project.

Horse chestnut leaf rubbing with crayons.

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Foil Leaf Rubbing

Place a horse chestnut leaf face down on a table. Lay a slightly larger piece of aluminum foil over it. Help your child gently press the foil over and around the midribs, veins, petiole, and edges of the leaf.

Horse chestnut leaf aluminum foil rubbing set up.

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Horse chestnut leaf aluminum foil rubbing.

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If you are lucky enough to have a horse chestnut tree close to where you live, it can be fabulous to study and photograph throughout the seasons. And horse chestnut leaf art activities add ambiance to home or classroom decor from spring to autumn.

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Do you have a favorite horse chestnut leaf art activity or a preferred leaf for art? I’d love to hear about it in the comment section below.

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Tulip Art Painting Project

April 13, 2020 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

This tulip art painting activity is inspired by the Canadian Tulip Festival, the stunning Canada 150 tulip, and a rustic Kleenex box design!

Tulip art painting project inspired by the Canada 150 tulip, the Canadian Tulip Festival, and a rustic tissue box. An all-ages art activity the whole family can do.

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Beginnings Of The Canadian Tulip Festival

Renowned photographer Malak Karsh began taking pictures of tulips in spring 1946. In 1952 Malak proposed a Canadian Tulip Festival for Canada’s capital city, Ottawa. It was held the following spring. Since then, it has become an annual event every May, drawing tourists from around the world.

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Follow me on Pinterest for more ideas.

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Keukenhof Gardens

If a visit to a vibrant tulip garden isn’t in your family’s near future, why not take them on a virtual tour of the world-famous tourist site in Holland, the Keukenhof Gardens.

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Tulip Art Project Instructions

Red and white painted tulips are featured in this craft. They are a reminder of the tulip chosen for the Canada 150 celebration, held in 2017. The two colors are patriotic, and the flower pattern resembles the maple leaf in the Canadian flag. Click here to view pictures of the Canada 150 tulip.

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Supplies To Collect:

paintbrush
salad fork
green, red, and white poster paint
rustic wood look craft paper
plate or tray

Guide your child in painting green tulip stems and leaves on the wood look craft paper.

Green tulip stems painted on a rustic wood scrapbook paper background.

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Add red and white paint to a small plate or tray. Help your child dip the top of the salad fork in the red and white paint. Encourage moving the forkhead from side to side and top to bottom until it is all covered in paint.

Salad fork dipped in red and white paint.

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Invite your child to press the painted part of the fork just above the stem of one of the flowers. Suggest tipping it in different directions to make sure each part of the salad fork head makes contact with the paper.

Follow the same process for each of the stems.

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Let the picture dry.

The tulips can be cut out and glued to a new background for a three-dimensional effect.

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You can offer other paint colors for this tulip art project. Here’s a painting with yellow flowers. Yellow tulips are a symbol of friendliness, cheerfulness, and charity.

Tulip art painting project inspired by the Canadian Tulip Festival, and a rustic tissue box. An all-ages art activity the whole family can do.

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The tissue box that helped inspire the painting project:

Tulip themed tissue box that is an inspiration for the tulip painting project.

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Tulip Art Video Tutorial

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Tulips are an endearing subject for artwork and an ideal flower for gift giving. And there is nothing more stunning than viewing an expansive tulip field with rows and rows of cup-shaped flowers in rainbow colors.

What is your favorite spring flower? Share below.

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Spring Bunny Canvas Art

April 20, 2019 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

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The birds are chirping, and there is excitement in the air. Everyone seems to have a skip in their step. I think it is because spring has come early to our city and… it’s the Easter long weekend!

Here’s an easy spring bunny art activity that will add some hop to the skip, and be sure to keep everyone’s good mood up.

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Spring Bunny Canvas Art

A few simple supplies are all that is needed for this activity:

white canvas panel (12-inch x 18-inch)
non-toxic paint dot markers
colored cardstock
bunny template
scissors

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The Bunny Canvas Art Process

Trace a bunny on colored cardstock in a size that leaves room to paint dab around it on the canvas board. I sized the bunny to fit just inside the edges of an 8 x 11 ½ piece of paper.

Cut out the cardstock bunny and place it in the middle of the canvas board.

Choose your favorite dot marker colors.

Dab paint dots around the bunny template.

Let the canvas dry.

Dot markers used to paint around a bunny template on canvas. An easy art activity suitable for all ages.

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For this project, I used an inexpensive canvas board from a Dollar Store.

The dot paint markers were a great find at Michaels. I was excited to see so many colors in the package! I chose blue and teal, inspired by a bunny art project I had seen painted in similar tones. Your favorite color scheme would work just as well.

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This spring bunny paint project dries quickly…a real plus. It can be displayed on a small easel along with matching decor.

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Easy dot marker Spring bunny canvas art suitable for all ages. This is an attractive art activity to display.

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