Sm'Art Moms

Merry Christmas from some of my favorite moms and me!

Now, to plan for next year...

Nutcrackers!

All over the world of Art Teacher blogs I see classes drawing nutcrackers.  I thought drawing and coloring a nutcracker picture would be a very nice last class before Christmas break.  This week we only did half-hour classes to accomodate a gift exchange, pizza instead of our usual sack lunches, and LOTS of playtime.  The day was festive!

I demonstrated nutcracker drawing techniques, using this lesson from Art Projects for Kids.(Kathy has 3 other nutcracker posts showing  nutcrackers colored with oil pastels, watercolors, crayons - all pretty!) We outlined with black Sharpie or black Slick Stix, then colored them with Slick Stix.  Nice results!

Here are some other Nutcracker art lesson links:

Art Project Girl

Georgetown Elementary Art Blog

Kinder Art

Carving forth Christmas Cards

Last week: This will be the last stamp-carving class we do as Sm'Arties.  The children have improved in their dexterity as we worked carving erasers for 3 classes.  Of course, their expectations are higher now.

During this class, I limited them to just carving one stamp, though I had some mercy when a stamp was ruined.  I wanted to focus on making a card, showing them how to layer their stamped piece so it is framed on the card front.  So they would not be too frustrated if a stamp was turning out poorly, I told them they could use any of the stamps for their card.  At first, two or three asked, "So I can use your stamp?"  I said yes, anyone's stamp, and each said, "That's what I am going to do, then.  I want to use your stamp."  But when the time came, each Sm'Artie used his/her own stamp. They had so much creativity and heart invested in their work!

Science Geek discovered these little Christmas erasers at Dollar Tree - cute!  We tried carving around some of the shapes. The Christmas trees worked best.

Earlier, just to see how it would work, I carved 2 Santas - one as a positive image, and one as a negative image.  The Santas did not work very well. They looked like scary mountain men, some with blue goggles.

One of my stamp pads has green and red halves.  Once this discovery was made, some bisected red and green snowmen made their appearance.

Look how this tree looks like it is set against a winter night.

Love the simple star.

And "Peace on Earth."

Science Geek got in on the carving, too.

I showed the children how to layer the stamped image with pretty scrapbook or colored cardstock and adhere it to the front of a card.  In one sample, I used a little foil mini-cupcake holder.  I brought some pretty paper and Science Gook contributed a few pieces from her stash.

The children were delighted to see how the framing set off the stamped pictures.

Here's What's Cookin'!

Mini-Co-op Christmas Party!

We had a short IEW lesson. I continue to be impressed with the IEW curriculum, and with Keisuzi's gentle teaching style.   (If we finish our 3 paragraphs this week, Earthgirl and I will be done with IEW until January.)

Science Geek and the children did a yeast experiment.  She said it would make a good Science Fair demonstration.  Hmmm-we might just do that. 

 Then it was time for Culinary Art, and some hands-on yeast fun!

We made pizza dough using my favorite Easiest Ever Pizza Dough.  I have put this dough together using every combination of whole wheat, half-whole wheat (I cannot figure out how to say that quickly, half whole-wheat and half regular, that is to say not whole-wheat), 7-grain, toss in oatmeal, all-white, bread flour - whatever I throw at it always seems to work.   It makes up a fluffy, thick crust.  I usually add a teaspoon or 2 of vital wheat gluten, otherwise, I just go with it.  It's great just made up as cheesy bread, with extra garlic and Italian seasoning added in or sprinkled on top. 

I have made pizza with 2 or 3 children at a time, but this was 7 children, and a lot of flour, so we worked in batches of 3-4 children at a time. Of course, when I dipped out a little pile of flour for each, they immediately started playing in it, drawing pictures.  But no flour fights broke out.  Yay!  Every child got to either measure or stir.  Then they had 30 minutes to watch a movie or play while the dough rose.  We taped the Pixar Shorts when they were broadcast on ABC Family a few days ago - perfect!  Whatever show is on, it will be over in just a minute, so we can call the children back when we need them.

I cut off a little section for each to knead.   They loved kneading the dough.  I had to stop them - "Yours is OK.  You're done.  No more kneading.  I SAID NO MORE KNEADING."

Next they rolled out their own pizzas.  Rolling takes more finesse than I had known before.  Maybe that explains why I don't do well at cookie cutter cookies.  No finesse.

I just realized that in all these pictures nobody is smiling.  We were serious about our food!  In spite of appearances, we laughed often.

(Back when I was single, about 27 years ago, I picked up that brown Rubbermaid mixing bowl at K-Mart so I could make brownies.  It is still my go-to bowl. Pretty good investment, huh?)

I mixed up a batch of white pizza for our moms' pie (doesn't it sound Chicago-ish when I call it a pie?  "Dear, whatdya want on your pie?")  I use this recipe - thanks Crispy! Of course, I don't measure; I just toss it together, and having no fresh basil and not wanting to bother with fresh garlic, I sprinkled in Italian seasoning, and garlic salt.  A couple of children who prefer cheese to sauce got a white pizza, too.  Earthgirl's was white, lots of cheese, with one single pepperoni.

Not having 7 little pizza pans, I lined up the little pies on 2 big baking sheets and one cookie sheet. This, of course, meant baking in  2 batches, too.    We moms got a round pizza. 

One might think that cookie-decorating would be Art, but Monday, cookie-decorating was P.E.! 

 

Peg premade the cookies, mixed up some confectionary sugar icing, and let the children loose with the sprinkles!  (I'm still sweeping up sprinkles.  Of course, part of that is a result of Daddy dropping a sprinkle-laden cookie upside down.)

 

Finger-lickin' good!

We will be on break for a few weeks, but I look forward to occasional posts when something is too good not to share.