Kitah Bet's Painting Exploration in the Atelier

Last year in Kitah Aleph, the thread of interest was mark-making. This year the children's interest in painting has blossomed. They have been exploring various types of painting in the atelier.

Their first experience was with watercolor sticks and pencils. 

The dipped each of the mediums in water and drew on their rectangles of water color paper.

Next for Simchat Torah, the children painted fabric using dotters. Once finished painting, they sprayed their painted fabric with water to make the colors bleed. This fabric was then adhered to a stick using hot glue.

For Sukkot, The children made decorations by painted pieces of wood with paint markers. They hung the wood using wire strung with fabric and beads.

For Chanukah, the children made a splatter painted menorah. They drizzled bright colored paint all over their tile. 

Then glued flat-backed marbles in the same colors down the sides of the tile.

We made shaken paintings next! First the children drizzled paint over water color paper.

Next, they closed the box and shook it to move the paint around the paper.

The children made some more movement based art. They ping-pong painted. The children squirted paint onto their paper, in a large container, then tipped the container back and forth to make marks on their paper using ping pong balls.

The children collected sticks next and painted them to add to our art garden out in front of the school.

Following this, we painted a canvas then dried it using a hair dryer.

The children are continuing their work on the canvas. Last week the added another layer to it using sticks to paint another layer.
 

Kitah Aleph in the Atelier

Kitah Aleph has been exploring various types of mark-making and movement. Each experience introduces them to new mediums as well as new tools. These activities also strengthen fine and gross motor skills, dexterity, and muscle development. 

Our first art exploration was pom-pom painting. The children dipped pom-poms in different colors of paint using various pincer tools such as tweezers, clothes pins, and tongs to strengthen their hand muscles.

The children colored wooden shapes with markers and strung ribbons through them. These became Sukkah decorations!

The children painted fabric using watercolors and pipettes. We cut the fabric into squares and adhered it to sticks using hot glue.

Next the children explored clay and dried flowers. 

They hammered and rolled out the clay to use as a canvas, then arranged the petals and leaves in a design on top. 

For Chanukah, the children painted a long, thin rectangular tile with pastel shades of purple, blue, and grey paint.

The children topped their tile with shell paper glitter and sea glass in similar shades.

Next, the children combined movement and art with ping-pong painting. They squirted paint onto paper, then threw the balls and/or tilted the bin from side to side.

The children did full-body drawing with thick crayons on roll paper which was taped on the floor of the art room. They laid on their backs and stomachs and drew using large gestures/movements.

Next class, the children ripped up their murals into small scraps, then glued those scraps onto a canvas.

The following class, they toped the collage with glitter glue! We plan to continue adding layers of different mediums to this piece.

 

Collaging with Kitah Alef

 Collaging

The children used glue sticks to adhere scraps of metallic papers onto card stock.

The children continued the thread of mark-making from the school year.

They painted the paper using paint dotters and paint sticks.

The children seemed to enjoy the various textures and colors presented.

The mark making was varied. 

Some children made short, staccato dots, others painted lines, swooshes, and chunky shapes on their paper.

Stamping

This week the children were presented with recycled materials and paint.

The children stamped materials of a variety of textures such as lids, mesh, and plastic tubes into tempera paint.

They used paint in shades of red, pink, yellow, and blue.

The impressions intermingled on their paper.

Brightly colored rings linked together.

The children seemed to enjoy discovering what mark each object would leave on their paper.

Summer Sensory Art in Kitah Gimmel

Snowy Treasure Hunt

We have been exploring more messy, sensory experiences this summer in Kitah Gimmel. For the first project, the children made fake snow!

First, children dumped Baking Soda into a sensory table.

We did this outside since it was so messy.

Next, children took sticks, a spatula, and an egg beater to break up the clumps.

The children squeezed Hair Conditioner into the Baking Soda.

The children the two ingredients together to combine them.

The children added iridescent glitter to the mixture for added effect and texture. The glitter added a magical quality.

The children squeezed the mixture together. It felt slightly wet and soft. It smelled slightly floral and pleasant.

Morah Jessica had the children step away for a few minutes as she hid resin gems (hand made by Extended Day children) under the snow.

The children were given tongs and a couple plastic containers to hunt for the treasure.

Shaving Cream Treasure Hunt

Kitah Gimmel continued sensory play with a shaving cream treasure hunt. Morah Chaya's daughter, Basha kindly helped set up this experience for the class.

She covered the gems with shaving cream and topped it with glitter, for that magical touch.

The children flocked to the sensory bin. 

The children took turns digging into the fluffy, fragrant clouds of shaving cream.

Some children used tongs, others used their hands to find gems.

The children began scooping out the shaving cream and spreading it onto the plexiglass windows.

The children really enjoyed this experience.

We will continue this sensory thread. Next week, ice cubes!