Olympic Rings

We talked about the Olympic flag today and then did a simple art project, which I'm sure you've seen many times before and perhaps have done with your child. I put cups upside down in paint.

The kids could make a flag if they wanted to,

or make any kind of design by using the cups as stamps.

We had some very cool and unique designs.

We are having trouble completing our Olympic events because of the heat. I'm trying to squeeze them all in during the morning hours when it's not as hot, but it's a challenge!

Class Olympic Torch

This is just a quick post to show you our Olympic Torch. All week the kids will be "competing" in different events and on Friday everyone will receive a gold medal! By competing, I just mean they will all participate in events and have fun while I take a bunch of pictures. Then I will pick one child to spotlight for each event. I will display the pictures, along with the gold medalists, for all to see. And I wanted a big torch to go with the display. So I used the same idea as our campfires and put orange and yellow paint on plates. The kids dipped their hands in the paint and made a whole bunch of prints.

Then I cut out a base for it and cut some flames into our handprints.

I will be sure to show you when my display is all up and put together!
UPDATE:
Click here to see the display!

Picnic Lunch

OK, I totally stole this idea from Rachel at I Heart Crafty Things. I was really struggling to come up with some fun picnic ideas and her craft saved me! I stretched it out over three days, but you definitely can do it in one. On Monday the kids painted their own picnic blankets. We talked about the difference between painting a picture and painting a design. My example was stripes, so most of the kids made a striped blanket. (I sometimes hate making an example for this very reason. Oh well.)

I cut the construction paper a tiny bit around the edges. I wanted to soften it up a little bit so it would be more like a blanket. On Tuesday we added the finger print ants. So cute! The kids dipped a finger in black paint to make the body.

When it was dry, they used a fine point Sharpie to add legs and antennae.

(Those are my ants up there.)
I had asked the kids to bring in pictures of their favorite picnic foods. Today they were able to glue them on to their blankets.

I also brought in a bunch of clip art for those who forgot to bring pictures.

All those pictures of food really made me hungry!

A few kids seemed afraid to cover up their art work, so all the food went around the border! Haha!

I hung them up with some ants (which you may recognize from my watermelon post).

Hmmm, now I'm hungry again!

Buzzin' Bees

Our theme this week is Picnics. One of the crafts we are doing is taking three days to make, so I will share the finished product tomorrow. But today we learned about a certain picnic pest. Not the harmless ants, but the scarier, more annoying insect. The bumble bee. Now get ready for the cutest little bees you ever did see!

I was looking around the web for a cute bee craft (there are plenty out there!) or some bee template I could use, when it suddenly dawned on me that each child can design his or her own bee! I loved this idea! Not just because there was less work for me to prepare, but each one is unique and absolutely adorable, and the kids got plenty of fine motor practice. To make our bees, we used:

-yellow construction paper

-white construction paper

-black paint

-black pipe cleaners

-wiggle eyes

-markers

-glue and masking tape

I usually have an art center set up at the same time as other centers, and the kids can choose to come to the art table if they wish. But today we all made the bees at the same time. We talked about what shapes bees could be and then the kids drew either a big circle or a big oval on their yellow paper. This would be the bee body. Then they made a smaller circle or oval for the bee head. The kids did their best to cut them out. I did have to help most of them (I have a pretty young group), but I made sure to stay on their pencil lines so the bee would be exactly how they drew it.

They used a glue stick to attach the head to the body. Then they painted black stripes on their bee.

This step probably should have been done last because we had to wait for it to dry before we could do the rest of the bee. So you might want to take that into consideration.

They quickly added some wiggle eyes to the head before I put them up to dry.

Next I handed out a piece of white paper folded in half. On this one the kids could draw another shape for the wings. They only had to draw one because when cut, it would make two.

Some kids made ovals, but a couple made the letter B! Cute!

I cut them out (during nap time) because many kids had trouble with the yellow paper and this one would be twice as thick. I decided to give the kids a break! After nap they glued the wings to the back of their bee, drew on a smile, and I helped them tape on a pipe cleaner stinger and antennae.

The kids could shape the antennae any way they wanted. And the end result was a totally one-of-a-kind bumble bee!

I had to be careful about the antennae because some kids drew their smile on as if the bee was flying down. So the antennae couldn't stick out the bottom, but had to be tucked behind the head.

Tomorrow we are going to try to make a big hive. If we succeed, I will be sure to add to this post. Here are some more cuties:

UPDATE:

I made a big bee hive today. I taped a bunch of brown construction paper together, folded it in half and drew half a bee hive on it. Then I cut it out and opened it up. I used a cup dipped in brown paint to decorate it.

I painted a door on the front, hung it up and added the bees.

I was going to add the words, "Busy as Bees" but I never got around to it.

Fun Fact: Only female bees sting because the stinger is part of their reproductive design.



Patriotic Collages

Today's art project really needs no introduction. Keeping with our Independence Day theme, I went through all my art supplies and got out the red, white and blue ones.

Then I set out red, white and blue paper and some glue bottles. The kids made collages!

I think we'll have to do collages more often. It's easy on me, the kids enjoy it, and it's great fine motor practice!

Another Glittery Firework Display

Last year we made the typical glitter fireworks, using black paper, glue and glitter. I loved it. The kids loved it. But I wanted to try something different this year. It didn't really work like I had hoped, but I'm sharing it anyway. It all started when I saw this wonderful painting made with cut straws over on Putti's World. But instead of using paint, we used glue. I cut the straws at one end into 4 strips. The kids dipped them in glue and dabbed their paper with the straw.

I was hoping it would make little starbursts, but it didn't. The straw strips were too flimsy. But the kids didn't seem to care at all! They just happily poured the glitter on the glue.

We got some pretty art and the kids were very proud about their fireworks, showing anyone who came in the room.

And the kids had a blast making them.

So I guess it really doesn't matter what I think! Although, I do think this next one most closely resembles what I had in mind:

The best part about it was that the straws controlled the amount of glue so we didn't have huge globs that would take days to dry. I was able to send them all home at the end of the day!
(If you want to make some Fourth of July party hats, check out the ones we made last year here!)