Zany Scientist Week! A Combination of Art AND Science Class!

 Well, hello, y'all! I had so much fun creating robots with you during Robot Week (all videos from last week are now up and able for you to view on my YouTube channel!) that I'm excited to share the theme for this week: Zany Scientists!

If you notice, I even decided to step it up a notch by combining art AND science. That's right, every day, I'll go LIVE on my Facebook and my Instagram and share with you both an art project and a science experiment! Because I know we are all trying to conserve the materials we have, you can either join in on the experiment or simply watch. Because the videos will be archived on my YouTube channel, you can always travel back in time and rewatch the fun. 

 Again, I'm using simple supplies that I hope you can find around the home. But, if not, know that you can swap out supplies with whatever you have on hand. No paper? How about newspaper or old magazines? No glue? What about a glue stick? Art making is all about thinking outside the box which is exactly what we'll be doing this week!

 Because some of our experiments are a little messy, look around your house for a cookie sheet or some sort of tray with a lip to it. This will help to contain any mess you make. Also, consider doing this portion of the art making outside! It's good to get a little fresh air and keep them mess at bay.

 The best part about creating is having fun. All of these projects were created with fun in mind. Don't worry about being perfect because there is no such thing! Just focus on the fun, y'all!

 We'll end our week with some clay that you can use over and again! This should keep you busy and creating until next the following week. 

Mark your calendars, y'all! And I hope to see you there. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this FREE coloring sheet! 

Toilet Paper Tube Crafts!

Today I thought I'd share some of my favorite lessons and projects created with the lowly toilet paper tube! I'll share the link to each of these projects so you can learn more details so be sure and click if you have more questions. If it's one thing we all probably have plenty of right now...it's TP tubes! 

I did this project with my...FIRST GRADERS, y'all! And they knocked it out in just two thirty minute art classes. Here's the video:

I'm guessing most of you don't have plaster strips at home. I know I don't! An easy papier mache recipe would be just a mixture of flour and water. Dip strips of torn newspaper into the mixture and use that as your plaster. The mixture should have a paste-like consistency. No measurements required!

Did you know you can make a castle with toilet paper tubes? My fourth graders created these beauties one year and loved it! All the lesson details here. 

What the world needs now is LOVE LOVE LOVE! You can create all kinds of prints with a toilet paper tube but printing hearts is probably my favorite. You can learn more about it here as well as some fun guided drawing projects! 

Got paper towel tubes? Well, you can make crayons too! Here's how the armature was created:

And if you have cereal boxes, you could even make some decor for your art room!

I have these hanging in my art room and my kids love them. I added a little spot of velcro to the backs of the crayons so they could be removed and shared with my students.

Last year we had an INSANE Pirate Art Show (like, it was the coolest thing ever, I'm not even gonna try to be humble about it. The kids ROCKED it). One of the projects we did was make pirate ships with toilet paper tube sails. Kids could create the ships with air dry, homemade or even modeling clay! A straw and tubes were added for the sails. Here's more of our art show. 

Want a seriously simple TP craft? Well, check this one out:

I also did this project with my students and it was a hit! Here's the demo video:

And here's what my students created:

 This was apart of a collection of handmade art supplies from our art show a couple of years ago. Here's a tour:

We even made "glue sticks" from toilet paper tubes! 

I hope that gives you some fun ideas for creating with TP tubes! Have fun, y'all!

Robot Week: Let's Make Collagraph Robots and Pull Prints!

Hi, friends! In this blog post, I'll be sharing two projects from Robot Week because one leads right into the other! On Wednesday, we used cereal boxes, scissors and glue to create a collagraph that we used to create a rubbing. In case you don't know what a collagraph is or how to make one, you should pull up a chair, grab your supplies and join me here: 

Yesterday we did something super cool with our collagraphs and that was print with them! It was pure magic and so fun to do it live on Facebook and Instagram just to hear everyone's reaction! 

I hope you'll join us today! Here's what you'll need:

See you real soon!

Robot Week! Let's Draw 3-D Robots!

Robot Week continues! In case you missed out on our LIVE art class (which happens every weekday at 11am CT right here and here), all robot videos are archived on my YouTube channel! You should totally subscribe because new videos drop at random times because yours truly is mighty random. Here's our video from Tuesday: Drawing 3-D Robots!

I hope you enjoy! Today's robot supplies are listed right below. I hope to see you real soon.

For Monday's video, be sure and check out this post. And for how to draw sheets, coloring sheets, writing prompts and more, go here! 

Top 8 Tips to Surviving and Thriving Home-Based Art Teacherin'

Since the end of last week, I've gotten a lot of questions from some confused and scared teachers: How do I record lessons? How do I upload projects? What resources are there for this type of situation?

Trust me, I get it. But, first, just breathe. And know that this will pass. Until then, I put together a podcast episode that I hope answers your questions. 

Thanks, y'all!