Monday, February 13, 2012

Recycled Mixed Media Children's Art


These items were made by layering leftover craft table scraps. With a little guidance, a young child could put together a fun piece of art with odds and ends.

Save those little hole punch circles. They make great eyes, fruit, decorations, etc. in art projects. The scraps used in these projects were tissue paper, ribbon, colored paper, hole punch circles, recycled stickers, newspaper, old doodles and painting projects destined for the recycling bin, and recycled cardboard pieces. I had some metallic paint that I stippled over the heart with a sponge paint brush to give it an edgy look. Generally the shapes of the leftover scraps dictate the direction of the project. It is sort of like looking at clouds, they take on shapes in your imagination. With a little extra shaping with scissors, the pieces are glued onto each other, layer by layer, to create your special one-of-a-kind art.

Basic art supplies we generally have on hand are tempera paints, soft beeswax crayons for heavy coverage of large areas, colored pens and pencils for detail work, glitter and glitter glue, scissors, tape, hole punch, glue, and zig-zag scissors. We get most of our supplies from dollar stores. Ribbon, yarn, string, buttons, and fabric pieces(or any art supplies for that matter) are collected by the bag from thrift stores, who offer these items very inexpensively. Multi-colored construction paper and index cards; and tissue paper are all purchased at the dollar store.

2 comments:

Otter Mom said...

Being crafty, I always have an assortment of stuff around the house. When Otter was younger, we used to have all sorts of fun with art projects. When I was a girl scout leader, we always did crafts and the girls seemed to really enjoy it - I could always tell who didn't get to do that at home and they seemed to be the most eager. Now that Otter's in college, she's still crafty and probably always will be. It's really good to expose children to that sort of them, they learn so much and really enjoy it. And it doesn't have to be expensive!

Alexandra said...

It really doesn't need to be expensive. I have to stay away from places like Michael's if I don't have a good coupon or deal! It's like Disney for crafters. lol. I can't help but notice the huge mark up on items that I can get at the dollar stores.

I bet your scouts had a blast. :)