Painted Paper Gourd Collages

In The Sights and Sounds of the Seasons we made colorful gourd collages using homemade painted papers.  Children, old and young alike LOVE making painted paper--it's their chance to experiment and explore the endless possibilities of paint application and manipulation.

This was a two day project --one for painting papers and the next for making the collage.

Supplies are minimal and most are paint texturing items:

White suphite paper 12"x18"

Tempera paint in fall colors

Large Brushes

Magic Paint texturizing tools: Paint combs or scrapers,

 sponges, toothbrushes, bubble wrap...anything that will add texture

1. Paints in warm fall colored paints (red, orange, yellow, brown, and green) were set out and children used various items to texture white suphite paper.  Goards, pumpkins, leaves and  Indian corn were displayed so students can observe the textures and colors.

2. We used toothbrushes to splatter, sponges to dab, bubble wrap to print, combs to drag, and even our fingers! Names were put on the papers before painting began. Ensure that students put names on all papers--they can also just be made for sharing with the whole class (some kids do grow attached to their papers though, but will share...some!)

3. In the next class students were inspired by a still life of various gourds, pumpkins, leaves and Indian corn to create a unique collage.  Shapes were cut from the painted papers and sharing of papers was encouraged.  Objects were arranged to overlap each other. These were glued to black paper to make the vibrant colors pop!

 Below are some results.

Adric

Beth

Chloe

Cullen

Eddie

Gaia

Jake

Karlee

Levi

Maddy

Megan

Meredith

Seth

Miss Vanessa

Mixed Media Scarecrows

In Sights and Sounds of the Seasons we created fabulous mixed media scarecrows to celebrate fall harvest. First, we discussed how scarecrows are used to prevent crows and other animals from eating a farmer's crop.  We also talked about how many families make (or buy) scarecrows as decorations during the Autumn season.  This project took two 1 hour classes, but make take longer depending on the student age and size of the watercolor paper.

Supplies include:

11"x 15" watercolor paper

Watercolors-pan or even better... liquid!

Craft Sticks

Patterned Paper and/or leftover painted paper

Construction paper

Raffia

Googly Eyes

Buttons

Sharpies

1: We began this project by using watercolors to paint a farm scene of crop fields and a blue sky.  Each hill was filled with bountiful fruit and vegetable crops. 

2. We also constructed a simple scarecrow "skeleton" using craft sticks and glue, which we would dress the following week. Use two sticks for the head and body, and then add arms and legs.

3. We continued this project the following week by focusing on giving our scarecrows clothing and a personality.  Students cut out pants, shirts, dresses, hats, patches, and faces using their skeleton as a template.  We use construction paper, patterned paper and some leftover painted papers.

4.   After our scarecrows were well dressed, we added googly eyes, raffia, and buttons.  Finally the scarecrows were glued onto their painted backgrounds.  Below are some of the fantastic results.

    Eddie                                        Cullen

     Beth                                               Karlee

                                              Seth

        Aidan                                        Adric

       Gaia                                       Chloe

            Levi                                     Maddie

            Megan                                   Meredith

 Miss Vanessa