True Colors are Shining Through

On this day we used old Crayons to make new art! We took some crayon nubbins and used a pencil sharpener to create colorful wax shavings, then sprinkled the shavings between two pieces of wax paper. Educator Jen used an iron to melt it all together and we ended up with some truly beautiful color melts. Once the wax paper had cooled off we trimmed them into shapes - winding up with some very unique ornaments and suncatchers!

A few days later we decided to try pendulum painting - a technique that allows paint to flow freely from a suspended container that swings above canvas or paper. We took this idea outside to paint in the snow, and used the soccer goal posts to hang our paint from. First we tried paper cone cups and discovered that not only did the paint not flow freely from the cups, but they didn't quite swing as smoothly as a pendulum should.

Educator Shirley-Ann suggested it's because the goal posts are square shaped and not round, and off she went into the forest to find a good tree branch we can hang our paint from. While she was gone we tried different ways to suspend condiment containers full of paint, hoping they'd flow better than the flimsy paper cups. It was a real challenge to figure out how to tie our yarn around those smooth, round bottles!

When the condiment containers didn't work, we used juice bottles and poked holes in the lid before tying them up. This also proved to be unsuccessful - which was ok because that just meant we could squirt out the paint by hand and make designs, which everyone loves to do anyways!

A few days later, Educator Jasbir introduced an interesting art activity called Magic Letters. She showed the kids how to write and draw invisibly with white crayons before lightly painting overtop to reveal their creations! Another fun, interesting art activity that we can't wait to try again!