Art Project: Sewn Collages with Felt and Burlap

Over the last 5 years of doing after-school clubs, I have become better at recycling (or "upcycling") art supplies to reuse in new projects. When planning the Easter Club this year, I looked around at what I had and saw that we still had tons of burlap left over from our wool pictures that we have used in several clubs and children's church. And as you can imagine, being a Godly Play teacher, I have lots of felt scraps lying around as well. So, inspired by an idea that I saw in an art book where the children sewed pictures onto cloth, I came up with this idea for sewn collages. 

In setting up this corner of our Godly Play room, I tried to visually explain the process to the children with the examples below, so that they could figure out what to do without asking. This was, of course, motivated by the Montessori principle, "help me to help myself". I then threaded several needles with embroidery thread and had them in a pin cushion with a needle threader beside it. 

Here are the visual examples of the process for the children to follow:
1) pinning the cut-out felt pieces onto the burlap
2) sewing the felt pieces onto the the cloth

I also made my example as simple as possible, because I have learned that if I make a full picture, some children often simply copy my work rather than coming up with their own ideas. 

The children needed about two sessions to complete their work. These were 1-5 graders, who worked independently for the most part. Preschoolers would probably needed more time and slightly more assistance. 

Here are a couple of examples of the children's work:

In general, I have found that both girls and boys in the elementary years love to sew. Obviously, sewing is good for their fine motor skills, and there is something very satisfying about the end result. 

Art Project: Peace Tree

Here is a step-by-step look at the Peace Tree project from our after-club club, "Me + You = We?", that focused on tolerance and peace-making from a biblical perspective. Hands and trees (specifically planting trees) have been symbols of peace for generations, so I chose to combine them in this project. Also, I love the suggestion that peace grows organically. 

This is also great project if you have limited time. Or if you want something that is less messy, since the watercolor pencils give the effect of paint without actually having liquid paints.

For this project you"ll need:

- large, thick white paper
- colored construction or collage papers
- hand patterns (Mine are made out of foam rubber.)
- watercolor pencils (I used Stabilo Woodies.)
- regular pencils
- paint brushes 
- water
- scissors
- glue

Step 1: Draw a tree with the watercolor pencils.

Step 2: "Paint" the lines of the watercolor pencils with brushes and clear water. This produces a light, airy effect.

Step 3: Trace and cut out hands in different colors using the collage papers.

Step 4: Glue the hands / collage pieces onto the tree. 

When making my example above, I purposely drew a very simple tree, so that the children would use their own ideas rather than simply copying mine.

Here are some of the results of the student work:

The two children who worked on this picture together drew symbols of the Trinity onto their tree.

Reader Art Project: Holy Trinity

It is a beautiful thing to me when someone is able to use one of my art projects as a tool for reflection and worship. One of my most frequently read posts is an art project based on Andrei Rublev's icon, "The Holy Trinity", in which artists of all ages are challenged to imagine and reflect upon the nature of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

Recently Katie Munnik of the Presbyterian Record and the author of a blog called "The Messy Table" contacted me to let me know that her church in Scotland had found this project to be both meaningful and fun during Lent.

Katie writes, "We were also thinking about Christ and the questioning call in Matthew 16: 'Who do you say the Son of Man is?' We used an idea from Explore and Express, using Rublev's icon of the Holy Trinity, and wondering together about why we talk about God as three and as one. It is a complicated and simple idea - that we know God differently, but that God is one."

You can read the rest of Katie's lovely article about their Lenten Art and Talk workshops here.

Interspersed in this post are the results of the wondering from both child and adult artists. Thank you, Katie, for sharing!

Nature Nativity

This is another lovely project that I learned from Birgit, the Waldorf educator at our kindergarten: a nativity scene made with nature materials.

To begin you need the following materials: assorted treasures from your nearest park or forest (moss, sticks, chestnuts, rocks, tree bark, acorns, pine cones, fir tree branch, etc.); walnut shell halves, air-drying clay or plasticine, glue, terra cotta  saucer for a flowerpot, a small piece of material, a small piece of cotton, gold paper, and a candle.

Next, place the moss in the flowerpot saucer.

To make baby Jesus, wrap a tiny piece of cotton inside a small square of material. Then, tuck it inside a walnut shell half.  (Mine stayed in place without any glue.) Then, make a small head out of clay for baby Jesus.

To make a small stable, I used clay and glue to attach sticks to a piece of tree bark. Then, add other elements using the nature materials you have on hand, such as a pine cone or fir tree branch as  a tree. You can also cut a golden star out of paper to hang either on the tree or attach it to another stick.  To top it off, add a small candle.

Three and four year-olds generally need a lot of help from an adult to do this project, but older preschoolers and elementary age children can do it most of it by themselves. Such a simple, yet enchanting project!

I can't wait to see what the kids in the Advent Club do with this project!








Linked to Monday Madness at Let Kids Create and Art 4 Little Hands

The Magic Onions

Crafty Moms Share

Frontier Dreams


Raising Memories

Jago inspired Art Project for Ascension

Jago is a respected artist and illustrator of children's books.  Our family has particularly enjoyed his work in The Jesus Storybook Bible, and it inspired my latest art project below for Ascension.  This whimsical aerial view painting depicts the 11 disciples staring up into the clouds after Jesus has returned to the Father and the two angels who respond their bewilderment. 

 

Step 1:   Using watercolors or thinned tempera paint, make a grassy background. Ascension actually took place on the Mount of Olives, so the kids can use their imaginations and paint flowers or whatever they think should be on a mountain.  I painted the background here green with yellow streaks.

 

Step 2: Paint eleven dots in different colors to represent the disciples' heads. This is a great counting exercise for younger children as well.

 

Step 3: While the dots are drying, paint white clouds using a thicker acrylic or tempera paint.  I used what Germans call "Deckfarbe", which is a type of tempera paint. The clouds do not have to be opaque. Leaving them a bit transparent gives an airy feel to the painting.

Step 4: Next add the angels.  Paint a dot for the faces and just a hint of wings.

Step 5:  Once the paint is dry, use a black felt tipped pen or a gel pen to draw faces on the the disciples and the angels. This is also a way for the children to explore and process what the disciples might have been thinking as Jesus was taken up into the clouds.  Were they surprised, sad, angry, happy, shocked, etc.?  Older children can draw the bodies as well, but younger children are fine just to draw the faces.

 

If anyone tries this project with their children, please send me pictures. I'd love to see your results!

Linked up to Art for Little Hands

Art Materials - Where do I start?

If you want to provide your child with basic art supplies, where do you start? Likewise, if you are seeking to incorporate art into your children's ministry, you may also be wondering what to provide.  Here are a few suggestions that I hope will be helpful.

1) Less is more.  Children as well as adults are overwhelmed by too many choices. Limiting our choices actually allows for more creativity. Begin with a few basic mediums and use those supplies before you buy new ones.  At home, you might begin with acrylic paint, oil pastels, and colored pencils.  In a children's church setting, consider choosing 1-2 mediums in each of these areas:  drawing, painting, collage and clay.  

2) Buy quality materials. It is worth it to spend more money on a few items. Cheap crayons and colored pencils cause little hands to be cramped and take the joy out of art.  The materials that your child uses should easily make vibrant marks on the page, be it paint, magic markers, or oil pastels.  Playdough, for example, can be a great medium for the clay area, but be sure to buy a good brand or a homemade version from a Waldorf or Etsy shop and not the cheap stuff that dries out quickly, is not pleasing to the hands, and possibly toxic. 

3) Use appropriate paper.  Especially when painting, the paper should be between 170 and 190 g/m2.  Painting on paper that is too thin produces paintings that curl up too much or rip from the amount of liquid it is absorbing.  When using chalk or oil pastels, however, one can be more creative and a paper bag, for example, makes a marvelous ground for a picture. 

4) Have the materials stored where the children can get to them.  This empowers the children and saves the parents / teachers lots of headaches.  Also, in a children's church setting, the art center should be in a place where the floor can get a bit dirty.  It is also wise to think through how the children will get the water for the paint and how they will clean their brushes afterwards.

5) Try the materials out yourself.  This way you know a little more about what your child is experiencing and if the product is easy and pleasurable to use. If you are buying for children's church, ask an artist for advice.  Once I was in a church setting where there was a desire to encourage the arts,  but the people buying the materials and setting up the workspace were not artists themselves.  The result was that in the art corner, there were no drawing boards to draw on (we were sitting on the floor) and there were no sharpeners for the colored pencils. There were paints, but no water to mix them with.  I ended up thoroughly frustrated, despite good intentions. It takes more than a variety of mediums to make an art area usable. 

Godly Play: The Mystery of Easter

I had the pleasure of telling this story twice this week: once to the adults at our prayer time and once at our Familienbrunch (Family Brunch) with the children and their parents. Though it may seem like we are getting ahead of ourselves with Lent, we are discussing it early since most of the meetings in our church plant are bi-weekly and we won't meet again until after Ash Wednesday. And once again, Godly Play proved to be just as thought-provoking for the adults as for the children. 

The beautiful story emphasizes the need to prepare for the joy of Easter by taking the time to ponder our own shortcomings and the price that Jesus paid to reconcile us to the Father.  It acknowledges the difficult questions surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus.  It also speaks of the sustaining joy that can come from experiencing a period of mourning followed by a period of great happiness.  This contrast is part of the ebb and flow of walking with God, and understanding this is crucial to our spiritual journey in this life. My favorite part of the story is when I turn the purple bag containing the puzzle pieces inside out to reveal a pure white lining.  Jesus changes us from the inside out.  

Below the children are putting the puzzle pieces together to reveal a purple cross. Interestingly enough, they put it together facing me instead of themselves, so I had to turn it around.  Also, I had to laugh when one of the parents mentioned that the center piece looks like a bat, which, of course, it does!

For the creative phase this week, I chose to have the children do a directed project.  We made the prayer pots from my previous post on Lent with a few minor adjustments. This art project is great way for families to pray together during Lent and help children with ideas of what to pray for. We used natural clay that is already prepared.  (Regular clay is difficult in my setting, because of the time factor required to soften it, and little hands get very frustrated if it is too hard.) Taking a cue from the Naturkinder, I collected wood from trimmed hedges in a park to use as decorations for the pots.  I also added wooden beads, but in retrospect, this was not a good idea.  If I hadn't used the beads, the children would have been keen to use more of the wood. 

Wood, beads and clay.

Below are the objects I used for our prayer pots:

 - a red heart to remind us of God's love for us

 - a bean to remind us that we grow in our relationship to Him

 - an almond to remind us that God is patient with us and that we should be patient with others.

 - a piece of bread to remind us to share with others

 - a band-aid to remind us to help those who are sad or hurt

 - a piece of purple felt to remind us that Jesus is our king

 - a stone to remind us of the empty tomb and that Jesus is with us

I changed some of the objects from the original idea for both aesthetic and linguistic reasons.  I prefer to use natural or organic objects whenever possible.  Also, the idea of using a rubber band to remind us that God stretches his patience with us doesn't work in German, because patience can't be stretched.: )  

 

At the end, the children packed their objects and the instructions in a small bag.  If anyone is interested in  my German translation of the instructions (what to place in the pot on each Sunday of Lent and what to pray), please e-mail me and I will be happy to share.

Making the pots:

 

Some of the finished projects:

Have a great week!

Follow me!

After battling the flu and bronchitis for several weeks, I was very glad to be at Familienbrunch (Family Brunch) with the children from our church-planting project.  We are following the church calendar and have now entered into a series on the life of Jesus.  This week we heard the story called “Follow Me!” where Jesus ministers to people along the Sea of Galilee and calls his first disciples.  We are using material from Sonja Stewart’s Following Jesus book that draws from Godly Play and the work of Jerome Berryman.  (Unfortunately, neither of Dr. Stewart’s books have been translated into German, so I have to do my own translations.  If any of my German readers are interested in having access to my translations, just write me an e-mail and I’m happy to share.)

Here are some pictures of the materials that I used.  The figures are from Worship Woodworks in the States and from the Diakonie Leipzig that makes Godly Play materials in Germany.  The beautiful boot was made by one of my daughter’s teachers in the Nature Kindergarten that she attends.

“Follow Me!” is told in a lovely way that keeps the children’s attention and introduces them to the mystery of God.  The entire story is told without mentioning Jesus’ name – only the things he does and how he interacts with the people.  Then during the “Ergründungsgespräch” (“Wondering Phase”),  the storyteller asks the question, “I wonder if this man has a name?”  Of course, most of the children know already, but it is still a beautiful moment of revelation.  At the end of the story, I taught the children the song, “Jesus kann alles”, by Daniel Kallauch, which marvelously reiterates what was in the story.

Each week we have a time of prayer after hearing the story. Each child has the opportunity to pray, but does not have to.  I pass around a seashell or some other object from nature, and the child holds it while praying. Then it is passed to the next person when he is finished. Likewise, if the child does not want to pray, he passes it along, so that the next person knows it is their turn.  Since our story had to do with the sea, we passed around a shark’s tooth today that I found at a flea market.  (I love connecting children to nature, so I take every chance I get!)  I was encouraged this week, because a child, who for a long time was quite bothered by other people praying, chose himself to pray a very short, but sincere prayer.  I truly love observing the journey of children forming a relationship with God!

 

The lovely shark's tooth from Morocco via a flea market in Berlin.

 For the creative phase I offered the children acrylic paints.  This week I did not have a specific project, because I try to find a balance between the projects and allowing the children to freely process what is going on in their hearts and minds.  I do, however, tend to stick with one medium for several weeks, so that the children really get to know what they can do with that particular medium.  
 

An almost 4-year-old working with lots of color.: )

A 6-year-old thoughtfully planning his work.

Here are some of the children's responses:

This child painted a family of squirrels that after seeing them in the park frequently on his way to school.

This child painted dinosaurs after having thanked God for making them during the prayer time.

The almost 4-year-old told me that this was the desert.  She has drawn many desert paintings and I  think she is still thinking about the Old Testament stories that take place in the desert.  

Of course, playing with the story is always an option, which these two children chose.  The disciples are now sleeping, and the fish nets have become blankets for the baby sleeping peacefully in the boat.

I wish you a wonderful week!