February Vacation is (Believe it or Not) Right Around the Corner!

ARTS After School at the Children's Art Centre

 

Drop off your K1-1st Grader to explore the world of art while participating in a variety of engaging visual arts, creative movement, and dramatic play activities designed to supplement classroom learning. Built around the idea of storytelling as a powerful and engaging means of enhancing literacy and language development in young children, participants will have the opportunity to build their own narratives, collaborate with their peers, read stories in a new way, and travel to distant lands. Children will be encouraged to build their self-confidence, collaboration, and conflict resolution skills in a supportive and encouraging environment. Each session will conclude with a field trip, art gallery exhibition, and personal portfolio full of original artwork.  

Click here for more information and to register.

The Wonderful World of Animals // November 26, 28, December 3, 5, 10, 12, 17, 19 // 3:30-6pm // $320

Pack your Paintbrush! Art Around the World // Jan 7, 9, 14, 16, 23, 28, 30, Feb. 4, 6 // 3:30-6pm // $360   

Studio Arts at Home: Stencil Painting

Overview

Stencil paintings help children to understand concepts of positive and negative space. Using leaves of different trees, children will create both positive and negative shape stencils and experiment with using rollers, paint brushes, and printing ink or paint to create their images.

Materials

• 9"x12" construction paper

  

• 5"x 8" cardstock
• Leaves to trace
• Pencils
• Scissors
• Printmaking ink (2 colors) OR washable paint
• Rollers OR large paint brushes
• Flat surface for rolling out paint
• Tape
• Sponges

Creating 

• Children should receive 1 piece of cardstock and select a leaf to trace. Once the leaf is traced, students should carefully snip into it and cut their designs out, keeping the positive shape that they remove. 
• Children should receive a piece of construction paper and should print their positive shape and negative shape side by side by rolling or painting around the stencils. 
• Create a work station with a few stencils and a few colors of tempera paint with sponges in them. Dipping the sponges in paint then squeezing them out, children should first make one positive and one negative print of their stencil. Share these. 
• Encourage children to observe the different stencils and imagine how they could combine them. 
• Create a composition using different stencils, layering and overlapping the positive and negative shapes.

Responding

Responding is a great way for children to think critically about their work. Guide the discussion with some of the following questions (included are options for a variety of ages):

• Is your leaf symmetrical or asymmetrical?
• What do the shapes make you think of?
• If you had a chance to make a composition with multiple stencils, are you satisfied with how it came out?
• Where is the focal point? 
• What do you like about it? 
• What would you do differently next time? 
• Do you see any patterns? 
• What was difficult for you about this project? How did you overcome that difficulty?