From Magazines to Art? You Betcha’!
March 9, 2009 by Darcy
If your house is like mine, you have several magazines, catalogues or mailers lying around. You are also feeling a little guilty about how little art instruction your 7 year old has.
Here is a solution to deal with both.
1. Rip out a few options from which your child can choose a picture he wants to draw, that are within his abilities or interests.
2. Fold the image in half. Cut at the crease. Trim around the edges. Discard the other half.
3. Glue or tape the half-image to a piece of blank paper, leaving room for the other half to be added. Allow the glue to dry.
4. Using colored pencils, crayons, watercolors, paints – whichever medium your child enjoys (and you don’t mind cleaning up!) – ask your child to finish the picture.
5. Mount finished work on construction paper, or color a border. Viola’! You’ve nailed at least one of the “reduce, reuse, recycle” R’s and your 7 year old can check off art.
Darcy is the mom to three boys ages 8, 7, and 5 and blogs over at Life with My 3 Boybarians. She is the owner of a blog design business at www.graphicallydesigning.com. She and Handy Man live in Iowa…nowhere near a Starbucks.
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Marsha on Tue, 10th Mar 2009 1:52 am
That is such a completely clever idea, Darcy!!! I will definitely have to try this with my boys.
Marsha’s last blog post..Drawing the line at cow tongue
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Tammy ~@~ on Tue, 10th Mar 2009 8:44 am
This is such a neat idea, Darcy, and perfect for this season of being stuck in the house and needing something new to do!
Blessings,
Tammy ~@~
Tammy ~@~’s last blog post..a morning routine
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Ruthanne on Tue, 10th Mar 2009 12:29 pm
Cute idea! I need to file this one away for future use.
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Lisa V. on Tue, 10th Mar 2009 11:34 pm
Cute idea, and an easy way to add art to your day.
Lisa V.’s last blog post..Word-filled Wednesday – Watchman Nee
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suzanne on Thu, 12th Mar 2009 12:04 pm
we’ll be trying this one – my kids will love it!
suzanne’s last blog post..Child Of Mine…
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Beth on Wed, 18th Mar 2009 8:11 am
Heading for the scissors! Loved this idea! Thanks
Beth’s last blog post..A Woman Inspired ~ Giveaway
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Cheryl on Thu, 19th Mar 2009 8:39 am
Thanks for another ingenious way to use the assortment of magazines that fly through our home.
About a month ago, we received a clothing catalog in the mail. Flipping through I realized that all the clothes were displayed in groups, sometimes 3, sometimes 5, sometimes 10. Upon further exploration I noticed all the numbers were represented more than once.
I grabbed 12 sheets of red construction paper and wrote a number, 1-12, on the top of each. Together my preschooler and I thumbed through the magazine looking for groups to cut out and paste on the appropriate pages. In the end, we had made our own counting book.
The Kindergartener entered the room in awe of our creation and of course wanted to make a book too. So, I grabbed more construction paper, cut them in half, and wrote an addition equation at the top of each half page. My daughter found groups of objects to fit each equation. For example, 2+5=7 became two boots + five boots = seven total boots. She too, was the proud owner of a book she created.
Though I get tired of the unsolicited mags, we have made getting them fun!
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Tavianna on Fri, 20th Mar 2009 1:14 am
We did it! This was a great project for one of our nice days this spring break. Thanks for the idea. My kids loved it!
Tavianna’s last blog post..magazine art
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Muses of Megret » Completion art on Thu, 16th Apr 2009 1:33 pm
[...] while back, I bookmarked a neat idea I saw on Heart of the Matter: Using magazine clippings as art starters. One afternoon this week, I had a stack of 1/2 sheets with pasted magazine pictures on them, [...]