Toddler Tuesday 8/27

ChalkFest began this morning and has so far been super exciting. The Marietta Square is packed! More information about it will be posted soon. But we had an exciting Toddler Tuesday this week. Many children practiced wire art for the first time. A lot of fun was had by all! We started off by reading Sandy's Circus by Tanya Lee Stone in the gallery downstairs and then the instructor had the children imitate wire art by Alexander Calder. We used a lot of different mediums that one does not typically recognize as an art technique, such as using stones and buttons to complete a wire sculpture. There were also a few parents and children who joined us for the first time and had a lot of fun. Hope to see you guys next time!

Toddler Tuesday 8/6/2013

We had a fantastic and creative Toddler Tuesday yesterday, on August 6th. There were quite a few young artists with us from all over the area! We introduced them to Jackson Pollock, a popular splatter paint artist from the 20th century. The afternoon started off with reading Action Jackson, a fun book detailing his life.

The reading was followed up with the children trying splatter paint out for themselves! They got the hang of it quite fast and had a lot of fun. One young artist had such a blast that she didn't want to leave. It is always amazing to find young people so passionate about art.

Sensorial Program and Toddler Tuesday!

Tuesdays are made for toddlers at MCMA!

Today was jam-packed with educational art making in our new Sensorial Program for Children and Toddler Tuesday! Here's what we did...

In our Sensorial Program for Children, we made Discovery Bottles!

image via Sense of Wonder

These fun bottles help children build vocabulary and teach about discovery, observation, and predictability, all while sharpening dexterity and allowing children to feel pride in their work.
Parents got to take home a sheet that explains how to recreate the lesson at home, as well as a whole list of ideas of objects to use in their bottles. Even better, we used birdseed as filler so that, when children are done with this toy, you can reuse the contents to feed animals!

Our Sensorial Program for Children is one day a month, beginning at 10 am and going until 10:45 am. If you decide to stay for Toddler Tuesday (which begins at 11), there are 15 minutes for you to browse the art galleries with your child. This provides a break for your child and helps enhance learning in later lessons.



Toddler Tuesday was a lot of fun today as we continued our bird theme and read two books. The first was Birdsong by Ellie Sandall. It was a goofy book about bird calls, the children enjoyed the funny sounds. The second book was Basil's Birds by Lynn Rowe Read, which was even more of a hit! This silly story was about a man who had a bird's nest on his head, the children giggled a lot.

 

After reading, we went down to the MCMA art studios to create... you guessed it! Birds!

image via Treehouse Kid & Craft

This was our sample piece!

Want to make your own bird? Here's how:

You will need...

- Pipe Cleaners

- Sticks

- Construction Paper

- Markers

- Yarn

- A Hot Glue Gun

- Feathers (we used colored acetate)

- Googly Eyes (optional)

Step 1. Cut some construction paper in the shape of a bird.

Step 2. Color that bird using markers. Encourage shapes.

Step 3. Choose a stick, then choose 2 pipe cleaners.

Step 4. Begin twisting the pipe cleaners, then twist it over one end of the stick so it stays in place. Create an arch shape and twist it over the other end of the stick as you get close to the end of the pipe cleaner.

Step 5. Hot glue (adults only!) a feather to the back of the bird. Hot glue a googly eye if you wish.

Step 6. Hot glue the bird to the stick.

Step 7. Add a piece of yarn to the top to make it into an ornament, a popular alternative was to turn it into a necklace with a large piece of yarn!

Step 8. Voila! Enjoy!

We hope to see you at Toddler Tuesday next week!

Toddler Tuesday

Toddler Tuesday this week was a lot of fun!

We read Because a Little Bug Went Ka-Choo by Rosetta Stone.

Afterwards, we went to the MCMA studios to make our own bugs,

as well as homes for those little bugs!

Here's what you need to make your own bugs and bug homes:

- A cork

- A plastic bottle

- Tempera paints

- A stick

- A hot glue gun

- Cardboard square

- Toothpicks (optional)

Step 1. Paint the cork to look like a bug of your choice.

Step 2. Paint the cardboard square (it will be the base of your bug home)

Step 3. Push toothpicks into your corn to make legs or antennae

Step 4. Hot glue your "bug"to the stick *

Step 5. Hot glue the stick to the cardboard square*

Step 6. Cut the bottle top off. Hot glue the rest of the bottle (now the "glass dome") onto the cardboard.

Step 7. Wait for it to cool and voila! You have a bug and a bug home!

Join us next week for Toddler Tuesday. Don't forget that the Sensorial Program is next Tuesday at 10, too!

Traveling Trunk at Pitner Elementary School

MCMA's Education Department took the Traveling Trunk program to Pitner Elementary School in Acworth today. 140 art students in grades K-5 celebrated the last day of classes before the winter holidays by creating holiday cards. We identified and talked about different symbols and phrases relating to Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. Students then created holiday cards for people they love!

The art teacher's room was decorated like a gingerbread house!

3rd Graders show off their creative concoctions!

Toddler Tuesday

Today in Toddler Tuesday, we read Santa Duck by David Milgrim and The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle. Our activity was a blue horse coloring sheet. Parents and children enjoyed coloring in their horses using crayons and accenting their works with stickers.

This was the last Toddler Tuesday of the year. The next Toddler Tuesday will be on Tuesday, January 8 from 11-11:45 a.m. We hope to see you there!