Run your own ooey, gooey, messy, homeschool, summer art camp

I gave the children each large pieces of butcher's paper, fly swatters and a few bottles of paint. They squirted paint onto their fly swatters and then swatted away.

I had planned on spraying shaving cream over an area of the back yard, drizzle paint over that and then letting the kids swat it with fly swatters but time ran out. I am planning however, to do this project on another day. After seeing how much enjoyment the fly swatter activity engendered, it would be criminal not to resurrect it in some form or other. Adding shaving cream makes clean up so much easier.

Butcher's paper is one of the most useful craft items I own.  You can buy it from office supply stores but the best prices are generally to be found at restaurant supply stores. I tend to buy a new roll every few years.

I also always have a roll of "builder's paper" paper on hand.  I buy this from the building section of hardware stores.  It's thick, brown and very useful.  

I messed up the "Pow Painting", but nevertheless, the kids enjoyed it. I put baking soda into little paper towel pillows, placed those pillows into baggies and added vinegar and watercolor. We then sealed the baggies and placed them on sheets of paper. The baggies were supposed to blow up but I didn't put enough baking soda into the pillows. The resultant foam was gorgeous and the kids amused themselves for a long time playing with the baking soda and colored vinegar. If you plan on doing this activity, I suggest you play around with the proportions of baking soda and vinegar before the camp.  I bought Costco size bags of baking soda and bottles of white vinegar.  Use tissues rather than paper towel or paper towel that does not make claims to absorb lots of liquid.  You want the vinegar to reach the baking soda easily so that the chemical reaction can take place.  The more gas you produce, the better the explosion out of the bag and the better the creeping of the foam.

On day two we had fun with plaster of paris, masks and soap clay.  I was very pleasantly surprised by how the plaster of paris creations turned out. We put three scoops of powder into gallon sized ziploc bags and then added water until we had a nice, thick paste. The kids really got into smooshing the plaster of paris through the bags. Once they had a smooth paste, they worked the paste into a design of their choosing and held it until it started to set. Once the plaster had hardened, we removed the creations from the plastic bags and painted them.

Remember that this project is all about the process, not the final product.  If your child wants to make an "interesting" shape, that's good.   You want your child to experience using different media and textures.  Let them freely express themselves.

This is a good time to explain the concept of exothermic reactions to the children as they all express surprise when the baggy of plaster of paris heats up.

When we started the camp, I made plaster cloth impressions of all the kids' faces.   You need to do this at the start of the camp so that they'll be dry when you want to paint them.  The process is potentially claustrophobic for young children so I offered an alternative for the young girl who did not want to have a cast made of her face.  Most of the tutorials I found suggested using vaseline on the children's faces.   I didn't not like the thought of the mess, so I covered the children's faces in plastic wrap and cut out holes for their eyes and noses.   I cut the plaster cloth into strips that were the right length to cover a child's face.  Then I dipped the strips into water just before I placed them on the children's faces.  

The tricky part is convincing the children that they need to lie quietly for 10-15 minutes while the plaster dries sufficiently to hold its shape.

When the children get to decorate their masks give them washable tempera paint in different colors, glue, sparkles, gems feathers, leaves, sticks, raffia, in fact anything that you, or they could possibly think of.  

Sometimes I've done this activity with my kids and suggested they do a nature theme.  They've gone on walks to find items from nature as decorations. Other times we've done fantasy themes and they've used sparkles and feathers.  Let their imaginations run riot. You'll love the results.

It was wonderful to see the children unleash their creativity on their masks. I enjoyed seeing how the same blank canvases were turned into very different art works.

I loved watching how differently the children approached this project. The older girls took their time and worked meticulously, while the younger girls and the boys worked at breakneck speed. Their goal was get the project finished, while the two older girls' goal was to create the best mask they could.

 

 

Clean up was part of the fun of the camp.  I purchased a can of shaving cream for each child from the Dollar Store.

 

The instructions were:  Lather yourself up and have fun with the sprinkler and the hose.  That's all a child needs to hear.  As you can well imagine, they spent a long, long time "cleaning" up.    Then it was off to the pool for an afternoon of rest.

 

Don't think that you can't do this with your children because you aren't artistic.  I don't have an artistic bone in my body.  MaryAnn Kohl's books gave me courage, they helped me realize that children need to experience the process of art and that the final product is fairly unimportant.    I've followed this mantra since my children were about 2 years old and I'm seeing the benefits now.  They aren't afraid to experiment with different media, they absolutely love creating (it's relaxing and invigorating for them) and most importantly of all, they consider art and creativity to be an integral part of their lives.  Have fun, start with an ooey, gooey, messy, homeschool, summer art camp.