Friday, February 4, 2011

Preschool (and older) Valentine Circle Art

We've been having a lot of fun with circle art, but today the younger girls (ages 4 and 6), were feeling Valentinesy. So, we changed our color palette to pinks, purples, and reds...


...to make some Frugal Family Fun Blog inspired, Valentine's place mats.


The girls had a terrific time placing circles onto contact paper. And, once they were covered, and trimmed, they made for a pretty festive lunch.


The only thing that could top a morning of so much crafty fun, would of course be an afternoon of finger painting more Delaunay type circles - again in pinks, purples, and reds, because the girls were still feeling very Valentinesy. Oh, and they were thrilled to be finger painting, but in the picture below, they were really concentrating - so no gleeful smiles.


I wasn't sure how finger paints, a four and six year old, and a complicated geometric design would come together, but it worked out pretty well.


The girls were very careful to follow the pattern, and wait for instructions, if they got confused. And, with the exception of a couple of bloopers, they pulled it off. Proving that even with a preschooler, finger painting can be orderly. Not that it has to be, just that it can be.



And, that despite what Alphonse thinks he knows...


...circles can be Valentines. Actually, we don't really know what Alphonse knows, because neither the library, nor our local bookstore, had the book. After reading a number of Kindergarten teacher reviews, about this book, and it's entertaining, simple look at shapes, I was pretty tempted to order it from Amazon.

But, impulse book buys can be the death of a homeschool budget, and we don't have that many more preschool, or Kindergarten, Valentine's Days ahead, so I resisted. The girls were just happy with what we could find at the library, anyway.


Which was not about circles, or shapes, at all, but was quite Valentinesy.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

10 comments:

Fiona said...

what lovely activities! Will be having a go at both the placemats and the circle painting

Phyllis said...

They did an amazing job. My boys could never have pulled that one off at their age. They probably couldn't now either! I bet they are just soaking up all those higher concepts as well. Wonderful job!

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

Whoa, the painting is awesome! I don't think Anna would have pulled it off. The book looks intriguing - I'll see if we are more lucky with our library.

Unknown said...

Boy, you are SO right- impulse buys CAN be the death of a homeschool budget!

I am glad you are a steps ahead of me in the homeschooling process, so I can check out all the books I need and NOT buy them in the future!

Debbie said...

The painting turned out great! Selena would sure try hard to pull something like this off rather she could or not I don't know. It would be fun to try!

Ticia said...

My kids love Splat books. They're so cute.

And impulse buys really are the death of a homeschool budget.

Barbra Stephens said...

That painting is really incredible! Something I would frame! Great post, keep up the great work!

Elle Belles Bows said...

I love the idea of a Valentine mat! We always change our table for each holiday. So, it would be great to just be able to make them. The addition of the purple really makes them pop..

Kerri

Joe said...

Gasp - I love the idea of contact paper placemats. How clever! Thanks for another great idea :)

Christy Killoran said...

C and R both love to make their own placemats. I'm thinking that our cookie cutter paintings will probably become placemats this week.

I love love love the painting! I'm so impressed.

That book looks great. I'm going to check my library. Your budget comment makes a lot of sense. I used to buy a lot of books and then realized how much money I was spending on books. Now, we get most of our books from the library.