November 27

artvisit
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Creativity basket tip for the week: Gather 3-5 interesting works of art. Consider: photographs, postcards, posters, calendars, small sculpted household objects -- carved wooden spoons, pottery bowls or vases. Introduce one item each day in Butterfly School & talk about the object's feel, textures, designs, colors, shapes, etc. (More ideas: coins, chairs, hair ornaments, table legs...).

Butterfly School at the Art Museum! Get Sheets

Celebrate the joy of creating art and the delights of viewing other people's artistic creations! This week, Butterfly School visits an art museum & we are delighted to share the journey with you.

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Here are some creative ideas from my kitchen table to yours. We encourage you to make a home gallery this week! Start by hanging one or two recent works in a special place (a door, wall or hall). Add to the collection each day...

	Make a dimensional piece -- use an empty cereal box or shoe box for your next collage...
	Explore texture: Add some special features to a collage this week -- sand paper, feathers, shredded paper & more! Identify each texture.
	Frame it! Glue smaller art work to a larger & colorful piece of paper to create the look of a simple frame. Decorate the frame with ribbons, sticks, macaroni & more.
	Create a photo gallery! Go through recent photographs of your family (or a vacation). Select a few (3-7) to hang in your "gallery".

Once you have created a gallery, enjoy it!

Make special gallery visits & spend some time enjoying and describing what you see in each picture.

Play "Meet the artist." Each person creates one art work (draw, scribble, collage). Each child or adult takes a turn showing their picture, describing it (or their ideas) & answering questions.

Photograph your child standing next to a work she created. (This is a great way to preserve memories but save space & is important for art work that isn't sturdy!)

Butterfly School on the Go! Explore art everywhere...

Explore local art -- paintings at the bank, murals at a pizza restaurant, sculptures in a park. Keep your eyes open & devote an extra minute each day to describing and appreciating an artistic creation!

Kids love sculpture -- they like to explore all the dimensions & features! Explain that in museums we usually can't touch the art (because it is delicate or will not be able to handle so many visitors touching it). When we are allowed to touch metal sculptures it is fun to feel & describe them. Invite your child to explore them & describe the feelings: bumpy, smooth, curvy, straight, etc.

Visit a great art museum on the web! Preview & bookmark your favorite pages to share with your child -- there are an amazing number of splendid paintings pictured at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts and more!

Set a date to visit a fantastic art museum. No child is too young - just keep visits short. It can take more time to get to the museum & back home but taking the time to share your favorite painting or sculpture is a great gift for your child. (More in Teacher Tips)

Please tell friends about our all-new, ad-free www.butterflyschool.net. And sign up for an e-mail with our free weekly links! For more great ideas, check out the activities at our parent site www.shininghours.com.

You are ready for the Activity Sheets now; you can print them from here (go to Activity Sheets), or go back to the Butterfly School home page.

From Butterfly Central,

-- Jessica Steigerwald

E-mail ideas and comments to: butterflycentral@shininghours.com

Explore art!

Teacher Tips
from Corinne Steigerwald

Art communicates on many levels. Artists present their energy, ideas and emotions through the use of color, shapes, textures, patterns, and the overall arrangement of marks or images in their work. "Reading" a painting, we can take away a visual impression, a message, emotional feelings and more.

Art is fun for children. They love to scribble. When a young child first learns that she can leave a mark on a page, it can feel magical! These scribbles are the first step in learning to write and it is important to encourage your child each step of the way. Make it more fun by inviting her to try water soluble markers, pens and even (washable) paints!

Early exposure to artistic (or visual) expression is important. First, building a child's confidence in scribbling, drawing, or making collages, we enable him to express things visually that are difficult to express verbally. Second, we are visual beings. It helps to give a child the vocabulary to recognize and interpret the images they observe.

Educators now recognize that every child has multiple intelligences. Some children communicate well verbally and visually. Some learn best by listening or observing. Other children learn kinesthetically (by interacting physically with materials, touching or trying something with their own hands).

Help a child create artistic expressions and you expand the child's ability to communicate ideas and feelings. Help a child appreciate the work & energy in other people's artwork & you open the doors to a life full of visual delights.

Don't miss these resources:

Explain the butterfly lifecycle with our mini-poster!

Simple dough recipe & pattern to make butterfly sculpture.

Trace a butterfly & add it to your gallery!

Make a fluttery tissue paper butterfly. Make a few to create a terrific mobile!