Art Works! is a series of blog posts created by www.EscapadeDirect.com. The activities in this series offer children of all ages and abilities the opportunity for hands-on art activities that allow them to explore, discover, and express their individual creativity. We encourage parents to join in on the activities, too, and create their own Art Works!
Art Works! Activity #2: Aged Artwork
Create a work of art that instantly looks aged!
This activity is an open-ended project that encourages independent thinking.
What You Need:
- Paper Grocery Bag, any size
- Scissor
- Pencil
- Crayons
- Black Paint (water color paint or tempera paint works great)
- Water
- White Glue (optional)
What You Do:
- Cut along the seams of a paper grocery bag, then cut out the two large panels of the bag. The inside of these panels will be used as your drawing material.
- Use a pencil to draw a picture on the clean side of your grocery bag paper. You could draw a portrait of you or someone in your family, a picture of your backyard, or a picture of your favorite toy. You decide.
- Use crayons to color in your picture. You will want to press hard with the crayons to create a thick, even coating of crayon on the paper.
- When you’ve finished coloring your drawing, here’s the part kids love to do – Crumple the paper into a small ball and squeeze it in your hands. Unfold your drawing and smooth it back out. The crumpling makes the drawing look aged with all the cracks and creases. Pretty cool, eh?
- If you want to make your picture look even more aged, paint a thin coat of watered down black paint over the drawing, brushing out the black so it fills in the cracks of the paper. Blot with a paper towel to remove the excess paint. Allow your drawing to dry completely. If desired, brush a coat of watered down white glue over the drawing to give it a shiny, sealed look.
- Frame your artwork, and display!
Variations:
- Have each person in your family use this activity to create a portrait of themselves. When all the drawings are done, hang them up together for a family portrait wall!
- This activity is fun to use for creating Treasure Maps! Be creative and draw trails, hills, trees, etc. that lead to a make-believe treasure.
- Experiment with different sizes of drawings – for example, cut a grocery bag into 8″x10″ sheets or 4″x6″ sheets.
- If you don’t have black paint, unwrap a black crayon, then use the long side of the crayon to softly color over your drawing. By using this side of the crayon, only the high points of your drawing (the cracks and ridges) will get filled in with black.
- Use your completed, aged artwork to make greeting cards, postcards, or to create wrapping paper. (TIP: We suggest you don’t coat your drawing with glue when using it for wrapping paper).
You Might Also Like:
Smart Art – Learning to Classify and Critique Art – Children will classify and critique art, enhance thinking skills, acquire art vocabulary, and develop aesthetic understanding in this discipline-based program that includes more than 35 black-and-white and four full-color art reproductions
Art Masterpieces to Color – Colorists of all ages are invited to create their own versions of 60 great paintings. From masterpieces by Michelangelo and Raphael to striking creations by Paul Gauguin and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, this ready-to-color collection includes excellent renderings of Grant Wood’s American Gothic, Winslow Homer’s Snap the Whip, and Edward Hopper’s Hotel Room, as well as compositions by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt, Paul Cezanne, Edward Burne-Jones, Claude Monet, John Singer Sargent, Vincent van Gogh, and 45 other great artists.
Share Your Art Works! Activities!
If you have an Art Works! project that you would like to share, email us a digital picture (or scan) of your project , and we will post it in our Kids Gallery. If you would like, include the artists first name, age, and your state. It’s fun for kids to see how other children interpreted the project!
As always, encourage your children to come up with their own new ideas for art – and make sure to check back next week for another Art Works! activity in this series!
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