We have had a few rainy days scattered through the last few weeks. I took the opportunity to come up with a few fun rainy day activities that consumed a large part of our house bound days. These would work on sunny days too, but with spring approaching you might want to bookmark these to save. . .for a rainy day!
I found Drawing Head to Toe Self Portraits on a really cool art blog. The blog Art for Small Hands is written by an art teacher. The lessons are laid out in easy to follow instructions including; age, tools and length of time for the activity. I used the activity as a guide, but as usual M and M had different ideas of the direction their art would take. You’ll notice my niece S joined this art experience, you’ll also notice she is quite a perfectionist.
what you need: white construction paper ~ pen or pencil ~ crayons, markers or paint ~ full length mirror
While we were at breakfast I started talking about the difference between a portrait and a self portrait. When I was ready to start the activity I set up the mirror near the art table. I set three places with a piece of paper and a pencil. I had the kids take turns standing in front of the mirror.
While they looked at their reflection I asked questions about their body. “What do you see when you look at your hair? Where does your hair stop? At your ear? At your shoulder?” I had them feel their arm, and tell me what they noticed. I asked them to move their fingers and bend their knees. The goal was really to get them aware of each body part. Once they had some time to examine themselves, I sent them to the art table. I had them complete the drawing before I offered other tools. Big M chose colored pencils, Little M chose water colors and S chose markers.
Big M decided to make his a portrait of his cousin. . . no surprise there he adores her. Can you see the little heart that is floating above her head? He didn’t stop with that though, in his drawing S is also an alien.
S drew a beautiful self portrait. At one point she ran to the mirror and returned to draw her ears. I love that she even added the holes (no her ears are not pierced.)
Little M’s drawing is a bit more abstract… anyone surprised by that? When I questioned her a bit about her stroke placements, I found out that she had a very specific plan. She had drawn the dot dress she was wearing! Fabulous!!!
It was really great to add S into the mix. All three artists completed this activity is such different ways, it was fun to explore portraits with each of them.
Have you tried self portraits? I want to hear all about it!
More Rainy Day Fun
Rainy Day Fun with Science
Umbrella Craft
Rain Walk: Rain Experiment with Kids
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