I have a huge collection of pinecones because I cannot stop myself from collecting them whenever I see their perfect, symmetrical shapes lying on the ground. Big, small, and in between. I now have to sneak them into the house because nobody can know this collection is getting bigger, not smaller. The pinecone is such…
pinecones
“Pinecone Forests” Invitation with Drip Painting
These “pinecone forests” were made with a drip painting technique that every child, no matter the age, loves!! The little ones get a really good hand workout, and the older ones take time to layer their colors and watch them blend. This painting invitation cost very little but has so much going on that it…
Dioramas with Kids // Inspired by Artist Mano Kellner
I discovered artist Mano Kellner on Pinterest and was immediately drawn to her “art boxes”. They are very curious, quite charming, and even a bit mystical. I was so inspired by this one that I immediately started to plan how I could make something similar with my art students. I decided on making dioramas using the…
Beach Art
This is an updated version of an old post. I originally wrote this 3 years ago, in 2015. Since then, we’ve had many more opportunities to use our found collections to make beach art. Not only that, I recently challenged my Facebook fans to post their own beach art photos. And their ideas were so…
Pinecone Pom-pom Mobiles
It’s hard to believe that these pinecone pom-pom mobiles were made by children. They did everything, from painting the pinecones and beads, to making the pom-poms, to stringing it all together. (I just did the very last part tying them onto the ring.) Children are so capable. And these mobiles are just stunning! This post…
Wintery Mobiles with Kids
I’ve been wanting to make these wintery mobiles for years and years, ever since I saw them on the Purple Twig blog back in 2014. Samara always has the very best ideas. She did them for an arts fair in her California community, and I wanted to set this up for a book event I…
