Hunt for Random Acts of Kindness not Pokemon

In my area, a new craze has caught on. Instead of catching Pokemon (which I'm not ashamed to say I do also), the big thing is to paint and hide rocks. Kind of like a scavenger hunt. At this point you're either thinking, "What?" or "Sweet. we play to", but hear me out. The point of this game is to spread cheer and joy within our community. You don't have to be a great artist to play and there's no age requirement. The rules are pretty simple:

• You can paint rocks, or not
• You can hide rocks, or not
• You can find rocks, or not
• You post hints to your rocks, or not
• You can share your designs within the social media group, or not
• If you find a rock:
• You can keep it
• You can take it and re-hide it somewhere
• You can leave it
• You can share it with others
• You can add rocks to it
• You can replace it with a different rock, or not

There are a lot of these groups around if you such local media for them. Type in your city and "rocks". Again, the point is to spread joy and cheer with others. In my area, people have said that this has helped them become closer as a family as they will now paint and hide and search for rocks together. Several others have also said its helped them with depression and anxiety. I know several families who have said its helping their autistic children communicate more.  And I think that's the best part. That this one simple activity by many random strangers is helping so many people in so many different ways. I am really glad and grateful to be a part of this. 

As such, I wanted to share it with all of you. Maybe you have hidden rocks or other treasures in your area. Maybe this is the first time you are hearing of it. Either way, I would love to see any rocks and/or treasures you make if you decide to play along with us in your own areas. 

Here are a few I have done and sent out into the world :)

I post more on my Instagram, check it out. :)

Yarn Block Printing

As it's February and National African-American History month, I thought I would post about one of the many famous African artists whom I adore. This project was done with my art class, but could easily be done at home as well.

William H. Johnson (whose bio you can read here)  painted the piece Going To Church. This piece was created using a technique called silk screening, which is basically a type of block printing done on cloth.

That got me thinking; I had been wanting to do a printing project, so this seemed like a good fit. One problem, I couldn't find the supplies I wanted anywhere. For those of you have better luck or an art store located by them, this would be a great project for Mono Printing using scratch foam. I realized after the project that scratch foam is basically like the Styrofoam containers you get take out food in sometimes. So you could cut those, clean them off and save them until you have enough to do the project. Which I love cause it cuts down on cost and is reusing materials. :)

So I had to come up with something else. That is when I came across this post at one of my new favorite blogs.  And viola. We have our project!

Block Printing

Supplies:

•  Yarn - (I had this at the house, but you can get yarn pretty cheap at Joann's during their sales. It can range from .99 cents to over 5$ depending on type and size of roll. We used both thick and thin yarn. I suggest the thin as it seemed to work better.)
• Wooden Blocks - (I got mine at Joann's, 3 for 1.99. You can scour yard sales though and pick up ABC blocks, which would be fun and allow for letter blocking as well. Building blocks can also be used if you have some of those. Or if you have the means of sawing, you can make your own. We also used wood circles.)
• Paint - ( I used tempura colors because they wash out well. Most block prints use ink, but for kids I think tempura paints work well. They can be found at Fred Meyers/Kroger's/ most art or craft stores and usually are about 3 to 4 $.)
• Paint Brushes - (these are handy in case you mix colors or just to paint the yarn)
• Paint Palette - (We used paper plates - one per table group to save on waste. You can use plastic palettes also if you have those.)
• Paper Towels - (something to dab off extra paint and to clean up any messes.)
• Paper - (I used card stock. It holds up well with tempura paints. You can use anything, just make sure that its thick. Printer paper probably isn't a good choice for this project.)
• Scissors - (to cut the yarn)

Addition supplies you may want:

• Smocks/Aprons - (to help kids stay clean)
• Newspaper - (to lay down in order to have less mess for clean up. You could also do your printing on Newspaper instead or with card stock.)

Instructions:

 

For this project we revisited secondary colors. I gave each table group the choice of which secondary color they wanted to use and then asked them which colors made that color. We had briefly discussed the colors at the carpet during our project discussion.

In our project discussion we talked about the artist and his work. How it was made using silk screening techniques and what they are.  One of the kids pointed out that the piece wasn't lined up properly because there's a chunk taken out of the sky where the tree should have been. :) I hadn't noticed that. It's amazing what they pick up on.

For the yarn you can either pre-cut it or do it when you pass out the supplies. Everyone should get a block, a piece of yarn, a paper towel, and paper. You can decide if they share paint palettes or get their own. Same with paint brushes.

Have kids wind their yarn around their block in whatever manner they want.  Then have them tie the string ends together or tuck them under the wound strings. Just be sure that string is tight.

For younger kids, its easier if they paint the string with paint brushes, instead of stamping. I had my class use the stamp method for the most part.

After they have paint, have them use a paint brush to mix it into the color it is supposed to be. Then they can paint or stamp their yarn block. When pressing the block to the paper, its best to be firm but not to slam it. We learned this the hard way. ;) Paint everywhere.

And that's pretty much it. It's more interesting if they turn the block one way and then another, so the image isn't the same through the whole paper. It's also more interesting to add focal colors here and there. So maybe a few squares of  a primary color to spice up the secondary colors. You could also turn this into a complimentary color project quite easily by having the few splashes of color be from the colors compliment.

Clean up for this project can be a bit cumbersome...you have been forewarned.  :)

Ebru Paper Marbling

 When I was younger I can remember doing an art project with water, paint and paper. In which you poured small amounts of paint onto water and then gently placed a paper on top to create a one of a kind print. This project was always one of my favorite memories.  But everytime I tried to recreate the project I had done as a kid, it always ended up in a failure of attempts and frustration.

A few weeks back I had come across a youtube video in which several beautiful images were created by using a special chemical solution in water and ink applied to the surface. The technique dates back as far as the 10th century and was used by many cultures to marble paper, fabric and other materials.

Paper Marbling was exactly what I had done as a kid and wanted to share with my kids and the kids I work with.  But I wasn't sure how safe the chemical solution was for children so I went about thinking of new ways to do the project but still achieve the same or at least similar results.

Here is what I came up with and the supplies you will need:

• Trays (We use throw away trays that are found in the baking isle of your grocery stores. These can be used multpile times.)
• Vegetable oil and water in a tray
• Corn syrup in a tray
• Liquid corn starch in a tray (you can buy this at the grocery store with the laundry soap or you can heat up corn starch and water as I did to make a sort of thick liquid. Be warned though that this does congeal when cold and doesn't work well then. Also let cool slightly before using as it is very hot.)
• Tempura paints
• Water to thin paints
• Paint brushes
• Tooth picks
• Old combs
• Straws (for mixing or blowing bubbles into the oil and water tray)
• Paper (we used a medium thick cardstock)
• Newspaper to put down to limit mess and to dry prints on

The process is pretty simple. Simply pour in the paint and use a toothpick, paint brush, comb, etc. to mix and swirl the paint on the surface to create the image you want. Once achieved, place a piec of your cardstock gently on the top of the liquid and count to 5. Then pull it up gently and viola.  If you want darker coloring, you can leave it on the water for a longer amount of time.

The paint can be applied straight from the bottle or can be watered down and poured into the pans. I recommend using small cups if pouring with little kids so that they don't dump large amounts of watered down paint into the pan.


Also, the oil and water pan has to have paint that is thinned down and applied carefully or it will sink to the bottom and you won't be able to make your prints. This one can be a little tricky for younger kids but is still very fun to explore and play around with.

I will also warn you that the corn syrup is sticky and will stick to everything while drying. This is why I recommend laying them in the sun on newspaper. That way you can cut around the newspaper once they are dry. Sometimes they are a little tacky after they're dry, but are very pretty and fun to make.

 Each of the ingrediant trays creates a different type of marbling effect. Which allows for quite the exploration and discussion between kids during the project time.

 The one on the left here is corn syrup while the image on the right shows the results from the liquid corn starch. The image above (with the hand pour liquid froma cup) shows the tray with oil and water.




I found that this project was rather successful in teaching young kids about primary and secondary colors as the colors will mix together, creating new ones when the kids swirl the colors around. This is also a great sensory project and allows for creative exploration.


By the end of our project time however, most trays had become goop. But the kids had a great time.


As always, we would love to see any variations you may have on the idea or your beautiful works of art.
Happy creating!