Just saw this article in one of my magazines this morning--what a beautiful home! Excited to read the full article and peruse the mom's blog.
https://thislittlemiggy.com/2022/02/better-homes-garden-home-feature/
Yes, you have to have $$$$$ to create something this exquisite. But, there is always something to learn and apply.
Okay, I know I'm retired...but I'm still excited about adorable, almost-free activities to use with kids and adults!
Last Christmas Day we had two friends over for brunch, prior to going to a relative's home for a brief holiday celebration (it was a warm day here in central Virginia, with temps in the 60's--perfect open-the-windows weather). I wanted to make the brunch fun and memorable so I pre-made about 10 painted rocks and had the materials for the quicker craft on hand for us to make after we ate.
Well, it was a big hit! One of my friends is an artist by trade so her design was a little more detailed than mine and my art-apprehensive other friend. However, the non-artist friend loved hers enough to give it away to the next family she was visiting that day! Pretty cool, I'd say!
The plain rocks are free for the taking from almost anywhere you look; my yard "grows" baby rocks every time it rains. I had lots of craft paint and brushes from over the years on hand. After brunch we took the rocks I had painted to a local park and had fun deciding the best spots for placing them, for little kids to find.
The cardstock for the pictures was from my paper stash, the 6000 glue hadn't dried up yet from last year in my cabinet (you might use an adult-wrangled glue gun in a school setting) and I did buy the pseudo-wood frames from Michaels. If I had planned more in advance I probably could have bought the frames from a thrift store for less than a dollar. I am new to rock painting but there are gobs of tutorials on the web. Here's one of my favorite sites for that:
https://rockpainting101.com/christmas-gnome-painted-rocks/
As for the pebble art tutorial, I used the easiest one I could find on YouTube. Also, I used one of my Ed Emberley books to figure out how to draw simple details to add to the critters. You can find birds and other critters on his site:
http://edemberleydrawingpages.blogspot.com/
From an activity analysis standpoint, there are so many opportunities for fine motor and spatial relations skills to even mention. Just moving the pebbles around on the paper and thinking about how to create the basic shapes of the animals is a challenge for many folks. We talked for a long time about what the various pebbles looked like to us--faces, beaks, body shapes of critters. If you have to pause the activity for another time or keep things in place so an adult can glue the pebbles in place, just use poster tack or a ring of tape on the back of the sticks and pebbles.
Take a nature walk with your student, pick up some sticks and pebbles and enjoy your spring 'cause that means...June is coming soon!!!
