Hands on Crafts for Kids - Season #1

A line is an infinitely extending one-dimensional figure; one that has length but not width or thickness. In art lines are the basis that give form to a piece of art. They can be straight or curved, thick or thin, and raised or flat. Projects featuring lines: a modern art canvas with paint and masking tape; lines become three dimensional as we make a playhouse for dolls or action figures; continue with your art journal and use brightly colored pens and a special tool to make spirograph line drawings. Finally make an unbreakable stained glass plaque with foil.

Imagine a world all in black and white - it would be pretty boring. Today we're going to look at some ways to use color. The first project is an art supply holder. Brightly colored cord is knotted together to form the hanger. Batik a monster tank top using a color resist technique. Today's art journal page is an experiment on color mixing to create funky printed leaves. The color wheel is the primer for how to mix color but it creates a beautiful work of art when you add glitter for our last project.

Today's show is all about perspective or how we see objects in space. Perspective is the technique of representing three dimensional objects on a two dimensional space - like drawing a house on a flat piece of paper. It's all a point of view from which we categorize or measure - like a tree that gets smaller and smaller as we walk away from it. Our first example is an optical treasure box with geometric patterns. Next, build your own kaleidoscope. Add to your art journal - how perspective makes buildings and other city scenes more realistic. Finally, make a lightweight ball with streamers and watch it fly through the air and learn about perspective.

Patterns are a design, motif or decoration, formed from regular repeated elements. They can also be naturally-occurring or a random arrangement of shapes, colors which have a regular or decorative effect. Patterns can be stripes, or lines, or alternating colors. The first project has a striped pattern of knots tied with plastic lacing. Next, make felt cookies with a polka dot pattern. Then add a chevron pattern to your art journal. Last, create a folding play mat with landscape patterns of a city scene around a lake.

Today's theme is symmetry - something is exactly the same on both sides of a dividing line or center. It can also refer to a balanced arrangement of the parts of a whole. The first project is a mixed media collage that features symmetrical feather shapes. Next, build and decorate a sandcastle. Create jeweled crowns that are exactly the same on both sides. Then, make mirror images on facing pages in your art journal. Last, Make a survivor belt with special findings featuring a symmetrical design.