Eva Marina Homeschools

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Earth Day | Follow-Up 1

We love to craft.  So, when I saw this project shared by A Mommy’s Adventures I knew I wanted to try something similar.  She in turn got the idea from Itsy Bitsy Learners.  Isn’t the internet wonderful?  Be inspired! 


Our version was done using watercolors, oil pastels, and construction paper. 


Ignacio loves geography.  We have many maps and globes.  I found this tiny globe in the Dollar bin at Target.  It comes in very handy, especially when we don’t have much room left on the table.  Ignacio wanted to draw the outlines for North and South America.  He was afraid that if he didn’t, they wouldn’t be recognizable.  He had to decide where to start.


He did a really good job.  He drew it all himself.  He only asked for help in deciding how wide to draw South America.  (I should mention that we used a thick watercolor paper.  I traced a Frisbee and cut out the circle for him.)


He then colored it all in by layering two shades of green oil pastels.


I love Prang watercolors, you can’t beat their vibrant colors.  Ignacio chose to mix blue and turquoise blue for his water.  In all honesty, I was too lazy to go upstairs and look for our good brushes.  We used the brush included in the set and as you can see, we had quite a few loose fibers left behind.  No worries, they come right off once it dries.


I brought out some of our multi-cultural construction paper and Ignacio chose the paper he thought best matched him.  It is hard to tell from these pictures, but he did choose the best match.


For obvious reasons I traced his hands for him.  Using a 9x12” sheet of construction paper I had him place one forearm on each corner then position his hands towards the middle, almost touching each other.  He cut them out himself, only asking for help cutting where the fingers meet.


I cut out a heart to use as a template.  He then traced it onto red construction paper and cut his heart out.  I like using heavy bond double sided tape, rather than glue.  It forms a strong and immediate bond.  I especially like that the edges do not lay perfectly flat.  I love the texture and dimension.  We matched the corners in his arm cutouts to the corners in his background paper, perfect fit.  He loved this project!


A few close-ups:




Next post I’ll share a few resources we’ve been using this week to learn more about our Earth.

1 comments:

Michelle said...

Oh wow I LOVE how this came out! The oil pastels and watercolors are a great way to do this project. He did a great job with the outline of South America too! It is so cool to see how one person inspires another. I want to try your version of this project next year with the girls :)