Eva Marina Homeschools

Sunday, April 1, 2012

stART | What Makes a Rainbow?

Although Ignacio is now reading, I make it a point to still read at least one book a day to him.  He usually jumps in and we end up reading the book together.  We moved while I was recovering from surgery and I have yet to finish unpacking.  I like to bring a few books out at a time as a surprise.  I took advantage of Francisco’s nap and brought out “What Makes a Rainbow” by Betty Ann Schwartz. 


We read this book when he was younger, but he didn’t remember it.  When he first saw it he complained that I had brought out a “baby book”.  That all changed once we opened it and began reading.  He loved the way the ribbons formed a rainbow.


I love the colors used in the illustrations.


As Ignacio would say, “The happy ending”.


Ignacio has been very interested in collages lately.  When I saw a blow post showing how to make a rainbow collage I knew we had to try it.  I have some rolls of kraft paper that measure 13.5x30”, I began by taping one to the floor.  I purchased back issues of National Geographic magazine at a thrift store and piled them next to the paper.  Once I was ready, I showed Ignacio the blog post over at Art Projects for Kids using my NOOKcolor.



This project was a joint effort.  I cut out some of the more elaborate shapes, but he had a great time finding pictures we could use.


We began by simply placing the pictures into groups.  I’m glad I decided to wait until the end to glue them down.  It was like building a jigsaw puzzle.  It was interesting to see how the perception of color changes with its surroundings.  We thought we had too much orange, but once we started putting it together we realized it was actually the opposite.  Some of the orange pictures were really more of a red, others yellow.  We ended up having to go back and find more true orange.  Ignacio’s favorite color is green, of course we had more than enough of that color.


By the time we finished cutting everything, he needed a break and asked me to glue it all myself.  Once I was done I covered the entire collage with contact paper.  It was surprisingly easy.  There were a few air bubbles, but I find that in this case it actually adds to the appeal.  Here is the finished collage.


A closer look:




We really had a great time.  Ignacio wants to make another collage.  It was a very affordable project.  The roll of paper cost me .50 and the magazines were .20 each.  I should point out that I did finish an entire glue stick, glad I always have a few on hand.  What a great afternoon!

On a side note, while at the library the following day I came across “Ruby, Violet, Lime: Looking for Color” by Jane Brocket.  While it is more of a concept book than a story book, I think it is also a great choice for this project.

Make sure to check out more stART projects at A Mommy’s Adventures.

1 comments:

Michelle said...

Emily has been obsessed with rainbows, I will have to look for this book she would love it! I love the project to go with this book too. We did a collage color wheel project a 2 years ago and we still have it hanging up today. Your project reminded me of it and how much we enjoyed it :) Thank you for linking up to stART!