Magic Marker Monday: What Is Art?

Was going through piles o' school papers and came across this random offering. It was really hard for me to get even this quality photo - my daughter drew in red pen on orange paper.

In the frame at the right of the paper is Good Picture/Bad Picture. The Good Picture has a price tag, and detailed clothing, which is intriguing to contemplate. The Bad Picture has a charming smile and feels more lively than its more detailed counterpart.

What I love, however, is the mysterious creature at left of the frame. Martian? Robot? Art Critic? Either way, it is full of wistful consternation. I can almost see the cartoon bubble over its head, posing the age-old query "What is Art?"


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Magic Marker Monday: Peace Day

Did you know that September 21 is International Peace Day? I did not. James' sister did.

How did she find out? She was bored and looked at her calendar for something to do. This is what she made, as her part of spreading the message of peace:

Her calendar misinformed her, slightly.

She then took the half dozen messages to all the neighbours we know near our house.

So proud of her!

Yes that was Saturday, but today is Magic Marker Monday.
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Magic Marker Monday: "Big" Top

Michelle's post a couple of weeks back reminded me of a great little craft the kids did for Carnival Week at Summer Camp - the Paper Circus!

Paper people and tent parts were coloured and then cut and pasted.

James liked the the tent. He was not that interested in the people. This has me thinking that he'd probably like making a circus train, and maybe a station. Hmmmmm ....

I love how he decorated teh stripes with numbers!

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Magic Marker Monday: Picto Name

We've seen letters like these before, when James was in a mainstream preschool in the afternoons. This time he was able to do more colouring himself, and work on cutting and pasting the letters himself.

A very festive project from summer school!

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Magic Marker Monday: Outdoor Paints

When the kids were littler, I used to set up an indoor easel and paper for them to use for finger painting projects.

As they got bigger, I moved the easel outdoors. For some reason, this put a damper on the finger paints, although they continued to use the chalk board side.

This weekend, I went out back to take some end-of-summer pictures and discovered that someone *cough James' sister cough* had discovered a new use for the outdoor paints:

Thank goodness they're acrylics!


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Magic Marker Monday: Oobleck

Some writing James did during summer school. I asked him what that strange word was. "Oobleck," he said. What is that? From James' description, it's a combination of Play Dough and slime; and it's lots of fun to play with.

Love his illustration too!

I am so glad they not only made something, but that they could also play with it, and then write about the experience after. I am also really glad it did not come home in his backpack!


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Magic Marker Monday: Fair Contest Entry

I took James and his sister to our County Fair this weekend. It's a summer tradition for my family. It's been harder and harder for us to finance outings like the fair, however. Last year, I stumbled across a great way to get in free: enter a contest.

In May I watched the public notice shelves at our library. When the fair contest book and entry forms come out, a healthy portion of them get delivered to the branches. The 3 of us sat down and ... procrastinated. Until the very afternoon the entries had to be postmarked. Then, I rounded up the kids, markers, and crayons: Time to colour!

Here is James' (a little blurry):

Entries were on display in the craft hall, in big binders

and his sister's:

and mine:

A couple of weeks ago, our entry tickets and participant ribbons came in the mail. So not only did we create something, we got prizes for doing so. I think this could be the start of a new family tradition.


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Magic Marker Monday: Rainbow Me

I am just now getting around to unpacking James' take-home packet from summer school. There was some good work going on there. I love how James is able to express more and more about what he is thinking. I love seeing his drawings and bursts of colour.

I really like all the information going on in this exercise:

I think it's interesting that he sees himself with brown hair, when I see it as a mix of brown and gold, with some reddish-gold highlights. I am betting the orange food that he loves is cheese puffs. Cheetos, in particular.

The upright bodies, long legs, and explosion of toes tickle me no end. Is that a crown on the right hand figure? His sister is rubbing off on him!


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Magic Marker Monday: Camp Art

Both kids attended the morning session of our town's Summer Camp. It's really been the perfect program for us for several years. By now, much of the staff knows James, or get to know him quickly. The theme was Wacky Water Week, which is reflected in the crafts they completed and brought home.

James did a pretty nifty job on his sea medallion and fish plate painting. He has not, to date, named his squid. He's insisting it's a jellyfish.

Left to right: plate fish, sea medallion, squid/jellyfish in a bottle.

His sister made some really cool fish art:

I love this one in particular: it's how I feel some mornings.

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Magic Marker Monday: Keeping Busy

We've all been lying low, as there's a bug that keeps going around. Last week it was croup. This week it's a quick but deadly stomach flu. I am a hot, sleep-deprived mess, the kids have been wretched, and my husband's staggering.

Today, James took a turn for the better. He even announced it clearly as he came out of his room at 6:30 this morning, waking his tormented sister. He really was very good, trying to entertain himself like I've never seen before as he had a turn as the most energetic human in the house.

Case in point: he asked for paper and I pointed him in the right direction. A few minutes later, he came back with writing, math, and drawing pages. I am so excited! This was all on his own initiative. I had fun talking them over with him.

All by himself, he spelled "Caillou Book," adding a smile to show he likes it and an arrow.
MUGS is from my other life, where it stood for "Maskmakers' User Group Symposium."
Say that one three times fast!

We went over his math sheet together: 1 + 2 = 3; 1 + 3 = ...
"no, no, Mommy. I crossed it out! It's really 4;"  and 2 + 3 = 5

And my favourite: "The Unicycler!"
How he came up with this, I have no idea.

I am glad that James is keeping busy, and that he can make things that we can use for interactions. I keep looking at the unicycle picture. I am sure there's a story in there somewhere.

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