Summer Art Camp at Home

Last week we had our own art camp at home!  :)

My best friends daughter is an amazing artist, and so she came and stayed with us for a few days.  The girls had a blast.  I think it's a great way to pass a week in the summer for your kids.  It takes a few days of planning, but there are so many amazing web sites and blogs full of art projects for kids that it doesn't take too long.

They did lots and lots of drawing, coloring, and painting...

This day I had planned for them to do this project.  But after they had painted their canvases and punched out their butterflies, they wanted to do "their own thing".  :)

They made lots and lots of clay.  Both of them did Christmas themed items...snowmen and gingerbread houses.  I had ideas for them, but they wanted to do their own thing.

Mosaics!  I gave them free-for-all into my mosaic box.  It is full of broken tiles, coffee mugs, old plates, and glass beads.  This project requires extreme one-on-one parent attention, mostly for safety issues.  They needed help with the nippers.  But wow, they turned out very cool!

This was really cool!  I had no intention of teaching them how to sew, but after watching me work on Pillow for Davis, they really wanted to make their own pillows.  They were very proud of these.

Here are a few of my tips for having art camp at home:
-Have projects planned out with instructions ready
-Make sure you have all supplies necessary and organized
-Be prepared to be right there with them if they need you, but also give them freedom and room
-Remember every child is different.  Some will want to do the projects "by the book", some will want to do it "their way".  There is nothing wrong with either way :)
-Try not to take over and make it perfect.
-If you are working with more than one child, have coloring books or drawing paper nearby in case one finished before the other
-We set up a table in another room for the few days of "camp".  I wanted the table and supplies accessible to them without it all being on the kitchen table

We will definitely do this next summer!  I already have a running list of projects...

Happy Monday everyone!

Linking up here:)