For this week’s book post, we thought we’d share with you some of the beautiful artwork our classes are creating based on two amazing books we read in class on the theme of Winter. You’ll recognize these titles from our post Time to Cosy Up with a Good Winter Book.

Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner, illustrated by Mark Buehner.

To create these adorable snowmen pictures, we had our first foray into the world of oil pastels. Pastels are a great art tool for our Kindergarten children. Because the pastels are softer than crayons, the children do not need to press as hard but they still get the vibrant colour when drawing and colouring. First, we drew our snowmen and added the details. Then we used Sparkle Mod Podge to give the snowmen a nighttime sparkle effect. For the backgrounds, we painted white “snow” using blue, rather than black, paper for a more luminous look. The children cut out their snowmen before carefully gluing them to the painted backgrounds.

 This idea is from our favourite Art website, Deep Space Sparkle.

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, illustrated by John Schoenherr. 

We love big art projects, and this one takes several art classes to complete. It’s important for the children to understand that many great things are completed slowly, over time. By undertaking a multi-step project like this, we can help the children to develop patience and an appreciation of the process involved in creating something special.

The children selected magenta or turquoise to paint their background for the first art session. Then, after the paint had dried, the children followed our step-by-step instructions to paint the owl in white. For our third class, we painted in the details.

 Again, this art idea is from Deep Space Sparkle.

 We have to admit, painting with 21 students on a big scale like this still makes us nervous. But the Kindergarten always takes everything in stride and as usual, they were fabulous in managing their paintbrushes, the multiple paint colours and the oversized paper on small tables. We didn’t spill a drop of paint on the floor and carpets, and our clothing only suffered minimal damage.

Is there anything cuter than these painted owls? Of course!…… Our Kindergarten children. They are definitely the cutest!