Things That Are Too Wonderful to be Owned

So we read this amazing book called "Who Owns the Sun?" that was written and illustrated by a 14 year old girl in 1988. We decided to try and copy her watercolour paintings. The boys each chose their favourite painting in the book. We used our homemade liquid watercolours to paint the backgrounds... waited for them to dry and then used traditional watercolours to paint the foregrounds. They turned out wonderful.

Original "Who owns the wind?" by Stacy Chbosky

"Who owns the wind?" by Daniel

Original "Who owns the sun?" by Stacy Chbosky

"Who owns the sun?" by Jacob

Constellations

We have been learning all about SPACE so the boys made their very own constellations with glow in the dark stars. Aren't these fun? We got an AWESOME book from the library called "Constellations:A Glow in the Dark Guide to the Night Sky" ... I love this book but you can't buy it anymore... We read it in the dark with a flashlight because first we'd see the lovely picture of the constellation with the flashlight on (like the tough looking bear called Ursa Major) and read the history of the image in the stars, then we'd turn off the flashlight and all he stars would glow! It was so much fun. So then we did this.... 

I hung them above their beds. Now I kind of wish I had made myself one! 

Choo-choo!

Another book project! "Freight Train" by Donald Crews is a favourite in our house. If you love trains and rainbow colours and fantastically simple artwork then get this book. 

In the summer I was given two huge old rolls of newsprint paper. Huge. And I thought this book would make a perfect collaborative art project with the boys. We had a snowy, no school holiday, so I finally pulled a roll out of the shed. The inside of the tube is full of spider webs and dead bugs, but the boys thought that was cool, so whatever. Anyways, I let them pick a page from the book to copy (thankfully they both wanted the same page, so there was no fight) and off we went. The boys painted the background on their own (I traced a trestle bridge for Jacob to paint over) and then I cut out each train car, in the correct colour, and the boys each picked three to complete. They carefully copied the cars in the book. Then we did the tender and engine together because they did fight over who was going to do the best part. After it was hung on the wall it was noticed that we forgot the steam so I let them sponge it on with strict instructions to NOT paint the wall. Surprisingly they didn't paint the wall. 

Here it is:

Afterwards Jacob insisted on making a smaller pencil drawing all on his own. Here's a cute picture where he is working on it. It turned out fabulous, by the way.

I told you it was cute! What a little sweetie!!

Learn to Draw... Learn to Build...

I am officially in love with the Ed Emberley books, and I've only seen one. Jacob LOVES copying the pictures in it and then he took the book and used the drawing instructions to build the pictures out of blocks. This was all his idea! I just love it when creativity takes over like this.

Learn to Draw...

... the Ed Emberley way. There is a whole series of books by Ed Emberley and I finally got one from the library. Jacob loved it! And so did I, since my artistic skills are always being requested, and I am, quite frankly, not good at drawing trains, construction vehicles, farm equipment, or trucks.

Here is the book we got: 

Here is a fire truck I drew and Daniel added onto.

Here is Jacob's fire truck, complete with burning building. I didn't help at all.

Then he drew a fire breathing dragon.

Awesome. 

There are hundreds of pictures in this book, each one with step by step instructions. Basically, he says, if you can draw a few basic shapes you can draw anything. I can't wait to try more of this book and some of his other ones!

Blown Away

So when I heard of this great kids' book called "Windblown"  I knew I just had to request it from my library. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves (mostly).

Jacob copied every page in the book. The snail and chicken were my favourites. 

Then he got creative.

A cement truck. 

Then Daniel decided he wanted to get involved.

A baby lamb.

So much fun. I saved the pieces to play again another day. 

Note: We are drawing using dry erase markers on clear page protectors. 

There Be Dragons!

Another book inspired project that the big boys have been wanting me to do with them is dragons from "Jillian Jiggs." We've been waiting to get a cardboard box that would work and we finally got one that when I cut it in half worked perfect.

ROAR!!

Frederick

Hurray! Another storybook craft! These are my favourite. I just love reading a book and then creating the character in the book with the boys. Jacob and I read the book "Frederick" by Leo Lioni together and then he asked to make Frederick. And I think they turned out so cute. In the story four mice are storing up food for the winter, but the fifth mouse, Frederick, isn't helping. Instead he gathers sunlight and colour and words. The other mice don't understand him but when the winter runs long and the food runs out, Frederick warms them with memories of their beautiful meadow, and ends the book with a poem. Daniel wanted his Frederick to one carrying corn (there is a picture of the mice storing up corn in the book) and Jacob wanted his Fredrick to be eating a chocolate chip cookie (this comes from a picture where Frederick is eating a nut with black spots).

The Boys Got Pet Turtles...

... Sorta. We read a book about Blue getting a pet turtle named Turquoise. And then we made our own pet Turquoise. We even made her a tank just like the books. And then of course we had to have a water dish and carrots and celery and lettuce. It was fun.

A closeup of Jacob's Turquoise. He drew the happy face himself!

Daniel's Turquoise. She's cute. And apparently she doesn't like lettuce.