Ms. Amy's Blog @Child Central Station

   Those of you who have been following the blog for some time know that we tend to offer art activities  closer to the process end of the spectrum most of the time. (Sometimes we do craft.....) I saw a great activity on Pinterest where the art students drew with permanent markers and then used watercolor paints to color over the drawing - the process was fantastic- and the product looks AMAZING too! (Note- the pin I found was used with much older children and I did not wish to give as much direction,- but I liked the idea of mixing the two medias).  So, I set out some markers and freshly made homemade watercolors. (You can find the recipe for those in this post- we make ours with Kool-Aid so that they are vibrant and scented! AND YES- they do bubble like crazy when you make them. It is the reaction of the acids and bases you are mixing)     Like any of our projects- I staged the environment by providing specific materials for th...

Welcome to this week's edition of What Would You Do With It? Wednesday. This week we are featuring markers that don't work! (I decided to jump all of the items I was behind and go to the scheduled item for the week. Don't worry, at the end, I'll go back to all of those things I missed!) This week's link up is a fun one for me, as my original post about the Marker's that Don't Work is what triggered the weekly link up for reusing/upcycling materials.  Here are a few things we have done with the markers that don't work.  We add them to water to create a "marker stain"  (It actually works better if you remove the insert and leave that in the water) We use them to color our gloop/silly putty We use them to color on wet paper. The caps make a great base for pinky puppets. (You can see another post with ideas for marker caps here. ) You can use the marker cases as logs to build a fairy house and the caps link together to make a rope ladde...

This year, we decided to make some silhouette ornaments out of some of the wooden cookies we have been cutting. First, we took our photos in front of our felt flannel board . You could do this in front of a solid color background blanket/sheet. We printed them on plain copy paper in black and white. Then, cut out the silhouettes. We colored them solid black with permanent markers. The children sanded both sides of their wooden cookies. Then they stained the cookies with the dye we made with the "Markers That Don't Work." After the dye dried, we covered the cookie with a layer of glue (If your glue is too thick, add a little bit of water to it or use Modge Podge). Carefully put the silhouette on the cookie, and then..... Cover with more glue. Wait for it to dry and add more layers of glue until the cookie has a nice glazed look to it. If you are impatient or are on a time crunch, you can do what we did and dry them in a food dehydrator. I don't have any photos of the f...

What Could It Be? Sometimes I wonder if my brain works differently than most, but then when surrounded by other artists and teachers, I am reminded that some of us don't always see things just for what they are. We see things for what they could be, what potential they could have. There is definitely something magical about getting your creative juices flowing and allowing all of the possibilities unfold. Over the past couple of days, we have been working with markers. Many people would have seen an old dried up marker and tossed it into the trash. But, not here. We found that we could put those markers to use in many ways. ( First post- using the markers for their ink , Second post- using the marker caps for various creations ) After the wonderful response from those of you who have graciously decided to follow my blog (either publicly as listed, or just happen to stop by once and awhile), I realized that I could improve upon how I make my colored dye (mentioned in pos...

Yesterday, I hope I convinced you not to throw away your markers that "don't work." Today, I will share with you a few ideas for what to do with all of the caps. The possibilities are nearly endless, but here are a few of our recent creations: 1) A Leprechaun/Fairy Ladder/Rope Ladder: 2) #1 if not permanently secured can also double as a rope bridge: 3) #1/#2 can also be made into a train track for your homemade trains :). (No photo available) 4) You can use them as beads for a necklace: 5) You could make them into a wind chime. (No photo available). 6. You can use them as small manipulatives to count, sort, and make patterns with. (No photo available). 7) You could use them as playing pieces in your own homemade board game. (No photo available). 8) You could put them on a wire and glue them in place to make a twirling whirly-gig. 9) You could top them with a lid from a milk jug to make tiny tables or toadstools. 10) You could make them...

How may times have you heard, "Ms. (fill your name in here), this marker doesn't work!" I know I hear it all the time. Sometimes it is because our little friends forget to replace the caps, and sometimes the markers have just been "all used up!" What do you do with all those markers that just don't work? Please don't tell me that you throw them out, try this instead: First, sort your markers out. Put the caps in one container ( save those too, I'll show you what you can do with them in tomorrow's post) and the markers in another. I have a box for the markers that "don't work" for the children to place them into every time they run across one. You can also have the children help you test the markers periodically to sort out the ones that need to be removed from the "working set." When it comes time to use "the markers that don't work," we use a small sponge paint roller to roll water onto our card...