Discovery!: Mini-Masters

I also want to include an art activity in every session of Discovery!. Last fall, I had an art class that talked about the importance of process art vs. product art. This session, I wanted to spend some time and talk about how all artists started as kids. And that artists create art in different ways.

To start off the program, I read two books:

Art by Patrick McDonnell
Henri’s Scissors by Jeanette Winter

Both books were huge successes with the kids. I absolutely loved reading a non-fiction book for the event and “Henri’s Scissors” was perfect. The book naturally led to our table activities. I put out images of each artist along with the accompanying materials. I made sure to tell caregivers that the point of this class was to try different art techniques and not to make a masterpiece.

Henri Matisse: I put out colored paper and scissors and let the kids go to town.

Georges Seurat: I put out white paper and markers for the kids to practice pointillism.

Piet Mondrian: I had pre-cut blue, yellow, and red squares and added black markers to the table.

Georgia O’Keefee: I had planned to put watercolors out on the table. But on the day of the program, the watercolors weren’t where they were supposed to be. So, I had to make a last minute substitution…

Claude Monet: I took some black paper and sidewalk chalk and let the kids go to town.

The kids spent the most amount of time at the Matisse table and the Mondrian table. They had such a good time and I had so many compliments from parents about the ideas presented. And a true librarian victory: my book display was completely gone by the end of the program.

And a Pinterest friendly picture: