Who doesn't love a beautiful stained glass window? Make vibrant faux stained glass art inspired by the art of Piet Mondrian, a Dutch painter who loved to explore repeating shapes using the primary colors. Not only will your little artist review basic shapes and colors as he works, but he'll also get a mini art history lesson in the process!
What You Need:
- 1 9" x 12" sheet of black construction paper
- Scissors
- Red, yellow, and blue tissue paper
- Glue
What You Do:
- Before starting the projet, look at artwork by Piet Mondrian online with your child, such as Broadway Boogie Woogie. See how many shapes and colors he can recognize in the painting.
- Help him fold the black construction paper in half horizontally and again vertically to create a smaller rectangle.
- Invite him to cut out squares along the folded edges of the black construction paper, but not along the open sides. Cutting encourages his fine motor skills and coordination.
- Open up the paper to reveal square windows that will make the perfect base for his stained glass piece.
- Now it's time to fill in those squares with some bright primary colors! Ask him what the primary colors are (red, yellow, and blue), and what is special about them.
- Help him cut out squares of tissue paper just slightly bigger than the square windows in his black paper base by lightly tracing around the open squares of the base with a pencil onto the selected color of tissue paper.
- Have him squeeze a small amount of glue around the edges of the squares in the black paper. Help him press the tissue paper squares over the holes to create his stained glass window.
Select a window to display his finished Mondrian-inspired stained glass for everyone to enjoy.
By Sarah Lipoff
Sarah Lipoff has a K-12 Art Education degree and enjoys working with kids of all ages.
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