Your Guide to Summer Arts Activities (continued)

• Imagine what your house or apartment would look like if someone else – or something else— lived there. Redesign your home for your favorite character in a book or movie—a monster, a dog, or even the seven dwarfs!
• Design a new rug for a room that needs one. What colors, shapes, and sizes will you choose to use?
• What’s your favorite chair? Make a drawing of it. Make 10 more drawings to transform the chair for imaginary locations. How would you change the chair if it was in a castle? In a baby’s nursery? In a sports hall of fame? In a log cabin?

Found-object Stamp Sets – Try dipping small, household objects (blocks, Legos, buttons, thread spools, etc.) in an inkpad or a shallow tray of child-safe paint to create a found-object stamp.

• Print the stamp on a piece of paper to see what kind of image is created.
• Repeat the stamps to make designs and patterns on big sheets of paper to create your own home-made wrapping paper.
• Together with your child, put together the best items to build a found-object stamp set that can be saved in a box for future projects.

Thank You Cards – When your child receives birthday gifts, try making your own thank-you cards instead of buying them.

• Cut out pictures from magazines and use a glue stick to add the pictures to a simple paper-fold card.
• Use a simple alphabet stamp set or your found-object stamp set to make designs, pictures, and messages on your card.
• Use child-proof paint instead of an ink-pad to brighten up colors. This is a practical way to get creative and a fun way to mark something off the “to-do” list.
• “Seal” the envelope of your card by putting one special stamp on the back. You can even use a thumbprint as a seal to show the hand of the artist.

Collect Art Materials —Recycle envelopes, cut pictures out of magazines and junk mail, and save used wrapping paper to build a low-cost collection of creative papers for collages or cards. Child-safe found objects for stampings and rubbings are often things you have in your home already – such as kitchen utensils, sewing supplies, or desk items. You just don’t have them collected in a place that’s easily accessible to small children!

Get Organized – A cabinet or shelf that is low to the ground and easy for kids to reach is a good place to begin storing child-safe art supplies. It’s great to start a collection of paper scraps and images, which can be kept in a “paper drawer” that can be added to over time. Found objects can be kept in a shoebox or a Tupperware container that your child can access and add to on his or her own.

For great summer activities specific to your child's grade, visit our Games and Activities Portal.