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art with kids: rollercoaster names

    Now that my kids are a bit older, doing art projects with them is becoming a more enjoyable activity. We have always left crayons, paper and scissors out for them to create at their desire, but all of the fun and messy stuff made infrequent appearances. Where once I wouldn’t dare pulling out glitter and glue {unless I was willing to clean up the entire bottle and find specks of sparkly dust for days}, now I feel like they are at an age where not every project becomes a practice in controlling chaos. Well, actually, it still is sort of chaotic, but much more manageable.

    I am no art expert, but creating is an activity that we all enjoy doing together and so I thought I’d start a new series sharing fun art projects to do with kids.

    I’m calling it Art with Kids. Very clever, I know.

    For the first installment, we’re making rollercoaster names.

    art-with-kids-roller-coaster-art

    My way of being involved in my older sons’ school is by being an art docent mom. Basically I go in once per month and teach an art project to first graders. I love it.

    Screen Shot 2013-03-21 at 9.56.51 PM

    Just the other day we created these rollercoaster names {as shown on instagram} which was a hit with No. 2’s class. Yesterday morning when my No. 3 needed some mommy-time, we made another. I was amazed at how good his 5 year old skills were.

    Here’s how you make one:

    Start with a large piece of white paper and draw three or four horizontal ‘rollercoaster lines’ across the paper.

    Next, have the child write his name in CAPITAL LETTERS starting with the top rollercoaster, being sure to touch the top of the paper and the rollercoaster line with each letter.

    rollercoaster-art-pencil-closeup

    Continue writing the name, moving to the lower lines as you reach the end of the paper.

    rollercoaster-name-art-draw-in-pencil

    Then trace over the pencil lines with a black marker.

    trace-name-with-black-marker

    Now is the fun part: fill in all the spaces between each black line with a different color.

    rollercoaster-art-fill-in-between-black-lines

    We used markers, but you could also use crayons, oil pastels or paint.

    color-in-between-black-lines

    color-rollercoaster-name-art

    When you are finished, you have an abstract and colorful piece of art.

    rollercoaster-art-finished-product

      If you’re looking for a project to keep your kiddos busy for a while, I hope this is a fun one!

    12 thoughts on “art with kids: rollercoaster names”

    1. Just had to let you know that I was with four kids age 7 to 11 for the afternoon yesterday and was wondering how I was going to keep them all busy. I got on your site and found this art idea. They ALL loved it, AND it gave me about a 45 minute break. Plus, all of the art was different from each other, but so, so good. Thank you, thank you for posting this simple, but lovely idea!

    2. Thank you for the awesome idea! I’m going to do it with my class of first graders next week. I know they will love it!

    3. What a fun project ~ I noticed you have a “lefty” whoes arm I’m sure was quite colorful by the end of this project. If you turn his papers so that the lower right corner is pointing towards his bellybutton (“righties” have the lower left corner pointing towards their bellybuttons), he is far less likely to smear :0)

    4. Love that you will be posting these! My son is always asking to do a “project” together and while I love obliging, I struggle to think of fun things to create. Thank you!

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