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.
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.
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.
Continue writing the name, moving to the lower lines as you reach the end of the paper.
Then trace over the pencil lines with a black marker.
Now is the fun part: fill in all the spaces between each black line with a different color.
We used markers, but you could also use crayons, oil pastels or paint.
When you are finished, you have an abstract and colorful piece of art.
If you’re looking for a project to keep your kiddos busy for a while, I hope this is a fun one!
