B is for Beach

After a recent vacation to Florida, my daughter, S, only wanted to talk about the beach, water, fish, swimming, seagulls, and anything beach related.  We checked out books from the library, looked up pictures on the Internet, and of course made some beachy themed art.

I tried to come up with a project that would capture the essence of our family vacation, while being simple enough for her stay engaged in.  I love this project because it truly can take on any form that you wish.  I'll explain the technique that we use... but by all means, adapt, shape, form, and make it your own.

My whole idea for this project was to add some texture to our art.  We took a collage approach by using a lot of different materials.  Our project used sand, glue, tissue paper, and watercolors.  You can substitute any of the materials depending on what you have.  I first started by dividing the paper into three parts with a black marker; sand, water, and sky.

It was a beautiful summer afternoon, so I decided that this project would best be done outside.  We gathered our materials and headed to our back porch.  We just happened to have a pile of sand, so I had S gather some sand in her bucket and bring it over with the rest of our supplies.  Next, I had S apply glue all over the bottom third of the paper.  I then showed her how to sprinkle the sand all over the glue.  Inevitably she ended up dumping the whole bucket of sand on the paper!  I showed her how it magically stuck to the paper where it stuck to the glue by shaking off the excess sand.  Of course this captivated her attention, so I quickly found an empty cereal box, cut it open and let her glue and pour some more.  I believe that it is important to let kids explore and experience as much as possible, so I will often have other similar projects planned or let S continue to investigate the many possibilities that the materials have to offer.  So while she played with glue and sand on the cereal box, I set aside her paper to dry in the sun.  By the time she was done playing, she was ready to paint.  You may also have to do this project in two sessions if your child has lost interest by the time the glue has dried.  I had S remember what colors she remembers seeing when she looked at the ocean.  She told me she remembered blue, green, orange, and purple... pretty good memory!  She picked those colors to paint her water.  My intention was to use tissue paper for the sky to give a textured feel.  However, S was done with the beach picture, so we stopped there.

If you choose to do the beach, think about other things you could collage onto this as well... I am thinking buckets in the sand, birds in the sky, and boats in the water.... all of which happen to start with the letter B! Of course, my two year old was done and I chose to respect that.  We could have gone back and added more, but I felt that the project was done for us.

Up next... B is for bugs!