Have a kid who loves to draw? Check out our NEW Drawing Skills Master Class!  Designed for kids 6-11 to gain skills and confidence.

suncatchers and cutting string

Boy does this kid like to cut string! I set out a ball of yarn, a pair of scissors, and a bowl the other day to keep her entertained while I did some sewing. I thought it would be good for about 5 or 10 minutes, but she kept at it for about an hour! […]

String Painting Ideas :: Mirror Image Prints with Kids

We tried out some string painting ideas with the kids art group yesterday. The materials were simple: Yarn Washable tempera paint And white paper And the ideas were pretty simple, too… The kids started out by dipping pieces of yarn in paint then dragging it across their paper. This quickly progressed to hand prints and […]

Marble Rolling with the Art Group

We did some marble rolling with the Toddler Art Group yesterday. I had a bag of marbles that we had picked up at a yard sale a couple of years ago along with those wooden blocks that you can build a marble run with. I had put the marbles away, until now, because of the […]

Tiffany McDonald on Goldsworthy-Inspired Art

Tiffany McDonald is a friend and the mother of two beautiful daughters, Lily, age 7, and Sadie, age 2. She is an artist (even though she calls herself a wanna-be!) and also volunteers in Lily's classroom teaching art. The photo above is from a month or so ago when she came over for some tea […]

Paper Making for Kids :: A Handmade Paper Shapes Tutorial

My friend Tracy Hildebrand is a former art teacher who volunteers at her daughter’s preschool teaching art projects. When she told me about a paper making project she did with the kids that sounded easy and fun, I asked Tracy to share how she did it. Here’s her tutorial :: Paper Making for Kids A Handmade Paper […]

Ginger Carlson on Nurturing Creativity and Curiosity

  Ginger Carlson is the author of the recently released Child of Wonder: Nurturing Creative & Naturally Curious Children, an educational consultant, and a mother of one enthusiastic boy named Zeal. Note: Readers will have a chance to win a copy of Ginger’s new book at the end of the interview. JEAN: I love your […]

FUN Kids Books about Music

You know that we like music. Here are a few of our favorite kids books about music and also some picture books that are basically just illustrated songs. We have more of the latter and fewer of the former, but would love some recommendations… These are FUN books, which is why we keep returning to […]

Pretend Soup – A Visual Kids Cookbook That Empower Kids To Cook!

Maia and I made popovers for breakfast using a recipe from her kids cookbook, Pretend Soup, a gift from our friend Leah. The kids cookbook is subtitled A Cookbook for Preschoolers and Up and has visual recipes for pre-literate kiddos in addition to normal-looking written recipes. What a great way to empower kids in the kitchen! Update […]

Fingerpainting Jackson Pollock Style

We received a package the other day that had a huge piece of shiny white paper loosely wrapping the items inside. I thought it would be perfect for fingerpainting, so taped it to the table in the studio. Maia noticed it almost immediately and wanted to paint. Having such a large piece of paper was […]

Kristen Marra on Unschooling the Arts

Kristen Marra is a former preschool teacher with a background in the arts who now homeschools her three children (ages almost 4, 9, and almost 13) and blogs about their artful life at Pepper Paints. JEAN: Thanks for agreeing to an interview, Kristen! I understand that you homeschool. Can you describe your homeschooling style? KRISTEN: […]