A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Art Books

Hands Around the World

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Do you ever struggle with helping bring about cultural awareness?   Hands around the World is filled with 365 creative ways to help build cultural awareness in your students and to help us respect one another around the globe. There are activities for every day of the year.

hands around the world

So why am I talking about a cultural awareness book on my art day?  Well.. you see, often part of building awareness with each other is engaging in crafting or art projects with each other.  Reading the poems or seeing the crafts that people around the world make.  Whether it’s a japanese wind sock, or colouring a flag, making a puppet so you can put on a puppet show of a native story, or even making a Batwa story mouse.   There are so many ideas floating around the peoples of the world, why not build on them together?

hands around the world, contents

What do you get?

365 ideas, one for every day of the year.

Ideas vary in their ranges: recipes, stories, activities, crafts, games, physical activities, and more.

Learn new skills such a folding napkins, making a homemade toy, acting, or putting on a cultural sale.

hands around the world, ideas

My Thoughts:

I love the sheer variety of tried and tested ideas presented in this great Kids Can! Book.  Susan Milord does a great job of providing some very unique ways to help children from a variety of cultures connect with each other.  It’s good to see how other people do things, to learn their history, and to discover how we express ourselves within our cultural heritage. 

hands around the world, how to

hands around the world, book coverHands Around the World : 365 creative ways to build culture awareness & Global respect
Susan Milord
Series: Kids Can
Williamson Publishing
160 pages, softcover
Elementary, Cultural awareness, Heritage,
Art, crafts, cooking, dance, activities
Where to find.

Bright Ideas: Seasonal Activities

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I grew up with Bright Idea books floating around with things to do with children.  Published in 1984 they have been around a spell.  This particular book, Seasonal Activities, is filled with not just craft ideas, but with different things you can do with children throughout the different Seasons of the year.

Seasonal Activities by bright ideas

What do you get?

Seasonal Activities is divided into Four sections along with a reproducible materials section.  128 pages filled with over 150 activities to do for children 5 to 11. 

Each page lists the age range geared for, most often 5-9 or 7-11, with some variation, the type of activity, the size of group needed, and the supplies required.  Each activity was previously published in the Scholastic Magazine, and as such has been tried and tested.  Simple black and white illustrations dot the pages.

Seasonal Activities by bright ideas, sample page

Even though my lad is 13 years old, I found activities that I will be modifying to use over the coming year as we study Canada and the wars.  Things like travel study guides, radar mapping, cleaning barracks and more.  Do they need to be adapted sure?  It’s all part of the learning right?

Seasonal Activities table of contents

My Thoughts:

I love the sheer variety of things to do.  From kite-flying to building a collage.  There are things to delight and entertain any number of curious, creative 5-11 year olds. With some modifications, they could even be used at hands-on, stem projects for older students as well. 

seasonal activities book cover

 

Seasonal Ideas

Bright Ideas
Scholastic Publications
Softcover, ages 5-11,
crafts, activities, seasons

Found on Amazon.

McCalls Golden Do-It Book

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I can’t recall where I picked this book up or even if it’s a hangover from my childhood, all I know is that every time I go a cull of my art books and ask,”Do I REALLY need to keep this one?”, somehow this book ends up back on my shelf.  🙂   Ergo, I thought it was about time for me to share it with you.  My copy of McCalls Golden Do-It Book is getting a bit battered, the spine is loose, the pages a bit worn, but still the ideas are as real as anything.  So much make and do within the pages of this book.

McCalls Golden Do-It Book, collage

What do you get?

A number of different sections divide up this tome.  Each section containing 2-8 projects, great for children 6-14 years old.  (or later if so inclined).   Littles might like to try their hand as well but will most likely need some older person’s help to make the projects turn out well.

  1. Crayons, Paint, Paper, and Paste
  2. Printing
  3. Sculpture
  4. Toys
  5. Weaving
  6. Needlework
  7. Dolls
  8. Music
  9. Puppets
  10. Gifts
  11. How-to Section

You may be wondering, have we even completed any of the projects?   Well we’ve made cars and houses out of boxes, the lad for a while was big into paper craft, we’ve made boats and done some weaving.  Do I have pictures?  Um… no.  That would have been on my hard drive (external) that crashed last year and we’ve been unable to recover the data.  And well.. that’s that!

McCalls Golden Do-It Book, sample page spread

One thing I do want to try yet with my lad is making a seed painting and a yarn painting.  I just think they’d be rather neat to do and see what we could each come up with… or maybe I should save those ideas for co-op days.  🙂  Even to making sample kites to fly over enemy territory…hmm.. the ideas are endless.

McCalls Golden Do-It Book sample page

What do I think?

Some of the instructions could be a bit clearer and some items are used which aren’t as common today (for instance, I’ve never used rubber cement with my lad).   I’ve not heard of excelsior… which when I google it is a woody twine all mixed together.  Where to find I dunno.   It does sound neat to play around with just to see what one could do with it. Most of the instructions are just enough while leaving the rest to common sense.  Will it make the cut next spring?   I dunno, we’ve done most of what we want to in it, so we may just need to pass it along to another family with a creative keener. 🙂  It’s a good book with oodles of images and ideas to go along with each art project.

McCalls Golden Do-It Book, book cover

 McCalls Golden Do-It Book
Hardcover, 160 pages, 6-14 years
Art, crafts, creativity
Where to find Amazon.

 

Archidoodle City

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When I opened the pages of my newest review book, Archidoodle City, my heart did this little smile.  I don’t know why.  I am SO not an architect, but as I turned the pages and saw the variety contained therein… my heart smiled.  Come along with me, perhaps your heart will smile too. 🙂

Steve Bowkett is a teacher of architecture and has done so for more than 25 years.  He is currently the senior lecturer at London South Bank University.  He wrote a previous book call Archidoodle.  He has a wife and children, and along with a dog, and a couple of cats, called Buckinghamshire home.   You can see his passion for design within the pages of this lovely tome.  Seriously… I just really like this book.  🙂

archidoodle city

Being the teacher that he is, he opens this book with some lessons talking about the tools of the trade, and the importance of vanishing points. He shows how to create different effects so the student can add definition to their work.

As you work your way through the pages of this book, which says it is geared to architects of all ages, but really.. anyone who likes to draw will enjoy this book, you will find projects of differing levels of complexity.   I loved how he combined real life with opportunities to try your own hand at it.  For instance the Water Towers of Manhattan.  Students did wrap around art on them to “promote the global water crisis”.   In this book the student is encouraged to come up with their own theme to promote and a number of blank water towers to fill. archidoodle city

Real-life architecture from around the globe as used as points of inspiration.  Mr. Bowkett gives the student a groundwork to start from, sparking the imagination to fill in, create and make something all their own. I appreciate how he sparks the imagination by giving it some well defined starting points and parameters to work with in.   Having just a blank sheet can sometimes be intimidating.  Having a starting point, or a space to work with, provides a safety net and allows the imagination to soar. 

archidoodle city

 

Archidoodle City: an Architect’s Activity Book
Steve Bowkett
Laurence King
160 pages, ages 8+
Architecture, Art, Drawing
Activity Book
Reviewed for Raincoast books.
Where to find: Amazon link.

 

My Thoughts:

I think this is a fantastic book that will amuse students from age 8 and up.   Some of the pieces (divided over a two page spread) are more challenging than others, but a challenge is good for any age.   I loved that not every page was presented the same way.  Some of the projects were rather grand, others were smaller (three or six on a two page spread).  We traveled all over the world: Italy, USA, Tokyo and beyond.  We discover toilets, bus stations and ventilation tubes.  There is architecture in places that I wouldn’t have even considered.  Get this book. Be amazed.  Have fun drawing, learning and discovering.  🙂

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Scratch & Draw Enchanted Animals

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I have reviewed Scratch and Draw books before, and when Scratch & Draw Enchanted Animals arrived I thought I knew what I was getting. I have to say, I was delighted to be proven wrong. 

This Scratch and Draw book is different from any others that I have ever used before. It is.  It’s actually a pretty cool book and I just have to tell you about it.

scratch & Draw enchanted animals

In Scratch & Draw Enchanted Animals you get a book filled with 20 easy to follow designs to make your own beautiful, scratched out art work.  Each design comes with a scratch paper of it’s own in colours such as silver, gold, burgundy, and black.  The cover of the book promises they are easy to follow and they are!  

ME… non-artistic me!  I was able to mostly replicate a drawing.  Even my artistic lad said “good job mom, you only needed to bring that part out a bit more, and why didn’t you do the ears right?”  But otherwise, I apparently did a good job. Easy enough to replicate and if I wanted to, I could have changed it (at least the ear part).  I did use a side of the page to play around with different strokes I could make with the tool.

scratch & Draw enchanted animals

Oh yes, each book comes with it’s own tool.  It’s a solid plastic tool with a pointy end and flat broad end. I found that it fit into my hand nicely and did the job smoothly, like holding a pen or pencil in my hand.

scratch & Draw enchanted animals, enclosed tool

I love the variety in the designs and the page colours.   They are what is promised “easy-to-follow drawings”.  Easy to replicate, easy to change to suit your own creativity, easy to work with (the stylus worked smoothly), and easy to remove for display purposes.    Scra& Draw Enchanted Animals

This is just a lovely book for anyone to sit down with to unwind after a busy day, to take along on a trip or to just spend some time being creative with.  

scratch & Draw enchanted animals

Scratch and Draw Enchanted Animals

Marisa Redondo
Rockport
Reviewed for: Quarto
Series: Scratch & Draw

20 designs plus stylus
Adult Coloring, Creative, Art Book

 

Other Scratch books I’ve reviewed:

Wild Garden.
Hand Lettered Life.

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Art with Dolls

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Do you remember I did a class on making dolls?  We had a lot of fun though admittedly we did the class differently than I had planned.

clothes pin doll, doll making class

You see my kids wanted to learn how to sew.  This wasn’t on my agenda at all.  I remember teaching my son to sew and thought two kids, sewing.. NOT.  But they really, really  (to the extent of begging) wanted to learn so I bite the bullet. 

making stuffies as we learn to sew in Doll Making ClassI have to admit, the hardest part was trying to make sure Dad wasn’t helping their lad too much.  “Let him do it himself I kept instructing!”.   The children had fun learning to make a simple block stuffy, giving them their own personalities and colour. 

The final day I gave them three different options for what to make.  Paper dolls, Topsy-turvy dolls or Clothespin dolls. 

Know what they both chose?  Topsy Turvy dolls!   What fun!   And easy enough to make.  Take a sock (like you are going to make a snow man doll) but instead you make a face on both sides and give the doll a cape to you can show which side is up. 

Topsy turvy dolls in doll making class

I loved how the children made these dolls their own.  🙂

Let’s see what else did we make.  OH.. the wooden stick dolls.  Which well.. we didn’t use wooden sticks from trees (like we were supposed to) I had long white things (surgical supply I think) and dowels, it was great letting the children decide which they wanted to use, and we had fun being creative!   One child decided he wanted to make a cat!  The other did a doll with a striped dress.   My son did “Dr. Who”. 

wooden stick dolls in doll making class

We also made a doll that could move on strings. But I will have to show you that another day as it’s getting late and I’m rather tired.  🙂

My goal is to teach this class (or another like it) to a different group of children.  I am hopeful to do that this summer.   Would be fun to teach it again…it was a great class to do. 

The Fish and the Cat

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Have you ever discovered the sheer joy that a wordless book brings?   To be able to look at pictures and formulate your own story?   I tell you, it is SO MUCH FUN.  To sit with a wordless book like “The Fish and the Cat” and tell any old story you choose…it’s a great thing.  And then to flip it around and let the child tell the story to you?  AH!  THIS I LOVE!   I love helping children learn to tell their own stories, and having a prop book just helps them along the way you know?

The Fish and the Cat, a wordless book that encourages creativity

About the book:

The Fish and the Cat is a playful story of pursuit between a cat and pet fish that starts in the house, moves through the neighborhood, and ends in the sky with a chase around the stars and the moon. This wordless picture book, full of action and humor, encourages children to create their own stories and adventures.

Marianne Dubuc brings to life the cat and the fish, using shades of black with splashes of orange-red for the fish.  We are privileged to follow the fish and the cat on their journey through the world and even to the moon!

What kind of adventures do you think one fish and one cat could get into?

Geared for ages 4 and up, this hardcover book, with mostly black/white illustrations, is filled with easy to follow illustrations, making it easy to concoct an adventure for fish and cat to get into. 

The Fish and the Cat, a wordless book that encourages creativity, sample page

My Thoughts:

I LOVE, dearly love books like this.  To be able to sit down with a child with a book in hand that has no words, just pictures to spark conversation and story.  It harkens back to the days when I would ask children I was babysitting to give me three words, any three words I would make a story from them.  We had SO much fun together it was simply delightful. 

The simplicity of the drawings leads to further flights of fancy as I’m not distracted by too much in the illustrations, or I can simply add something not yet seen, only to be imagined.  I simply adore the creative process wordless books like these lend themselves too. 

One time for my homeschool co-op I taught a story-telling class.  I brought in all my story telling props… like story cubes, picture card deck, ghost  story box, grammar fish and more.  We had a lot of fun using these aids to tell stories and to learn all the parts of a story.   A book like The Fish and the Cat would be a welcome addition to my resources.   Wouldn’t it be fun to give this book to a bunch of 9-12 year olds and see the story they would each come up with?  And then share how they came up with it?  Simply marvellous.  

Or you could even make it simpler and have a story time with 6-8 year olds… that could be a blast don’t you think?   Helping creative minds learn how to tell a good story?

The Fish and the Cat, a wordless book that encourages creativity, sample pageI hope that you are as delighted with this book that I am.   Wordless books can be a bit disconcerting at first, but once you discover the joy of telling your own story, or in listening to a child tell their own story, you will find yourself hooked. 🙂

The Fish and the Cat, a wordless book that encourages creativity

The Fish and The Cat
Marianne Dubuc
Princeton Architectural Press
Hardcover, Wordless Book, Ages 4+
at least 60 pages (I kept losing count)
Wordless, storytelling, creative