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Recommended Website:
FirstPalette.com Age Range: 3-9 (and up) Did you know that March 28th is “Something On A Stick Day”? It is! While the origin of this day is a mystery, you can celebrate by making stick puppets out of paper and either drinking straws or craft sticks. Use them to enact spring-themed stories that the whole family will enjoy! At this website, you’ll find free instructions and templates for making these stick puppets:
- Bunny & Chick
- Circus Animals
- Jungle Animals
- Polar Animals
- Safari Animals
- Sea Animals
When you’re through making stick puppets, check out the rest of this terrific webiste that offers free step-by-step guides to making all kinds of kids’ crafts for every occasion. Here’s another celebratory suggestion: Eat your meals on a stick! Corn dogs and popsicles come to mind – but you can also cut your food into bite-size pieces and let the kids eat their meals with toothpicks on March 28th! (Adult supervision required.)Recommended Website:
Captain Watercolor Age Range: 10 and up (although, with adult guidance younger students may enjoy aspects of these lessons as well) A Maryland ClickScholar recommended this website that provides free, watercolor painting lessons through online video demonstrations. The lessons are also fully written out, so you can read the text as you watch the video. When you get to the site you’ll see a video screen and some Google Ads. Below them are a menu and an introduction to the website. Use the menu to locate the free lessons for: *Beginning – Includes basic watercolor lesson, color mixing, stretching and preparing paper, how to paint trees, a snowscape, skies, a barn, a bird, and more. *Intermediate – Learn to paint color schemes, wet in wet, florals, a basket, and learn to create depth. *Advanced – Discover how to create shadows in the landscape, how to paint abstract art, learn the techniques of monoprinting and advanced concepts in color. You can also read about “Captain Watercolor” and sign up to be notified as new lessons and features are posted to the site. Enjoy!Recommended Websites:
Age Range: 10 and up (This is geared for the general public. Younger children may enjoy aspects of the presentation.)
At the Whitehouse website, you can watch a slide show of the official presidential portraits for all 44 U.S. Presidents. Not only that, but below each portrait, there is a link to a full biography. Be sure to check out President #1, George Washington, and President #16, Abraham Lincoln. President’s Day commemorates their February birthdays.
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DLTK: President’s Day Activities
Age Range: 3-12 (approximately)
This site offers free craft activities that are appropriate for ages 3-12. For President’s Day you’ll find an assortment of coloring pages, a TP roll craft to make a stovepipe hat, and even instructions to make a milk-carton log cabin.
Enjoy!
Recommended Website:
The Art of Crime Detection Age Range: 8-18 (Parents, as always, should preview the site for suitable content.) A Washington ClickScholar reminded me of this website that we featured on ClickSchooling in 2003 – it’s fun and deserves another look. It provides free instructions on how to be a police sketch artist! When you get to the site, the program lanuches and includes an introduction that explains how artists use the right and left sides of their brains to draw. Then, watch some animated crime scenes (very mild — for example, vandals put toilet paper on trees). As you watch the scene you get a glimpse of the perpetrator’s face. Next, you help the police catch the vandal by drawing that criminal’s face using a sketching tool provided on the site. You select the shape of the face, the eyes, hair, lips, nose, etc. Your composite should look like the criminal. There are three exercises provided at the site — so plan to spend some time when you visit. Enjoy! Recommended Website:
ColorMatters.com: For Kids
Age Range: All (The kids section of this site is geared to ages 6-12.) At this website, real-life Color Professor J.L. Morton, provides kids with free and fascinating information about color and how it affects humans and other creatures. The topics are quite unusual and include:
- How Animals See Color – Explanations and actual photographs that demonstrate the colors you see and what your dog sees.
- Why Are School Buses Yellow? – Enjoy a brief discussion of “true yellow” and some facts about the color yellow you might not have known.
- Look Inside the Eye – Find out how cones and rods in the eye’s retina determine the colors that humans, insects, birds and animals see.
- Color Matters for What You Wear – What do you know about the colors pink and blue? Find out what colors mean in different cultures.
When you are through exploring the kids’ section of the site use the menu to explore color in depth. Professor Morton provides the sum total of her color research and courses on this site. You’ll find out how color affects:
- Symbolism & Emotions
- The Body
- Vision
- Design & Art
- Business & Marketing
- Computers
- Ecology
- Science
- ~ and more!
Enjoy! Recommended Websites:
Age Range: 4-104 (Fun for all ages! Little ones will need assistance.) Reindeer Paper Chains
http://www.homefires.com/click?reindeer
Preschool children can help make decorative chains out of construction paper and gift wrap. There are also instructions for how to make a really cute “Reindeer Chain.”
Popcorn and Cranberry Chains
http://www.homefires.com/click?popcorn Make a pretty popcorn and cranberry garland, while teaching the kids some basic sewing skills.
Paper Snowflake Chains
http://www.papersnowflakes.com/fans.htm Get free printable snowflake patterns with instructions on how to fold and cut them so that they resemble beautiful snowflakes. Then, string them together in a chain or hang them individually.
Paper Chains
http://www.homefires.com/click?chains Get easy instructions on how to make simple paper and lotus chains. Have fun!Recommended Website:
Leslie Tryon: How To Draw A Turkey
Age Range: 5-10 (approximately)
Children’s author and illustrator Leslie Tryon provides a free and very simple art lesson at her website that illustrates how to draw a turkey – just in time for Thanksgiving decorations!
When you’re through drawing and coloring your turkey, use the menu at the bottom of the page to explore some of the other fun activities archived at this website including:
*Kids Page – Get an illustrated guide to how to say “Thanksgiving” in sign language. Print out coloring pages of a variety of cats!
*Teachers/Librarians – Get fun projects that are themed for each month of the year. You’ll find printables, games, and activities. Don’t miss the “Science” activities that include information on windmills, fossils, and clouds.
Interested in more ways to draw a turkey? Try these websites: Art Projects for Kids
http://www.homefires.com/click?turkey Scholastic’s Draw A Turkey
http://www.homefires.com/click?drawturkey Use Your Hand To Draw A Turkey
http://www.homefires.com/click?handturkey
Have fun!