A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

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Art Book: Playful Painting Pets

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Let’s say you have a pet and you like to paint, but you look at said pet and say “I dunno, How can I show off that silky fur?”   Faye Moorhouse comes to your rescue in Playful Painting: Pets. 

In Playful Painting pets, Ms. Moorhouse demonstrates how to paint a wide variety of cats and dogs, she also shows how to do a smattering of other animals as well.

From Fluffy cats

To furry dogs

Faye Moorhouse gives us many ideas for bringing our beloved pets to life on the pages of our art pads.  

She starts off her book talking about tools and techniques.

She then covers dogs: pugs, german shepherds, labs, beagles, Terriers and more.  Some wearing clothes, others with just their fur.  Moving on to cats such as scruffy cats, persian cats, cats on rugs etc.   Other pets are introduced such as hamsters, budgies and rabbits.

Each section concludes with a gallery of the animals covered. 

The part I liked most in this book was her gallery of how to show off your art work.

 I also really appreciated the tips she put within her instructions.

Her step by step instructions

and the different truisms scattered throughout.

It’s a good book to show you how to bring the pets in your life out on paper. 

Playful Painting: Pets – More than 20 fun and clever painting project for animal lovers.
Faye Moorhouse
type: art/techniques/painting
Pages:144
Age: middle school and up
Publisher: Walter Foster
Series: Playful Painting

Reviewed for: Quarto Group

Where can you find it?
Amazon.ca: Playful Painting: Pets: More than 20 fun and clever painting projects for animal lovers.
Amazon.com: Playful Painting: Pets: More than 20 fun and clever painting projects for animal lovers.

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Canada Book: Canada Year By Year

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This book has a wee bit of everything to celebrate all that’s good in Canada through her 150 years of being.  I liked it!   A well written book that touches on all aspects of Canadian life.

About the book:  A year-by-year tour of Canada’s fascinating history highlights a single
milestone for every year from the country’s founding in 1867 up to its
150th anniversary in 2017. Divided into ten distinct eras, coverage
ranges from politics, sports, business and arts and culture, and
includes significant events both at home and in world affairs.

So what did I think you ask?   I thought this was a rather neat book, seeing the highlights, at least in the eyes of the author, over the past 150 years was very interesting.  🙂

What drew my attention?
The years are divided into 10 year sections.  Making it easy to target the era most interested in.

The coverage isn’t focused on just one area of Canadian life.

Shows Canada at home and in the the world.   A great timeline of Canadian life, the easy and the not so easy included.

Profiles of Canadians, from various walks of life. Prime Ministers, athletes, women in action, and more.

 
Good division of white space, text and images.  Book designed to appeal to all ages, at a level easily read by most children.

 

What can I say, this is an good book that reveals a lot about Canada, many facts that I previously wasn’t aware of. If you are learning about Canada, check out this book, you’ll be amazed at the accomplishments of my wonderful land.

Canada Year By Year
Elizabeth MacLeod
Illustrator: Sydney Smith
Kids Can Press
Type: Hardcover, Kids book

Where Can I Find It?
Amazon.ca: Canada year by year.
Amazon.com: Canada year by year.

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Art Book: It’s Great to Create

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Jon Burgerman has created a really fun art book for us to use.  Coming up with 101 creative exercises for anyone to do as they play around doing art.

art create exercises

It’s Great to Create is not a very large book but it is very packed full of ideas.   From writing upside down, to creating self-portraits using household items, and so much more.

These ideas are divided into 

  • prompts for paper
  • prompts for objects
  • Prompts for indoors and outdoors

Along with various resources you can use.   In this section Mr. Burgerman talks about the items such as pens, pencils, paints, and brushes available as well as other items.  

Can you imagine making a poem using colour?  I want to try this with some 6-8 year olds and see what they come up with!  🙂

 Some of these ideas make me want to do a fun night of 10 minute art challenges with my home school group.   Can you… create with colour, can you do a self-portrait while blind folded, can you make a smudge animal, and so on and so forth.  Wouldn’t that just be a hoot?  Think quick, don’t worry on perfection, just do it!  Remove the fear from art and just have fun.

  
What do you think?   Doesn’t it look like a fun book?   I think so.  🙂

It’s Great to Create: 101 Fun Creative Exercises for Everyone
Jon Burgerman
Chronicle Books
Size: approximately 5 x 4
Age range: all ages
Type: art book
Pages: 224

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books. 

Where can you find it?
Amazon.ca: It’s Great to Create.
Amazon.com:  It’s Great to Create.

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Art Book:1 2 3, I Can Sculpt

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 1,2,3, I Can Sculpt is colourful book geared to helping your young ones have fun creating sculptures.  The book starts off explaining what a sculpture is

“a piece of art that has more than one side to look at”.

Isn’t that just the most straight-forward definition of a sculpture that you have heard?


The next pages walk you through some items you can use for sculpting, egg cartons, aluminum foil, tape and more. 

Our path is led on by the question “How do you form the idea for a sculpture?”

For instance.. what can an egg carton make?  or how about a piece of paper? Can clay make a sculpture?  Before you know it, you’ll have seven ideas for sculptures you can make.. perhaps you might even come up with more.. all on your own!

I loved the big text, and the clear images, making it easy for anyone to help a younger child learn how to make a sculpture out of the various objects used throughout the book.

Try things out, see what you can make a sculpture out of! 

The book closes with a parent/teacher section, giving you ideas and vocab words to use with your children. 

It’s a nice beginner sculpting book, check it out eh?

1, 2, 3, I Can Sculpt!
Irene Luxbacher
series: starting art
Kids Can Press
24 pages
hardcover

Where can you find it?
Amazon.ca: 1, 2, 3 I Can Sculpt!
Amazon.com:  1, 2, 3, I Can Sculpt!

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Canada Book: Jasper Explores the Pacific Coast.

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If you are ever studying Canada you need to pick up the Jasper books, seriously.   They give a good look at Canada while following the tale of a cute stuffy and his friends.   

Jasper is a polar bear stuffy who likes to explore the land that he lives in.  The book we are looking at today is called Jasper Explores the Pacific Coast. 

You get easy to read text, with plenty of pictures.

He covers all the big things of the area that he is going through.   The mountains, the rivers and lakes, the tourist places like Buchart Gardens.   

He even gives a map of where he is!  

I love the paw prints that lead from page to page, the fun story that will appeal to younger readers and the clear sharp images.   There are many full page images, and finding Jasper and the things that caught his attention delighted my lad when he was younger.   

So if you are studying Canada.. pick up the Jasper books, they’ll add a great overview and are a fun read as well.  🙂

Jasper explores the Pacific Coast
Dough and Shannon Chapman
Series: Jasper’s Great Canadian Adventure
32 pages
Hardcover
Geography picture book

Where can you find it?
Amazon.ca: Jasper Explores the Pacific Coast.
Amazon.com: Jasper Explores the Pacific Coast.

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Art Book: Stick Sketch School

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I want you to imagine that you have just taught your children about this amazing animal called the blob fish.  It comes out of Tasmania, and you asked your children to draw a picture of it and they give you a blank look… How can you help them draw this amazing fish?   Well, if you have the Stick Sketch School book it will be easy peasy.. just turn to page 86 and before you know it your children will have created a beautiful image of the blob fish.  🙂   Might be a sketch figure but it will be “beautiful” enough to colour in and create an underwater world.

Allow me now to introduce you to a wonderful book called “Stick Sketch School”

Stick Sketch School

This is a rather neat book that I see so much potential for in a homeschool situation (or even a lets just draw together at home).

There is such a variety of animals (real or imagined) such as frogs, tigers, bears, reindeer, spiders, flies, blob fish, whales and more

Each animal comes with a small introduction, along with where they are from.  They have fun introducing the animal.

stick sketch school

The rest of the page shows you different ways you can draw your stick figure animal.

Stick Sketch School: An Animal Artventure: Mastering the Art of Stick Figure Critters (Stick World)

Each animal is given a two page spread.
One to show how to draw it and give ideas.  The second to create a scene with your newly drawn animals.  Do you see how he has three sheep started?   Wouldn’t it be fun to draw them in and then add some little sheep frolicking about?

stick sketch school

I think this is a such a neat art book.  Animals, with their place in the world, an author with a sense of humour that shows various ways you can draw the same animal in a simple stick figure way.  Bring those critters to life eh?   

It could be such a fun addition to geography study, nature study or just a fun art class.  🙂   Use it as part of a co-op class!   Have fun, bring your stick figures to life, give them facial expressions and interesting poses. 
 

Stick Sketch School: An Animal Artventure: Mastering the Art of Stick Figure Critters (Stick World)

Stick Sketch School.  Mastering the art of stick figure critters.
Author/Artist: Billy Attinger
Author: Rachel Kochackis
Series:Stick Figures- An Animal Adventure
Softcover
Art Book

Reviewed for: Quarto Group

Where Can I Find It?
Amazon.ca: Stick Sketch School
Amazon.com: Stick Sketch School, an animal adventure

Linked up at the Virtual Fridge!

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Art Book: Mudworks

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Today I have a rather different art book to show you.  It’s called “Mudworks: Creative Clay, Dough and Modeling Experience”.

This is a rather neat book, seriously.


It’s chockful of recipes for making all sorts of sculptures and models.
It’s divided into the following sections
1. playdough: cooked and uncooked
2. bread dough: baked and dried
3. Plaster of Paris
4. Papier-mache
5. Edible Dough Art: baked and unbaked
6. Modeling mixtures and more

Many of the recipes were unique!  Check out this one:

They also had one for making oatmeal dough and cotton dough (out of cotton balls!!!)…these ones can even be baked!

The plaster of paris section gives different ways of using plaster of paris to make sculptures (like using a balloon to shape it, or pouring it over ice cubes or adding sand to it).

SOME of the recipes made me laugh like this one:

Like really… a recipe for making mud-pies, it just made me grin.  This book has thought of so many interesting and creative ideas.

Illustrator Kathleen Kerr showed up with simple yet effective drawings to add interest to each of the pages, as well as providing visual cues for how to make some of the unique sculptures found within the pages.

Anyways, if you work with kids and need recipes and ideas for sculpting and having fun with moldable stuff, this is the book for you.  So many ideas and creative ways to keep children busy using their hands and creative imaginations.

The top of each page gives the age range it is good for as well.

Mudworks: creative clay, dough and modeling experiences
Autor: MaryAnn F. Kohl
Illustrator: Kathleen Kerr
Publisher: Bright Ring Publishing
Pages: 152
Series: Bright Ideas for Learning Centres

Where can you find it?
Amazon.com: Mudworks.

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites