School in the Kitchen: stART

I found the idea for "stART" (a story + an art project) over at Mommy's Adventures; Michelle started the stART meme a few months ago and I'm so glad that I stumbled across it! I absolutely love the idea of combining a book with art projects -- in fact, I build a lot of thematic, literature based art into my Tot School planning.

This week, we have been reading The Grouchy Lady, by Eric Carl. While it isn't her favorite book, my Little Lady has enjoyed the story and loves that we are talking about and MAKING ladybugs.

One of the ladybug projects she made was an actual Ladybug. This was the Little Lady's first time to use a glue stick. Oh. My. Goodness! The glue stick was a HIT! She would have glued things all day if I had let her. She became quite upset when the gluing portion of our project was over -- she wanted to keep going.

The only part of this project that the Little Lady did not do herself was attaching the pipe cleaner pieces and the eyes. I used a hot glue gun for those parts since I was confident her little glue stick would not hold up to the weight of the pipe cleaner and plastic eyes.

The end result? She loved her ladybug and was incredibly proud of her efforts! As soon as Daddy came home, she raced to get the ladybug and showed it off. The same thing happened when her grandparents stopped by for a visit.

The supplies for her ladybug were very easy and simple to prepare. In advance (aka, during "nap time"), I used red and black construction paper to cut out the head, wings, body, and dots for the bug. For the antennae and legs, I used two black pipe cleaners, and (obviously) "googly" eyes were utilized for the eyes. I sealed everything in a plastic bag until we were ready to begin -- the way my day was going, I did NOT need little black dots on the loose all over my kitchen.