the idea: sprinkle salt on a drying watercolor painting This is an old art-teachers trick that I have learned from too many different people to just credit one. however I did this recently in a class and it went over very well, the kids are always amazed to see how the textures change, and so I …
the idea: have kids make postcards by drawing a picture and writing a message on the back This is one of my favorite things to teach because kids always write the most interesting things. This specific postcard was made for me by one of my students who is in kindergarten. She’d already made one to give …
the idea: make art while you teach art This may seem like a fairly obvious idea, but not that many people do it so I’m going to put it in anyway. As an art teacher, I find that it’s really important to make art while you teach art. Children relax when they see you making art …
the idea: photograph the watercolors running down the sink I love liquid watercolors. I had never used, seen, or heard of them before I worked at the MFA but now I use them all the time. They are incredibly bright and make everything look amazing, especially when used in combination with oil pastels. Today I …
One of the last classes that I taught before taking my holiday break from Boston was on watercolors. The problem with doing watercolors with kids is that they often finish them really quickly. Then they see you have more paper and want to make more. This problem was compounded by the fact that we were …