Saturday 21 August 2010

Murals

Neither one of my kids are big on coloring. I have bought tons of coloring books over the years and they sit unused. I have tried sitting with them to color or adding it to their school work. For example they are to write in their fieldwork journal and draw and color a picture about what they did on their field trip. My daughter will draw pictures but refuses to color them. My son refuses to draw without a lot of prompting and help from me, coloring is just not even in the cards at this time. Now my kids are only 6 and 8 so I am not expecting too much of them really, I just want them to slow down a little and be more careful with what they are doing. My thought process is to have them work on fine motor coordination and improve their writing skills. It must be the former Occupational Therapist in me.

Last summer I came up with the idea of doing a forest animal mural.


What I did was search the computer for all the forest animals coloring pictures. I also had the children decide what to include and how the mural should look. My daughter surprised me and really got into it. My son on the other hand still needed lots of hand holding. I made this a school art project that took us several weeks to complete.I did get him to do cut out the tree, leaves and apples so we worked on his cutting skills instead.





Next my daughter decided own her own that she wanted to do a mural about the Ocean. She choose the coloring pages that I printed off the computer, and I helped her with the lay out. She worked on it, on and off all winter. To be honest I wasn't sure she would ever complete it:) I think I missed an opportunity to do a Ocean unit study. We hung this one up in the bathroom:) My son only helped with the painting of the background.





Next my daughter decided to work on a Mystical creature mural. One of her favorite topics. So this summer she began working on the mural. I found all of the mystical creatures that she wanted to include on the computer. There were some creatures she asked for I had never heard of! She reads a lot of Greek and Roman mythology. She came up with the entire layout on her own. I only helped when she asked. This one she did in record time. I was so proud of her. She has also decided she wants to do a unit study on Mystical creatures. We start this unit study and lap book this week. My daughter wanted this mural to hang over her bed! Didn't she do a great job. If you look closely she included a Elf in the tree dropping drops of red paint on the fairies. Because she says Elves are always playing tricks. I have to say after hearing her talk so much about this mural and the creatures on it, I am looking for to studying this topic myself. I think my daughter will be teaching me more than I will be teaching her! Isn't that the wonderful thing about homeschooling!

17 comments:

  1. Sounds like my boys, they rarely used coloring books...until we began homeschooling last year. They are now 8 and 14 and with a 17 month old sister love them! Thanks for being my 101st follower (heehee) and I am so jealous of you living in England. Hubby is military and has been promising to make my dream of living overseas come true for years. I still have hope!

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  2. Welcome Mrs. Mandy I hope your family gets the chance to go overseas. It is a wonderful opportunity. We love it here. My husband works for the government on a military base in England. We hope to be here another 2 years. I do post on our travels abroad. Thanks for following:)

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  3. Such beautiful masterpieces and talent! I'm impressed that they persevered to complete such a creative project. You have yourself some great artist! Thanks for sharing :)
    I voted for you today on the Picket Fence! Thanks for your vote and visit and comment at my blog! It's nice to "visit" you again :0
    Have a good week!

    Tracy
    http://www.asliceofsmithlife.blogspot.com

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  4. Tracy
    Thanks for your vote and for stopping by. Art is a work in progress here but we try:)

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  5. Thanks for joining in the Hip Homeschool Mom's / Hop! We are excited to have you each week! I just love your blog!

    Meghan
    www.thetuckerstaketennessee.com
    www.facebook.com/hiphomeschoolmoms

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  6. Delightful! My 10 year old is a Greek Mythology fanatic too. Your kids did a great job with those murals. Came by from Hip Homeschool Hop to say hi!

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  7. Thanks Lizzie and Meghan for dropping by. This is only my second time signing up for a blog hop. I am still learning the ropes.

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  8. What a beautiful idea!
    Stopping by to say "Hi" from the Hip Homeschool Hop! Have a blessed day!

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  9. Jack never wants to color, but he does love to paint. Those murals are a good idea!
    Thanks for stopping by the Tuesday Blog Hop and following New To Mom. I'm following back.

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  10. Hi Amy and Michelle thanks for stopping by. Looking forward to visiting your sites

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  11. Beautiful mural. I love doing those with my class. New follower here from the Tuesday Blog Hop. Please stop by anytime you get a moment. Thanks.

    Marie
    The Things We Find Inside

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  12. Thanks for following I will be stopping by very soon.

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  13. Those are so cute! They did a great job!!!

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  14. Oh what a wonderful Idea. I can't wait till mine are a bit older !!!! Love it. Beautiful work !

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  15. Those are wonderful! My boys never got into coloring books either. That's a great use for them though.
    ~h

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  16. Thanks for following our blog. And those murals are great!

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  17. Thanks Michelle, Jana and the Holmes family for stopping by and leaving comments.

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