Toy Photography

Photography is when you create an image or a picture using a camera. 

A photograph (photo) is a picture you take with a camera. 

Photographers take pictures, or images that paint a picture, tell a story, or record an event.

photo by Sydney J.

Toy: Lego Minifigure
Location: on the kitchen counter in the sugar bowl

What is the story? I love baking shows and my minifigure is baking!
















Taking Photos
You can use any phone, tablet or camera to take photos. If you already know how to take pictures, great! If you don't, have your grown up show you to turn on the camera, point and shoot! Pointing is when you can see what you are taking a picture of, and the area surrounding your subject. That area is just as important as your actual subject, just like in drawing or painting, your background is as important to your work as the subject-especially if you are telling a story. When you 'shoot' in photography you are pressing the button that takes the picture. Your adult can also show you how to zoom in to get close ups, and use filters to make changes to the colors in your pictures! 

Now that you know some camera basics, think of what kind of toy you want to photograph...
Lego minifigures (like my kids chose)
LOL dolls
Pokemon toys
Littlest Pet Shop
Small stuffed animals
Action figures
what else could you choose

Where will you photograph your toy? 
Will you be outside or inside? 
What kind of story do you want to tell? 
Location is very important. In the photo below, the minifigure is standing behind the fishtank, on the table. Notice the minifig is wearing diving gear. My son stood in front of the aquarium and took the picture. He took several pictures and chose the best one to save. 

photo by Seth J

Toy: lego minifigure
Location: behind the fishtank
What is the story? 
This photo is about his minifigure
 looking at fish in the ocean .

photo by Seth J

Toy: lego minifigure
Location: in the dining room plant
What is the story? This photo is about me hiking in the rainforest.

photo by Seth J

Toy: Bionacle and Lego Minifigure
Location: on the table by the salt lamp
What is the story? This photo is about an epic battle!

photo by Sydney 

Toy: lego minifigure
Location: in the laundry basket
What is the story? This photo is about me hiking in the snowy mountains.


My children really enjoyed this project, I hope you do too! 

Painting with Coffee

If you love to experiment and try new things, or if you like to paint, you should enjoy painting with coffee because you 

MAKE YOUR OWN PAINT! 

Watch this video for examples of coffee paintings, video instructions, and a painting demonstration. If you decide to make a coffee painting, have a grown up help you get all the things you need!

Create Your Own Trophy!

Lesson on designing a trophy perfect for you!

How to make a foil figure

Drawing- Art at Home

Drawing Spring

In the Spring, the Earth seems to be waking up from a deep sleep.
The grass starts growing again, and leaves come out of the trees. There are so many colors! 

We start to notice baby animals... bunnies, deer and birds are some I've seen. Also, some things I don't love happen in Spring, like I start to notice bugs again, but I know that bugs help our ecosystem too.

As an artist all these are very inspiring to me. Are they inspiring to you?

This week can you think about some of the changes you have noticed that happen in Spring?

This video can help you with ideas...

What do you like best about Earth?

When you watch the video, notice all the different supplies they used to create their drawings. I bet you have some of these things around your house.

Pencils    Crayons    Pens     Markers     Chalk    Oil Pastels     Colored Pencils


I think this would be a good idea for me to draw, a mama bird built a nest in my gutter. I've been watching her for weeks carefully building, and now she sits on the eggs all day and all night.

Music helps me with my art too. Here are some songs about birds you might like to listen to while you draw.

Ziggy Marley-wings of an eagle

Elizabeth Mitchell-Little Bird Little Bird

Puppets- Art at Home Week 5

Puppets are fun to make and great for imaginative play. 

You can make puppets many ways! 

First, you will need to decide what kind of puppet you want to make. 

• What kind of materials will you use?
• Is it an animal, human, machine, or creature?

You can name your puppet, and think of how you might like to use your puppet.

Some suggestions: 

Your puppet can sing a song to your family!

Your puppet can tell jokes!

You can use your puppet to read to your younger sibling, or a pet! 

You can create several puppets, plan, and perform a puppet show!

Other Links:

Paper Puppets-Red Ted Art video on how to make easy paper puppets

Cardboard Robot puppets - The Artful Parent

Architecture-Art at Home Week 4

Architecture! 

Architecture is the art of designing buildings. An architect is an artist who designs buildings. Architects work with civil engineers and construction workers to make sure our buildings both look good, and are safe!

This video is an oldie, but a goodie!

How can I explore Architecture at home?

Last week the lesson was to go on a scavenger hunt to find lots of different materials and objects you could use to create a sculpture. Many of those items could also be used to build with for architecture. 

You do not have to attach them together if you don't want. Sometimes it's fun to knock it down and start again in a different way.

Found materials to build with...

Look what they made!

Anything you can stack, could be a building supply

Architects often design their buildings on paper first, what if you made a drawing of your building?

Click below for a video demonstration:

Brown lunch bags decorated then stuffed with newspaper could become buildings.

Lots of more wonderful books about architecture can be found on YouTube. Here are just a few more...

Roberto The Insect Architect
If I Built A House
The Three Little Pigs

Sculpture Scavenger Hunt--Art at Home Week3

Sculpture Scavenger Hunt