Art Ideas

Christmas Cutouts
Media: Felt-tip/Texta pen, coloured paper & paint
Technique: Presents and christmas tree drawn with markers and decorated with coloured dots, cut out and pasted on paper.

Christmas Shapes
Media: Crayon, paint & geometric shaped sponges
Technique: Christmas tree and presents created using paint dipped geometric shaped sponges stamped onto paper.

Handprint Christmas Tree
Media: Paint, dye & hands
Technique: Background paper dyed, hand prints arranged in the form of a Christmas tree, coloured dots to decorate.

Hand & Foot Print Reindeer
Media: Paint, coloured paper, black marker, foot & hands
Technique: Trace foot onto coloured paper and cut out to make head, handprints to form antlers, face details drawn on with paint and marker.

Colourful Buildings
Media: Dye, paint, black marker, coloured card/ paper & crayons
Technique: Different sheets of paper painted with mixed colours, and other sheets marked with crayons roughly and washed over with dye for texture - cut sheets into shapes for roofs, windows, doors, etc., then pasted onto background sheet of coloured card, buildings traced with black marker to add detail.

Poem & Footprint
Media: Paint, copier/printer, stickers, hands or feet
Technique: Poem cut out and glued onto paper (or copied straight onto paper using photocopier), hand or footprints placed either beside or either side of poem.

Monochrome Butterflies
Media: Paint & paper
Technique: Background painted with different shades. Other paper sheets similarly painted and then cut into butterfly shapes (can use stencils to help with shapes), cutout shapes layered on background from dark to light.

Under the Sea
Media: Crayons, paint & paper
Technique: Seaweed and ocean floor drawn with crayons, then paper dyed with blue to make ocean, fish and sea creatures drawn on separate paper then cut out and glued on.

Scaly Rainbow Fish
Media: Coloured paper/card & paint
Technique: Backgound painted blue, fish outline drawn or stencilled as a guide, different coloured paper/card cut up and layered as scales and air bubbles.

Aliens
Media: Crayon, paper, bottle tops, marker pen, paint & dye
Technique: Semi- circle planet and space painted onto paper, white paint applied to bottle tops and stamped onto planet background for craters, white paint dots to make stars. Alien characters drawn with crayon and marker pen on separate paper, then ink-dyed, cut out and pasted on

Fish & Flora
Media: Crayon & dye
Technique: Fish drawn with crayon, varying colours of dye applied to paper to produce a vibrant stained effect.

Dotty Dog
Media: Crayon & paint
Technique: Crayon applied to background roughly, washed over with diluted paint or dye, dog or cat drawn on separate paper with crayon in simple, playful style, then cut out and stuck on.

Dot Art
Media: Paint & dye
Technique: Background dyed, decorative arrangement made using colourful dots of paint in shapes of animals or flowing lines.

Family Portrait
Media: Crayon, paper & paint
Technique: Backgound dyed to form grass and sky, drawings of family members cut out and pasted on.

Handprints & Stamps
Media: Paint, sponge & hands
Technique: Paint applied to hands and sponge, pressed onto paper.

Paper Butterfly
Media: Coloured paper/card, paint & marker pens
Technique: Strips of coloured card glued onto paper to make striped background, coloured paper cut out and pieced together to make butterfly wings and body.

Hens
Media: Feathers, markers, dye & paint
Technique: Background dyed to make grass and sky, drawings of birds cut out and pasted onto painted background, feathers glued on.

Sibling Portrait
Media: Felt pen & dye
Technique: Line drawing coloured in with ink or dye.

Flowers
Media: Crayon & dye
Technique: Flower shapes drawn on paper with crayon, then washed over with dye, cut out and pasted onto paper, stems painted on with green dye.

Handprint Bird
Media: Paint, sponge & hands
Technique: Body, head and beak painted on, handprints added as wings, green paint sponged on for foliage.

Fluffy Bird
Media: Dyed feathers, marker pen, paint
Technique: Feathers glued onto coloured drawing of bird.

Smiley Friends
Media: Black marker & dye
Technique: Characters drawn with black marker, coloured in with dye, then cut out and pasted onto painted background.

Fern Leaf Stencil
Media: Paint, fern leaf and mesh or fabric
Technique: Background paper applied with paint (e.g. green paint) and leaf placed on top, mesh or fabric applied with paint (e.g. blue paint) and pressed firmly onto background paper while all still wet. Fabric & leaf then removed (finished artwork has impressions of leaf and fabric only, no actual plant matter or cloth).

Paper Collage Night Sky
Media: Paper, dye & paint
Technique: Two colours of dye mixed on background paper for sky, dyed paper cut into shapes for hills, houses, stars and trees, etc. and pasted onto background in a layer by layer order, dotted with paint and scrapbook embellishments to decorate.

Paper Collage Sunrise
Media: Paper, dye & paint
Technique: Two colours of dye mixed on background paper for sky, dyed paper cut up into shapes for hills, sun, etc. and pasted onto background in a layer by layer order, dotted with paint and scrapbook embellishments to decorate.

Islands in the Sea
Media: Paper, something to scrape with, sponge & paint
Technique: Background paper sponged with paint to form sky, separate paper painted and scraped while still wet to create texture, once dry cut up into shapes of waves, sun, island, trees and creatures.

House of Fabric
Media: Cotton wool, felt, tissue paper, paint & fabric
Technique: Paint background, variety of material (all thin and soft) cut up and glued on.

Sea Ship
Media: Paint, paper & crayon
Technique: Paint applied roughly to background paper for stormy sky, painted paper torn up and glued onto background paper for ocean waves, ship hull, masts, sails coloured and cut from separate sheet of paper and assembled on background paper piece by piece.

Insects on Leaves
Media: Paint & Crayon
Technique: Background paper roughly textured with paint and crayon, leaf cut outs pasted on background paper, dots of paint for insects and detail.

Self-portrait
Media: Magazine clippings, paint, dye and black marker
Technique: Mix of drawing, painting and magazine clippings arranged onto dyed background.

Beach Huts
Media: Coloured paper or card, felt-tip pens
Technique: Coloured paper cut out into shapes of sand dunes, water and huts, pasted on a background sheet of coloured card. Coloured card cut into strips and doors and pasted on to add detail.

Martian in the News
Media: Newspaper, paint & marker
Technique: Line drawing coloured in with paint, torn pieces of newspaper pasted onto border, outlined with marker.

Recycled Landscape
Media: Magazine pages
Technique: Torn pieces of magazine pages glued onto paper in a pictorial arrangement.

Paper Dinosaur
Media: Dye & paint
Technique: Sky and land painted onto background paper with dye, separate paper painted and scraped while still wet to create texture, once dry cut up into shapes of plants, sun, volcanoes and dinosaur to be pasted onto background paper.

Handprint Butterfly (1)
Media: Paint & marker
Technique: Body drawn with marker pen, hands painted with different colours and pressed onto paper form wings.

Handprint Butterfly (2)
Media: Crayon & dye
Technique: Body drawn with crayon, hands traced around very lightly with pencil and coloured with crayon to form wings, washed over with dye.

IMPORTANT: All media used with children should of course be age appropriate and non-toxic.