Alyssa Johnson smiles as she uses an eye dropper to suck up vinegar to pour over baking soda to make a colorful foam. This was one of the various art projects offered at the SBOCES Little Explorers summer program Thursday.
Kids had the opportunity to learn about art and explore different ways to create art through a variety of projects last Thursday.
Little Explorers, a summer program offered by the Sweetwater County Board of Cooperative Educational Services, lasted all week and each day had its own theme.
"Today is all about art," class teacher Crystal Walker said.
Various stations were set up for the kids to get creative. There were crayons for them to draw and color with, as well as stamps for them to decorate their paper with. The Tyrannosaurus Rex stamp was a popular choice.
Some kids put their hands in the stamp ink and made handprints. They also painted with water colors. Play-Doh was another option for the kids to create with and get their hands messy.
There was a table set up with baking soda and colored vinegar where the kids could make a colorful fizzy foam. They would pour baking soda onto a styrofoam plate and then would use eye droppers to suck up the vinegar and drop it onto the baking soda. Then they watched as it bubbled into colorful foam.
Participant Wyatt Barnes called the foam project "lava plates" because it reminded him of the lava from those science project volcanoes.
After the kids made their projects, they had a snack, which also involved art. They each received pretzel sticks, mini marshmallows, a cookie and cups of different colored yogurts. The coloring added to the yogurt was flavored. They squished the pretzel stick into the mini marshmallow to make a paintbrush. The cookie was the canvas and the yogurt was the paint.
"It's a paint you can eat," Walker said.
As the kids painted their cookies and ate, Walker read them children's books about art.
One of the books she read was "The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse," by Eric Carle. This book is about an artist who paints animals unusual colors.
He paints red crocodiles, purple foxes, green lions and blue horses. It taught the kids that art does not have rules, but instead allows them to be creative.
After they finished their snacks, they cleaned up the art stations and then some of the kids played Sharks and Minnows and Pirate Bingo, while the rest continued making lava plates.
Each child went home with their paintings and drawings and also a container of Play-Doh in the color of their choice.
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