THE PAINT BOX
or
EXPRESSION WITH PENCIL OR BRUSH
Let the child early be given charcoal or colored chalks, and later the
three pigments--red, blue and yellow--wherewith to express his ideas.
Allow him some choice in the medium he uses--as pencil, charcoal or
brush--as one may be best suited to his purpose one time, and another
one at another time.
Encourage the child to tell a story by painting or drawing. The earliest
graphic method by which man conveyed messages to one at a distance was
through picture-writing.
LEARNING TO OBSERVE
=Painting From the Real Object= (_Paints_, _chalk or charcoal_)
Place before the child an apple, banana or flower of simple form and let
him copy directly from the object without previous drawing. Encourage
his efforts, however crude the results at first. It is more educative to
draw from the real object than from a copy. Give him at first three
colors only, in paints, till he learns how to get other colors by mixing
these. For this purpose point out beautiful sunsets and cloud effects
in Nature.
=Life Stages of Seedling= (_Paper_, _paints_, _seedling_)
Place before the child a bean or pea. Give him an oblong of paper 3 x 8
inches. Fold it into four parts. In the first let him draw or paint the
seed as he sees it. Then let him plant the seed. In a day or so let him
paint a picture of the seedling, after having grown so as to show the
development of the seed leaves. Draw two other pictures to show later
stages of growth. This gives a picture history of the little plant and
while so occupied the child is learning to observe and note that which
he sees.
ACQUIRING SKILL
=Calendars= (_Water-colors_, _brush_, _paper_, _calendar pad_)
Draw circles, squares, etc., and let the child fill in the outlines with
color. A tiny calendar may be pasted in the center and ribbons put
through wherewith to hang it up.
In filling in these figures show the child how to hold the brush lightly
so as to secure freedom of stroke. Let him make long strokes beginning
at the top of the paper and moving from side to side slowly downward, or
rather as rapidly as is consistent with neatness. Have enough water on
the brush so that the color will not dry from one long stroke before you
are able to go back and carry it on to the next stroke. Practice making
a clean, smooth surface.
=Nature Pictures=
Let the child fill one sheet thus with blue, a picture of the sky.
Another sheet may be covered with green, a meadow. Still another sheet
may have the upper part blue and the lower green.
EXPERIMENTS WITH COLOR
=Prism= (_Secure glass prism from kindergarten store or from some
candelabra you may have at home_)
Place in sunlight and let child observe colors and the order in which
they appear; always in the same order--the cold colors at one end, the
warm ones at the other. Let the little child try to catch and hold the
lovely "light-bird."
=Pigments= (_Water-color paints_, _glasses of water_)
Dissolve a little red, yellow and blue paint in three separate glasses.
Then, by mingling these--the primary colors--show how the secondary
colors--orange, green and violet--may be obtained.
=Transparent Papers=
Get at a kindergarten store the transparent papers and isinglass used in
color work. By overlapping one upon another different hues may be
obtained. This may be done also, though less effectively, with colored
tissue papers; but these are not so pure in tone.
=Color-Top=
Color tops may be procured at kindergarten stores. With the top come
paper circles, of standard colors, with their tints and shades, giving a
great variety. These are so slit that by placing two or more on the top
according to directions and revolving the top, any tint or hue may be
mathematically produced.
If the child has made his own button-mold top, let him cut circles of
white paper and slip them over the axis of the top. Make a dab of color
here or there on the paper with paint or chalk. Whirl around and observe
the effect. This will lead up to a better understanding of the
above-mentioned color-top which is manufactured by the Milton Bradley
Co.
APPLIED ART
=Toy Wagons and Houses=
If the child has made wagons or houses of wood or cardboard, let him
paint them in broad, free strokes. It is desirable that the little child
be given work which involves the free movement of the larger muscles
which such work demands. This may not appeal to one as belonging under
the head of art, but we learn from Mr. Pennell that in Sicily the wagons
of the peasants are beautifully decorated with landscapes and other
pictures, and that the artists are particular to make their names
conspicuous.
In any case a certain artistic feeling is required in choosing the
colors and rightly applying them even in house-painting and wagon
decoration. And meanwhile the child is learning how to wield his
instruments.
=Place Cards=
Take a clover leaf and practice painting from it until able to make a
copy good enough to paint upon a place card for the table. If the
drawing be correct, just a flat wash of color will do for the painting
at first.
An autumn leaf will do for a Thanksgiving card.
See Festival Occasions for other ideas.
=Tops=
If a button-mold top has been made, it may be painted in concentric
rings or the entire surface may be neatly colored.
=Match-Safe=
This has been described upon page 34.
=Designs for Rugs= (_Paper, brown or white_, _paints or chalk_)
Let child draw or paint design for toy rug he is making for doll-house.
He may make an oblong of one color, and at each end draw lines across,
which are to be woven in another color. There may be one line at each
end, or two, or three, etc. The arrangement of these lines and their
distance apart allow much scope for taste and judgment.
=Designs for Wall-Papers, Oilcloths, Etc.= (_Parquetry papers_, _paste_,
_etc._)
1. Have child observe oilcloth designs and then with kindergarten
parquetry papers try to make similar ones for doll-house.
2. Having made pasted designs, let him copy same in water-colors.
=Design for Stained Glass Window= (_Transparent paper_, _scissors_,
_white paper_, _paste_)
Cut a circle out of the white paper. Fold it once, which gives a
half-circle; fold again, which gives a quarter-circle. Holding it
folded, cut several ellipses, triangles, etc., into the folded edges.
Open out and you have framework of a rose-window. On the back of this
paste a piece of transparent paper (see page 75), red or green or
yellow, and let the light shine through. Hang in window for
transparency. Suitable for Easter gift. Vary by cutting like cathedral
windows. (See illustrations in dictionary under "Tracery.")
PICTURE-STORY
=Chased by a Goose= (_Pencil_, _paper_)
Once some boys lived in a house (make a dot) surrounded by a strong
fence (draw circle round the dot). A short distance off was a large pond
(an oval, a little below and to the right of the circle). One day the
boys ran down to the pond (draw curved line from house to pond) and
began to splash in the water and to throw it at each other (a number of
oblique lines from right hand end of pond). Some distance off lived some
Indians in two wigwams (two oblique lines meeting at the top and next to
them a similar pair, like two tents, just below the pond). When the
Indians saw the boys throwing the water out they began to chase the
boys, running up a zigzag path (from each tent draw an oblique line to
the right for a short distance and then turn to the left till it meets
the pond). The boys ran as fast as they could up a winding path parallel
to the one they ran down (draw curving line parallel to first one), and
then ran to the left partly around the fence surrounding the house. They
had to run around the barn, too (an oblique line to the left and then
another to the right till it meets the circle again), and when they
looked behind them they found they had been chased by a goose!!!
[Illustration: Chased by a Goose]
A little practice will make this easy for the story teller. The original
dot and circle form the head and eye of the goose. The curving path is
the neck. The water splashing out makes the tail feathers. The wigwams
and the zigzag path form the legs and feet, and the path around the barn
makes the bill.