Our little Picasso

Wow, three posts in three days...this has to be some kind of record!

Today was Emma's first art class, and we couldn't wait to show everyone how much fun she had. This class is going to be perfect for her, I can already tell. The teacher has apparently been doing this for awhile, and she's great. Emma got to put on a little tiny apron when we arrived. To keep the kids busy while we waited for class to start, there were little papers and little stampers. Emma would have been happy just doing that for 30 minutes!

Once everyone arrived, we gathered on the rug to learn about the art that inspired today's project. It's a collage by Brenda Guyton called Giraffe Geometry. This is the original piece:Then Miss Chris showed us her example of what today's project looked like. I don't have a picture of that, but imagine Emma's version if it were done by an adult! Miss Chris reminded the parents that these are 2 & 3 year olds and to remember that this class is about the process, not the product. She told us to try our hardest not to step in and fix things that the kids do that may not look quite right -- it's ok if it looks a little abstract! I think I did a pretty good job of helping Emma without telling her exactly what to do or where to put things.

Emma got to use a glue stick to glue the tissue paper on the background. Then she glued on the giraffe's body, neck, head, and legs. After that came the eyes, ears, and hooves, and then the yarn tail. Emma's favorite part was the finishing touch, when she got to use the sponge brush to paint orange spots on the giraffe. She even managed to paint a few on herself too! We added a red frame (her choice of color), and we finally had our finished work of art. Behold:(The frame is actually a normal rectangle, not skewed. I just took the picture at a strange angle.) After everyone was finished, we went back to the rug to clap for each child's picture, and then they all got to line up for stamps on their hands. As much as Emma loved sticker time at tumbling class, this is almost better because she can't lose the stamps in the car on the way home! She is very proud of her stamps today.
The worst part of the class was trying to get Emma to leave when it was over! All she wanted to do was go back and paint and color some more. I have a feeling we will be headed to Michael's this weekend to pick up a few art supplies. A mom in the class told me that the Crayola finger paints wash out of anything. Maybe we'll give them a try.

Oh, and here's today's snarly smile:Emma is spending the night and Grandma & Grandpa K's house tomorrow, while Mommy & Daddy have some people over. She is so excited to see their dog, Fred. When you ask her who lives at Grandma & Grandpa's house, she says, "FREDDY!" She told me yesterday that she was going to pet his nose, his arms, his head, and his tummy. We'll see if Grandma & Grandpa can get him to stay still that long!