. As the summer wears on, I'm finding it challenging to keep things fresh around here, so I recently decided to combine our love reading with our love of crafting. A range of Mary Poppins themed artwork was the end result. Want to make some art based on your favorite book? Here's how:- Read the book.
- Sit down with your child and brainstorm words and ideas that come from the book. For Mary Poppins, our list consisted of things like: A carpet bag, an umbrella with a bird's head handle, and raspberry tarts. The tarts are something my daughter pulled from the story and desperately wants to try. That's the great thing about the brainstorming session-you get to see what they retained from the story and what impacted them the most.
- After you have your brainstorming list, gather up some paint and canvases in various sizes. Then use the list to come up with subject matter for your paintings and get to work!
- If you are doing this project with your child, I suggest keeping a similar color palette. The finished art then looks cohesive despite two artists working on it. We used Martha Stewart's Craft Paints for this project.
- Run photo copies of some of your favorite quotes and add them to the paintings, or have your child write them onto their artwork.
I love to encourage my daughter's love of reading by doing projects like this. If you would like more ideas on how you can bring books to life through cooking and games, I highly recommend that you read these wonderful books by Jane Brocket:
Ripping Things to Do
