Eric Carle Style Christmas Art by Kids

I teach children with multiple complex needs who will probably never be able to draw complex images; but that doesn't mean they can't make art in the style of some of the greats. Eric Carle books are fun to read to these students because of the repetition makes it easy for them to make predictions. There's also fun features to their books with different size pages, holes for fingers to explore. They teach numbers, colors, animal names, time telling, days of the week, and of course the life cycle of a butterfly. But what I wanted to my students to learn most, was the process that Eric Carle used to create his pictures.

As a class painted big pieces of bulletin board paper, cut shapes out and collaged them to a piece of construction paper. 

Triangles, circles and rectangles could transform into a Christmas tree of ornaments.

Squares transformed into gifts with the help of colored masking tape turned ribbon and bows.

Once this concept played out, we used the concept of collage to make tactile wreathes from torn up scraps of tissue paper. Even students with no vision and little muscle control could tear, drop, and pat pieces into place.

Orange Slice Ornaments

 Orange slices are easy to dry and are a fun way to decorate a tree on a budget. I bought four oranges for $4 and was able to get about 8 slices per orange. They should be 1/4 inch thick. They can dry on a cookie tray, and baked in an oven at 175 to 190 degrees for 3-4 hours. Turn every hour. Slow and steady is probably best. If they are not completely dry, you can set them out overnight and if they're still a little sticky, put them back in the oven for another hour, but keep checking on them every 15 minutes because it doesn't take long at that stage for them to start to brown. Once a string is thread through the orange rind,  it's pretty much an ornament but you can get fancy by hot gluing rosemary or cinnamon to the orange, or by adding beads and ribbon to the string. They smell great and when set near a light give a glowing, stained glass affect.

Wire and Bead Ornaments

It is almost December, which is the time of year for ornament making and for fundraising. Last year my students and I made wire ornaments to sell.  I made the basic shapes (star, heart, Christmas tree, dove) from 18-gauge wire, and then offered them beads, pipe cleaners and plastic coated wires called Twisteez,  to twist and zig-zag across the base structure. The more they made, the easier it became for them. I sold them at a community market for $2 each, sent some to Atlanta for another sale, and kept some to sell during our student show. We threw ourselves a pizza party with the profits which made the whole process twice as fun. Try making some yourself. After all,  a little craft and whimsy make for great therapy during this hurried season.