Art in the Park

We have officially gone through our first year of our homeschool co-op. What a blessing it has been in my life. I could have never known what a blessing.  I love these ladies and I love their kids.  I am SO GLAD they considered asking me to join them last summer.

We are now into summer, and most of co-op days are going to be spent at the park enjoying the beautiful weather, the chance to run around, relax and just spend time with each other.  It’s my favorite day of the week.  A couple of weeks ago, the younger children had been studying the book Grandfather’s Journey, from the Five in a Row curriculum.  I LOVE this curriculum, it’s completely my style of teaching and my kids love it too. Since they had been studying about Japan, I decided to do a Japanese themed art project with them at the next co-op.

Since we were going to be outside and at the park, what better project then Koi Kites.  Every May 5th in Japan is Children’s day, where they’ve had the tradition of flying a fish kite outside their door to represent the male occupants.  So we had our own little Art in the Park day.  It was so much fun and the kids loved it and spent the rest of the afternoon playing with them.

These are really easy to make. Looking at the picture above you will use a large piece of paper 9×12 is good. We used watercolor paper as it was thicker and held that paints better, but you could just use construction paper as well.  You then draw or paint two eyes at the top thirds of your paper and then paint a pattern or design on the rest of the paper to look like fish scales. I had them draw first with oil pastels really bright using different colors, and then we filled them in with watercolors.

You then fold over the top end tightly to form the mouth and staple it together.  Do the same thing at the back end for the tail, leaving a natural bowed shape for the body. Then attach crepe paper for fins and tails.  You can then attach string at the mouth to hang the windsock or kite. I love how bright and colorful they are, being the color fanatic that I am!  They were super easy to make as well, which was also a huge bonus. Didn’t they do awesome?!

Some of the other things that you’ll see during a co-op in the park is our picnic lunches, tree climbing, games, running, laughing, lots of talking on the mom’s end, and friendships being made.