Old Bear Art Lesson

“By the time Old Bear fell asleep for the winter, it was snowing hard.”  ~Kevin Henkes, in Old Bear
On a blustery but sunny November Saturday, I pulled out the art supplies with my youngest four children.  My oldest daughter was on a date with her daddy.  We started by drawing Old Bear with an oil pastel.  I was amazed at how adorable my daughter’s drawing turned out.  And she did it so quickly!  
Littlest guy was content to color with the oil pastels and then use some “Do-A-Dot” paints.  Then he wanted a paintbrush and happily painted his whole paper brown.  For a 2-year-old, it truly is “the process, not the product.”
After painting the bear, we gathered some leaves, painted the vein side of the leaf and then made a leaf print on a large piece of black paper.  To make snowflakes, we dipped the end of the paintbrush in the white paint and then dabbed the round snowflakes on the paper.  I thought this was the most fun…I could make snowflakes like this all day!
I love the way they turned out…although I noticed after we were all done (a few days later!) that we had forgotten to paint the white snow on the ground!  So the bears kind of look like they are suspended in mid-air.  That’s the way an art project goes with a toddler present!
I found the most wonderful resource for art lessons!  This Old Bear lesson was found at Deep Space Sparkle, and she has several other lessons that I absolutely love and can’t wait to do.  In October we did a “Mexican Fruit Crate” painting that turned out so beautiful.
What could be more fun than crafting with your children on a fall day?  I’m so thankful for art, and time and resources to enjoy it.

7 Comments

  1. I enjoyed seeing the art projects that you all have been working on, Joy! And Abigail is so talented with drawing! At first I thought hers was a scanned copy or something . . . and then I saw that you had said that she had drawn it!

    What special memories your children will have of times like these.

  2. Sarah,
    Thank you! I was amazed at the drawing Abigail did, also! And she completed it so fast it was amazing.

    Kelly,
    Thanks–it really is fun, even with the craziness a two-year-old adds!

    Grace Mae,
    Thank you! I hope you are also being blessed!

    Rowan,
    I think you would really like the story. And the art site has lots of great projects I hope to do in the coming months that I imagine your DIL would find a lot of inspiration from. 🙂

  3. Fabulous! I did a double-take on Abigail's bear – thought it was the original. It looks like y'all had a great time and the art is beautiful!

  4. What great paintings:) Old Bear sounds like my kind of story, I love books that tell stories about wild animals and the seasons. I must tell my DIL about the site you used as she homeschools my grandsons.

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