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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Draw your very own flea circus!

First, either draw a circus tent boarder for your bugs to perform inside or print out our blog's free version below.

Here is a circus tent border for you to use.

Second, select the bugs you like best. Give them names and jobs in your doodle circus, then design the astounding acts your bugs will perform. I've linked to some creative cartoonists on the web who doodle bugs:

Below is a film of a real flee circus! Before television people would do almost anything for entertainment. Your circus is an imaginary one, however, so no bug will be harmed in order to maintain the performances!

The first records of flea performances were from watch makers who were demonstrating their metal working skills. Mark Scaliot in 1578 produced a lock and chain which were attached to a flea. Flea performances were first advertised as early as 1833 in England, and were a main carnival attraction until 1930. Some flea circuses persisted in very small venues in the United States as late as the 1960s. The flea circus at Belle Vue amusement park, Manchester, England, was still operating in 1970. At least one genuine flea circus still performs (at the annual Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany) but most flea circuses are a sideline of magicians and clowns, they use electrical or mechanical effects instead of real fleas.

Fleas typically live only for a few months and are not trained. They are also observed to see if they have a predisposition for jumping or walking. Once sorted, they are harnessed by carefully wrapping a thin gold wire around the neck of the flea. Once in the harness the fleas usually stay in it for life. The harnesses are attached to the props and the strong legs of the flea allows them to move objects significantly larger than themselves.Jumping fleas are used for kicking small lightweight balls. They are carefully given a ball; when they try to jump away (which is not possible because of the harness) they shoot the ball instead. Running fleas are used to pull small carts and vehicles or to rotate a Ferris wheel. There are historical reports of fleas glued to the base of the flea circus enclosure, instruments were then glued to the flea performers and the enclosure was heated. The fleas fought to escape giving the impression of fleas playing musical instruments.

Some flea circuses may appear to use real fleas, but don't. A variety of electrical, magnetic, and mechanical devices have been used to augment exhibits. In some cases these mechanisms are responsible for all of the "acts," with loose fleas in the exhibit maintaining the illusion.Other "flea circuses" do not contain any fleas at all and the experience and skill of the performer convince the audience of their existence. In much the same way that viewers know that a woman won't really be cut in half, the magician's showmanship allows viewers to suspend disbelief in order to enjoy the show.

* * * * * *

No "big top" for the Flea Circus! This is the way spectators watch the star actors of Prof. William Heckler's Trained Flea Circus in 1930.

Star Actors of the Flea Circus

by ALFRED ALBELLI

      Professor William Heckler’s Trained Flea Circus at Hubert’s Museum on West 42nd St., New York City, proves a great spectacle for the skeptical to marvel at, and at the same time the professor shows that he has bridged one of the gaps between science and practical mechanics.
       Recently, in the throes of irresistible curiosity, I stood before the emblazoned billboards of Hubert’s Museum, which proclaimed the astounding feats of the flea, better known for its annoying qualities.

Flea pulls a merry-go-round.

      A ballyhoo gentleman roared through a megaphone that there was a flea hotel inside. That fleas would engage in a chariot race. That they could be seen playing football. Prince Henry, a blueblood among fleas, would juggle a ball. Flea Rudolph woujd operate a merry-go-round. Paddy, carrying a flag, would jump through a hoop.
      The program ended with the Dance of the Fleas, in costume. Greatest show on earth! Well, from one observer’s point of view Prof, Heckler can do anything with a flea he trains, and the chances are he could even send one down to the corner for a newspaper, if he had a mind to. At any rate, he has done almost as much.
      For over eighteen years Prof. Heckler has been making capital of the recent discoveries made by J. J. Ward, the famous English entomologist. The British scholar announced the other day that the earwig, a Samson among insects, is able to pull a toy railway car 530 times its own weight or to drag a load of pins twenty-seven times its weight.
      Scientists went further. They made computations and adduced that the average man, proportionately as strong as the earwig, would be able to haul two freight cars along the street, these weighing nearly twenty tons apiece.
      Prof. Heckler has studied all of the flea’s habits until he has been able to recruit a troupe for a circus, as it is called. This creation of his goes back to the days when he ran away from home, from his native Switzerland, to follow the adventures of the sea.
      “My first meeting with the fleas,” he related to me, “was while I was traveling on the Mediterranean. Many of the boats on which I shipped were infested with these tiny demons. To the amusement of the crew, I captured some of these fleas and had them doing stunts for them. As I had much leisure time in those days, I thought up various freak performances for the fleas. In time I gave up the life of the sailor for the flea as a career and opened my first Flea Circus at the St. Louis World’s Fair. Since then my company of trained flea artists has toured the globe, playing fairs and expositions everywhere.”
      He explained that of the 134 or more species, only the human flea, the so-called pulex irritans, getting its sustenance from human blood, is intellieent enough to be trained. He takes the insect at a very tender age and it is put through a rigid training for its life work.

Captive flea being trained.

      The performing flea is found in Europe. But those which have been imported by Prof. Heckler and bred become easily acclimated. They make their home in chambers inlaid in mother-of-pearl, with white downy cot-ton as their sleeping quarters. Everything quite cozy!
      Training fleas is very difficult and Prof. Heckler guards his secret conscientiously. For the first lesson the neophyte flea is put into a bottle which is almost airtight. This is quite possible as he requires little oxygen.
      In this small vessel, the flea, true to his nature, gets rambunctious and hits off to a jumping spree. And every time he jumps he bumps his head. Soon he learns that by ceasing to jump he avoids the bumps, and thereby he passes his first test.
      Next in his training course the flea is attached to an instrument which looks very much like a gibbet. Here he can hop or do any form of motion, but he is under restraint, of course. The shackles keep him in tow. It is in this section that the professor selects the dancers from the strong men, and classifies them. In turn they are garbed in miniature costumes, befitting their particular bit.

The fleas in this photo have been enlarged 700 times as

compared with the human figure. They are shown in action

posses from several of the stunts they perform in the circus.

More About Flea Circus:

List of Historical Flea Circus Performers ShowHistory.Com
www.trainedfleas.com The Acme Miniature Flea Circus
A Flea Sized F.A.Q.
Professor B's Flea Circus
Svensons World Famous Flea Circus

Draw a Circus Strongman

A vintage circus print of a circus strongman.

The circus strongman is one of many acts found in a modern circus. The strongman demonstrates great strength, power and agility to the audience. The strongman and strongwomen were very popular attractions in the circus in the 19th century. Early strongmen would usually exhibit their awesome strength by lifting or moving objects which the audience would believe impossible to move. They would lift anvils, have anvils placed on their chest, bend metal bars and some were even reported to hold cannons on their shoulders while an assistant lit and fired the cannon. What do you suppose your circus strongman or strongwoman could lift? Perhaps an elephant or two maybe?

Click to see what these strongmen are lifting:

Vintage Circus Strong Man

Circus Related Lesson Plans:

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Sandy's Circus

I purchased this book, "Sandy's Circus" as an introductory artifact for future classroom art projects about circus life.
It is the story of Alexander Calder's early life. The book is authored by Tanya Lee Stone and is illustrated
by Boris Kulikov.

Alexander Calder (July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor best known as the originator of the mobile, a type of kinetic sculpture the delicately balanced or suspended components of which move in response to motor power or air currents; by contrast, Calder’s stationary sculptures are called stabiles. He also produced numerous wire figures, notably for a vast miniature circus.

Alexander "Sandy" Calder was born in Lawnton, Pennsylvania on July 22, 1898. His father, Stirling Calder, was a well-known sculptor who created many public installations, a majority of them in nearby Philadelphia.

Sandy Calder's grandfather, sculptor Alexander Milne Calder, was born in Scotland, immigrated to Philadelphia in 1868, and is best known for the colossal statue of William Penn on top of Philadelphia City Hall's tower. Sandy Calder's mother, Nanette (née Lederer), was a professional portrait artist, who had studied at the Académie Julian and the Sorbonne in Paris from around 1888 until 1893. She moved to Philadelphia where she met Stirling Calder while studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Sandy Calder's parents married on February 22, 1895; his sister, Mrs. Margaret Calder Hayes, is considered instrumental in the development of the UC Berkeley Art Museum.

In 1902, Sandy Calder completed his earliest sculpture, a clay elephant. Three years later, Stirling Calder contracted tuberculosis, and Calder's parents moved to a ranch in Oracle, Arizona, leaving the children in the care of family friends for a year. The children were reunited with their parents in late March 1906 and stayed at the ranch in Arizona until fall of the same year.

After Arizona, the Calder family moved to Pasadena, California. The windowed cellar of the family home became Calder's first studio and he received his first set of tools. He used scraps of copper wire that he found in the streets to make jewelry and beads for his sister's dolls. On January 1, 1907, Nanette Calder took her son to the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, where he observed a four-horse-chariot race. This style of event later became the finale of Calder's wire circus shows. In 1909, when Calder was in the fourth grade, he sculpted a dog and a duck out of sheet brass as Christmas gifts for his parents. The sculptures were three dimensional and the duck was kinetic because it rocked when gently tapped.

In 1910, the Calder family moved back to Philadelphia, where Sandy briefly attended Germantown Academy, then moved to Croton-on-Hudson, New York. In Croton, during his early high school years, Calder was befriended by painter Everett Shinn with whom he built a gravity powered system of mechanical trains. Calder described it, "We ran the train on wooden rails held by spikes; a chunk of iron racing down the incline speeded the cars. We even lit up some cars with candle lights". After Croton, the Calders moved to Spuyten Duyvil to be closer to the Tenth Street Studio Building in New York City, where Stirling Calder rented a studio. While living in Spuyten Duyvil, Sandy Calder attended high school in nearby Yonkers. In 1912, Stirling Calder was appointed acting chief of the Department of Sculpture of the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, California.

He began work on sculptures for the exposition that was held in 1915. During Sandy Calder's high school years (1912–1915), the family moved back and forth between New York and California. In each new location, Calder's parents reserved cellar space as a studio for their son. Toward the end of this period, Calder stayed with friends in California while his parents moved back to New York, so that he could graduate from Lowell High School in San Francisco. Calder graduated with the class of 1915.

In 1926, at the suggestion of a Serbian toy merchant in Paris, Calder began to make toys. At the urging of fellow sculptor Jose de Creeft, he submitted them to the Salon des Humoristes. Later that fall, Calder began to create his Cirque Calder, a miniature circus fashioned from wire, string, rubber, cloth, and other found objects. Designed to fit into suitcases (it eventually grew to fill five), the circus was portable, and allowed Calder to hold performances on both sides of the Atlantic. He gave improvised shows, recreating the performance of a real circus. Soon, his Cirque Calder (usually on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art at present) became popular with the Parisian avant-garde.

In 1927, Calder returned to the United States. He designed several kinetic wooden push and pull toys for children, which were mass-produced by the Gould Manufacturing Company, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. His originals, as well as playable replicas, are on display in the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Throughout the 1930s, Calder continued to give Cirque Calder performances, but he also worked with choreographer Martha Graham, designing stage sets for her ballets and created a moving stage construction to accompany Eric Satie's Socrate in 1936.

"Kids made this incredible art after hearing author Tanya Lee Stone read her picture book about Alexander Calder's circus made of found materials. The artist's Cirque de Calder is on exhibit at the Whitney Museum. Stone's picture book about Calder and his circus is called Sandy's Circus: A Story About Alexander Calder. Illustrations in the book by Boris Kulikov. Published by Viking Children's Books. (c) 2008" by goldendoodlerule

More Related Content:

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Paper Circus Toys for Young Students to Color

Color the following paper seals and their trainer for a child's circus toy collection.

Color this paper chariot rider for a child's circus toy collection.

Color this paper elephant and clown for a child's circus toy collection.

Color this paper giraffe with musical clowns for a child's circus toy collection.

Color this paper rhinoceros for a child's circus toy collection.

A seal balances a ball on his nose.

More Paper Circus Collections:

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Bake a Pink Elephant Circus Cake

Ella Elephant's easy to make (Of course, you must use Angel Flake.) Her trunk is long for peanut scooping, Her ears are big and always drooping! The pink elephant circus cake design was published by General Foods Corporation in 1959.

Start with two cooled 9-inch round cakes made from the recipe below. Cut a ring 11/2 inches wide from one layer. Cut out a third of the ring for her trunk.
Divide remaining piece of ring into four equal parts. Place uncut layer on a tray for the body. Use small circle for Ella's head. Add legs and a happy trunk.
Spread a fluffy pink frosting over cake and sprinkle Baker's Angle Flake coconut generously over the elephant. Use a big chocolate cookie for her ear . . . a gumdrop for the eye and a twist of licorice for the tail.

Ingredients:
2.5 cups cake flour
2 tsps baking powder
1⁄4 tsp salt
1⁄2 cup plus
2 tbsp butter
1 1/3 cups Redpath Granulated Sugar
3 tbsps frozen Pink Lemonade
1 tbsp lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 cup milk

Directions: Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 2 8" round pans and line bottoms with parchment paper. Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Beat butter in mixer until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, scraping as needed. Add concentrate, zest and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time. Beat until smooth. On low alternate adding dry ingredients and milk (start and finish with dry ingredients). Bake cakes about 25mins, until toothpick comes out clean. Cool.

Pink Lemonade Frosting
500g Redpath Icing Sugar
2 cups shortening (can mix 1⁄2 butter, 1⁄2 shortening if you like)
1⁄4 cup Pink Lemonade Concentrate
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp meringue powder

Directions: Water as needed. Whip shortening (and butter, if using). Slowly begin adding icing sugar. Alternate between icing sugar and concentrate to keep frosting light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Add water if needed for spreading consistency.

More Ideas for Circus Party Fun:

Monday, April 29, 2013

Paper Circus Performers For Little Ones

Color the following circus performers for big top fun!

Color and cut-out this paper lion tamer.

Color and cut-out this paper clown and elephant.

Color and cut-out this performing horseback rider.

More Circus Paper Projects:

Thursday, July 23, 2020

Circus Elephants Paper Cuts

The circus clown and tight rope walker balance on an elephant with monkey.

Vintage paper cuts of an era ended, these circus elephants are now only found in books. I've restored these for your scrapbooks only. Enjoy.

Circus elephants walk behind each other into the arena.

Thursday, September 28, 2017

The Circus Procession

The Circus Procession

by Evaleen Stein

Oh, hurry! hurry! here they come,
The band in front with the big bass drum
And blaring bugles, — there they are,
On golden thrones in a golden car,
Tooting and fluting, oh, how grand I
Hi diddle, diddle!
The fife and the fiddle!
Hurrah , hurrah for the circus band!

And the red-plumed horses, oh, see them
prance
And daintily lift their hoofs and dance,
While beautiful ladies with golden curls
Are jingling their bridles of gold and pearls,
And close behind
Come every kind
Of animal cages great and small,
O how I wonder what’s in them all!
Here’s one that’s open and glaring there
Is the shaggiest snow-white polar bear I
Woof! but I wonder what we’d do
If his bars broke loose right now, don't you?
And O dear me!
Just look and see

That pink-cheeked lady in skirts of gauze
And the great big lion with folded paws!
O me I O my!
I’m glad that I
Am not in that lion’s cage, because
Suppose he'd open his horrible jaws !
— But look ! the clown is coming ! Of course
Facing the tail of a spotted horse
And shouting out things to make folks
laugh,
And grinning up at the tall giraffe
That placidly paces along and looks
Just like giraffes in the picture-books!
And there are the elephants, two and two,
Lumbering on as they always do!
The men who lead them look so small
I wonder the elephants mind at all
As they wag their queer
Long trunks, and peer
Through their beady eyes, — folks say they
know
No end of things, and I’m sure it’s so!
And you never must do a thing that’s bad
Or that possibly might make an elephant
mad,
For he’ll never forgive you, it appears,
And will punish you sure, if it takes him
years !
So do not stare
But take good care
To mind your manners, and always try
To smile politely as they go by!
But the camels don’t care if you laugh at
them
With their bumpy humps like a capital M,
They lurch and sway
And seem to say,
As they wrinkle their noses, long and gray,
“ This swaggering stride is quite the plan,
It’s the way we walked in the caravan!”
And now more cages come rumbling by
With glittering people throned on high;
So many spangles and precious things,
They surely must all be queens and kings!
They look so proud
Above the crowd,

O my, how fine it must feel to ride

On golden wagons that hide inside

Strange animals caught in cannibal isles

And brought in ships for a million miles!

But hark ! it's near

The end, for hear

That sudden screeching in piercing key!

The steaming, screaming cal-li-o-pe!

Just plain pianos sound terribly tame

Beside this one with the wonderful name,

And wouldn’t you love some day to sit

In a circus wagon and play on it?

Saturday, June 17, 2023

The Circus

The Circus
Elizabeth Madox Roberts

Friday came and the circus was there,
And Mother said that the twins and I
And Charles and Clarence and all of us
Could go out and see the parade go by.

And there were wagons with pictures on,
And you never could guess what they had inside,
Nobody could guess, for the doors were shut,
And there was a dog that a monkey could ride.

A man on the top of a sort of cart
Was clapping his hands and making a talk.
And the elephant came- he can step pretty far-
It made us laugh to see him walk.

Three beautiful ladies came riding by,
And each one had on a golden dress,
And each one had a golden whip.
They were queens of Sheba, I guess.

A big wild man was in a cage,
And he had some snakes going over his feet.
And somebody said, "He eats them alive!"
But I didn't see him eat.

Monday, June 19, 2023

Circus

Circus
Eleanor Farjeon

The brass band blares,
The naphtha flares,
The sawdust smells,
Showmen ring bells,
And oh! right into the circus-ring
Comes such a lovely, lovely thing,
A milk-white pony with flying tress,
And a beautiful lady,
A beautiful lady,
A beautiful lady in a pink dress!
The red-and-white clown
For joy tumbles down.
Like a pink rose
Round she goes
On her tiptoes
With the pony under-
And then, oh, wonder!
The pony his milk-white tresses droops,
And the beautiful lady,
The beautiful lady,
Flies like a bird through the paper hoops!
The red-and-white clown for joy falls dead,
Then he waggles his feet and stands on his
head,
And the little boys on the twopenny seats
Scream with laughter and suck their sweets.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

The Circus Day Parade

Oh the circus-day parade! How the bugles played and played!

And how the glossy horses tossed their flossy manes and neighed,

As the rattle and the rhyme of the tenor-drummer's time

Filled the hungry hearts of all of us with melody sublime!

How the grand band-wagon shone with a splendor all its own,

And glittered with a glory that our dreams had never known!

And how the boys behind, high and low of every kind,

Marched in unconscious capture, with a rapture undefined!

How the horesmen, two and two, with their plumes of white and blue,

And of crimson, gold and purple, nodding by at me and you,

Waved the banners that they bore, as the knights in days of yore,

Till our glad eyes gleamed and glistened like the spangles that they wore!

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Paper Village Index

Samples of paper village buildings and dolls in this index.

In this index, young visitors will find all sorts of paper playthings that will keep them preoccupied for hours or perhaps even days. There are paper people and animals to color, little art lessons including paper doll crafts and lots of templates for crafting paper buildings. Enjoy and don't forget to check back for new additions!

Paper Village and Paper Doll Artifacts:

Illustrations of a box apartment, it's windows, walls and a basic floor plan.

How To Make A Box Apartment For Your Paper Dolls

Girls and boys who are fond of paper toys might enjoy making an apartment for their paper characters similar to the one pictured above. There is are also patterns for paper furnishings in the list above if they should choose to furnish their paper accommodations as well.

To make the apartment all that is necessary is a sturdy box 24 inches deep. These dimensions are the best for the size furniture that is published above, but if your box is an inch or two longer or shorter or wider or narrower it won't matter very much. If you can not secure a box that is at all near this size it is best to get a larger box and cut it down. A box may also be made of scrap cardboard of the proper dimensions.

The box is divided by a straight partition which goes down the center and two crosswise partitions, which divide the box into six rooms of equal size.

One long side of the box is taken off, as the apartment is to be entirely open across the front, and this sidepiece is used for the long partition which goes down the middle of the box. Before putting the partition in place you should make the doors which lead from one room to another and which are shown in the picture above. Also paper or color the partition with paints to suit the different rooms. In order to do this first decide what color you with for the walls in the rooms to be or if you would prefer; select a fancy scrap paper to paste on top of the walls instead. Divide the long partition into three equal parts by making slits which reach from the bottom half way up the side. Then cut the crosswise partitions long enough to span the box plus four inches deep. These may be cut from the box lid. Each of these crosswise pieces is divided in the middle by a slit which reaches from the top half way to the bottom. Fasten these cross partitions on the long partition at the places where it is cut and then place the partition unit inside the box temporarily to see where each section of wall comes. Then with a pencil mark on each side of the walls of every room which room it is, so that when you disassemble the partitions to paper or color the walls you will understand where everything should go. Paper or color the remaining wall sections inside the box to correspond appropriately.

Next cut the doors in the two partitions. There is a drawing of how these door frames could be finished in the illustration above. There are likewise window types drawn above that could be used as either templates for cutting or ideas for drawing directly on top of the walls of your apartment rooms.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Creative Art Lessons Inspired by Books

Topic - Art and Literacey: Title of The Book and Author: Art Lesson and Teacher/Author: Books are listed in Alphabetical order omitting 'The' and 'A'.

"A" Was Once An Apple Pie" by Suse Macdonald - Apple Pie Pocket for Teaching by Kathy Grimm *
"Andrew Henry's Meadow" by Doris Burn - A Treehouse Collage by Kathy Grimm *
"Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad Day" by Judith Viorest - A Terrible Horrible Cursive Exercise! by Kathy Grimm *
"The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse" by Eric Carle - Elephant Art Project by Patty Palmer * The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Mark Warner *
"Blueberries For Sal" by Robert McCloskey - Blueberries For Sal by Art Teacher * Blueberries for Sal by Beth Gorden * We made blueberry pie in preschool by Teach Preschool * Potato Blueberry Stamps by little page turners *
"The Bumpy Little Pumpkin" by Margery Cuyler - Paint, Cut and Paste Your Own Bumpy Little Pumpkins by Kathy Grimm *
"The Boy Who Drew Birds" by Jacqueline Davis - Second grade has gone to the birds by Shannah *
"Caps for Sale" by Esphyr Slobodkina - "Hats" by ExploraStory *
"Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" by Bill Martin Jr. - "Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom in my classroom" by Kathy Grimm * Chicka, Chika, Boom, Boom ... Happy Friday by Mrs. Steberger's First Grade * Coconut Tree Craft by No Time for Flash Cards *
"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" by Judi Barett - Cloudy With A Chance Of .... by Art Dish *
"Dogs Don't Brush Their Teeth" by Diane deGroat - Dogs Don't Make Art! by Katie Morris *
"Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!" by Mo Willems - Don't let the pigeon drive the bus by Ashley * pigeon paintings *
"The Dot and Ish" by Peter H. Reynolds - Guide for classrooms by Can (large pdf) *
"Elmer's Special Day" by David McKee - Elmer's Day Parade by Kristin Bolster *
"The Story of Ferdinand" by Munro Leaf - Fiar: The Story of Ferdinand by Kristina *
"Frog and Toad Are Friends" by Arnold Lobel - Frogs, Toads and Pollywogs for Spring *
"Galimoto" by Karen Lynn Williams - A Galimoto Art Lesson Plan by Kathy Grimm *
"The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein - The Giving Tree: A Lesson on Earth Day by Mama in the Kitchen *
"Green" by Laura Vaccaro Seeger - green by Michelle Sterling *
"Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr. Seuss - 10 Green Eggs and Ham Crafts *
"Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown - Goodnight Peep Diorama --Peeps Show IV by MaryLea*
"Guess How Much I Love You" by Sam McBratney - Guide by The Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia's *
"Harold and the Purple Crayon" by Author Crockett Johnson - Harold and The Purple Crayon by KinderArt * Harold's Purple Crayon by Mrs. Goff * decoupaged frame *
"If the Dinosaurs Came Back!" by Bernard Most - If dinosaurs came back art lesson by Kristin Bolster *
"If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Joffe Numeroff - More Mice by Sylvan Hollow Schoolhouse * If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Moose a Muffin or A Pig a Pancake Lesson Ideas by The Virtual Vine *
"I Want My Hat Back" by Jon Klassen - Texture, emphasis, and anthropomorphism *
“Knuffle Bunny Free” by Mo Willems - Summer Virtual Book Club for Kids by Jenn *
"The Little Engine That Could" by Watty Piper - Kindergarten Shape Trains by Mrs. Weber * * Train Chalk Pastel Art Tutorial by Hodgepodge *
"Leaf Man" by Lois Ehlert - Paint, Cut and Paste a Leafy River Scene by Kathy Grimm *
"Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch - Feelings - preschool lesson plans *
"Madeline" by Ludwig Bemelmans - Madeline Chalk Pastel Fun *
"Miss Nelson is Missing" by Harry Allard - Which Witch? by Joanna Davis *
"The Mitten" by Jan Brett - We did a Readers Theater of the story... by Mrs. Bell *
"Mouse Paint" by Ellen Stoll Walsh - Cotton Ball Easel Painting by MaryLea *
"Possom and Wattle" by Bronwyn Bancroft - Bronwyn Bancroft Inspired Animals by Mary *
"The Pot That Juan Built" by Nancy Andrews-Goebel - Clay Slab People *
"The Rainbow Fish" by Marcus Pfister - Craft an entire school of "Rainbow Fish from paper plates by Kathy Grimm * Rainbow Fish by tomato * Cupcake Liner Fish * Fish paper plate craft ****
"Rechenka's Eggs" by Patricia Polacco - Oil pastel and watercolor Easter egg art by Buggy and Buddy *
"Sandy's Circus" by Tanya Lee Stone - Sandy's Circus *
"Snowballs" by Lois Ehlert - Ice Cube Painting and Salt Paint Snowmen by Michelle * Snow People at Artsonia *
"Snowflake Bentley" by Jacqueline Briggs Martin - 12 Six-Sided Snowflake Templates *
"The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats - The Snowy Day Art Project *
"Stellaluna" by Janell Cannon - Let's Talk About Bats by Dr. Inez Heath *
"Stephen Biesty's Cross-sections Castle" by Stephen Biesty - Poppins Book Nook-Castle Craft *
"Sylvie" by Jennifer Sattler - pink flamingos by Apex E Art *
"Tar Beach" by Faith Ringgold - Quilted Dreams by Cynthia McGovern *
"The Ugly Duckling" by Hans Christian Anderson - Cotton Balls and Fingerpaint by Jennifer Fischer *
"The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle - Craft a Very Hungry Caterpillar by Kathy Grimm *
"Where The Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak - clay and paint projects from Cheryl Hancock * Wild Things by Mrs Tannert * "Wild Thing" Watercolor Monster by Kathy Barbro *

Collections and Larger Listings:

Excellent Video About Illustrators who work in the Children's Literature Industry and Also About Books In General:

Follow my pinterest board, "Art Lessons Inspired by Children's Books"

Friday, March 29, 2013

Cute Little Paper Villages: Mega List

I've included a listing here of those paper houses, cities or village ideas experimented with and created by a wide variety of artists. Get inspired here. There are endless possibilities when designing your own paper village.

More Links To Little Paper Villages Everywhere:

Saturday, May 11, 2013

100 Dr. Seuss Resources

      Theodor Seuss Geisel was an American writer, poet, and cartoonist most widely known for children's picture books written and illustrated as Dr. Seuss. He had used the pen name Dr. Theophrastus Seuss in college and later used Theo LeSieg, and once Rosetta Stone, as well as Dr. Seuss.
      Geisel published 46 children's books, often characterized by imaginative characters, rhyme, and frequent use of anapestic meter. His most celebrated books include the bestselling Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Horton Hatches the Egg, Horton Hears a Who!, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas!.
       Numerous adaptations of his work have been created, including 11 television specials, four feature films, a Broadway musical and four television series. He won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1958 for Horton Hatches the Egg and again in 1961 for And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. Geisel also worked as an illustrator for advertising campaigns, most notably for Flit and Standard Oil, and as a political cartoonist for PM, a New York City newspaper. During World War II, he worked in an animation department of the United States Army, where he wrote Design for Death, a film that later won the 1947 Academy Award for Documentary Feature. Read more . . .