Becoming the artist- Picasso and Michelangelo

I just got a minute to upload these... and wanted to share.

Before we left we decorated two french doors...one with card size pictures from different artist (you can see it in the background of the puppy picture)...this took awhile and I tried to pick pictures that we would see on our trip or the masterpieces that certain artist were known for.

I have to find where I got the picture of God creating Adam (on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel) it was the perfect size and image to use. I taped them to their playhouse where they got to paint like Michelangelo did...standing with neck back.  This small exercise really sunk in with even Bronwyn (age 2 1/2)...in Italy you see images of this painting EVERYWHERE  and everytime she saw it she would yell, "Michelangelo"!!!!  Brownyn didn't stick to the painting long...but she did paint Adams "privates" pink before she abandoned her mission and I found that funny:)

Picasso was a fun artist for the kids to capture...we had watched a movie (forgot the name but hope to come back and update), but it was Picasso (no Actor...the actual Picasso) painting on glass and then changing it by adding more and more layers to it. The kids actually watched this video as background entertainment for days they enjoyed it so. It is not the kind of video that you really sit in a chair to watch, it was perfect just to have playing as we did other things.  We went overboard emphasising to Bronwyn, "Funny Picasso!!!! Look there is only one eye... etc... etc...". I just really wanted her to grasp something from the study and she did when we overemphasized the funny placed lips, eyes, even boobies...she'd laugh.  As the kids painted I had them write the name of who they were,  and then we taped them to their back. As they painted I described the artist (things we had read and studied and knew)...things so simple as, "you lived a long life, you liked women, you died with  money...etc.. etc...". These lessons really were absorbed by the children.

 This is a tiny fraction of things we did this summer to prepare the children for our trip...I have no doubt they helped so much in them understanding...Surrendering the french doors (or any wall space) to different artist was also a good idea in that they were there infront of the kids often. Bronwyn would point to them and say, "funny Picasso"...