Starry Art Night and Great American Road Trip

 Golda was going to do the Starry, Starry Art Night, but she had a (sudden) dress rehearsal, so I got to do it.  All throughout, I laughed at myself for thinking we were going to look at the stars toward the end.  It doesn't even get dark until 9:30, and the camp ended at 9!

 This craft actually turned out great.  We tried to make stars out of twigs, though, and that didn't turn out great.  The stars looked more like piles of twigs stuck to pieces of paper with massive pools of glue.  Ha ha!  The Pinterest version was much better!

 We talked about Van Gogh and made finger paintings of his Starry Night background, then did cutouts of some foreground items like houses and trees.  The kids were a crack-up.  I've never seen such hard work for such sloppy results.  Ha ha!  That's what you get for letting them finger paint!  Nonetheless, their artwork was wonderful.  I just love kid art, which is good because the very next morning, Ruby ran the "Great American Road Trip" camp.  The cityscapes she did with the kids, with the Brooklyn Bridge made out of string and paper, turned out so cute!

 Baseball craft.  As a general rule, kids will use as much glitter as you give them, even if they have to pile it in mounds all over their craft.  They are like little glitterholics.  They don't know when to stop.

 I wish I had pictures of all the cityscapes, because each one was so unique and perfect.

 Eric made a dragon instead of a cityscape.  He was so focused!  I love these kids.

See what I mean about the glitter?  These will NEVER dry!

California Dreamin' Day Camp

 "Dopp Cottage" day camp, day one, was a success!  This one was Ari's camp, which meant it was mostly me.  Ari would rather be an artist than a teacher, and easily slips from being in command to being immersed in the creations she has planned for the kids.  That's perfect for me, because then I get to take over!  I don't get to do that with Golda and Ruby, so this was kindof my turn.

 15 kids made salt dough and then molded it into sand dollars, etching patterns on them with bamboo skewers.

 We read a story about a boy who puts a letter in a bottle inviting the fish to his house.  We wrote letters from the fish to the humans.

 We had story time on the back porch.

 We talked about "The Starfish Story" and made a Starfish Stick out of paper we had designed.  The paper, we had sprayed with paint water from spray bottles.  Each kid made a different pattern and they turned out cool.  I don't worry about the end result too much.  I just want the kids to create.  So some of the results are less than professional!

 We read a story about the boardwalk, handed out tickets for suckers and popcorn, and popped the popcorn on the stove.

 Also made sharks with our paint water technique.

 Googly eyes are me new favorite thing.  These seashells are so funny with eyes!  Sorry it's upside-down!

And we made necklaces from some of the seashells with holes in them, and had lunch.  The next camp is Tuesday night, and Golda is doing it.  It's called "Starry Starry Art Night," and the kids will paint, star gaze, craft, and learn about artists through stories.  It only costs $5 a kid, so please send your kids!  I can't wait!

Dopp Cottage Day Camps and Week Workshops!

You are invited to

Dopp Cottage Day Camps and Week Workshops!

Friday, June 6:  California Dreamin’….9-12 am.

Tuesday, June 10 NIGHT Camp:  Starry Starry Art Night…6-9PM Wednesday, June 11:  The Great American Road Trip….9-12 am

Friday, June 13:  Haunted Cottage Adventures….9-12 am

Wednesday, June 18:  Rancher Round Up….9-12 am

Tuesday, June 24 NIGHT Camp:  Fairies of the Forest…6 to 9 PM

All day/night camps are a combination of crafts, music, art, reading and fun.  Bring a sack lunch and a drink.  $5 a day!  Ages 3ish-9ish

Week-long Workshops with Golda:  FROZEN with Anna!

June 23-26 (4 days)

9:30 to 10:15, Dance Camp

10:15 to 11:00, Art and Crafts Camp

Week-long Workshops with Ruby:  MUSIC!

June 30-July 3 (4 days)

9:30 to 10:15, New Orleans Rhythm Works

10:15 to 11:00, The Art of Music in Play

$10 for one camp, $15 for both.

Reserve at 801-726-8685 (Circe), 801-425-5195 (Golda) 801-425-5194 (Ruby) 385-439-7751 (Araceli)

Art Day

The day after Halloween, the kids didn't have school.  Is that the best idea ever, or what?!  I relished sleeping in (after getting Golda to the high school at 6 am to catch a ride to an all-day dance workshop in Provo) and then waking up to whatever we wanted to do, which turned out to be art.  Xanthe and Esmae had no interest in following my instructions for a candy wrapper turkey, so I let them go their own way while I made a candy wrapper turkey, so we all had fun.  I fact, Xanthe later said that modge podge candy wrappers was her favorite thing she has ever done.  Wow!

Colors!

Tziporah was absolutely in heaven over having carte blanche to do anything she wanted.  As she painted, she kept saying, "Mine!  My paint!"  Why didn't I give her better colors?  Her masterpiece turned out an ugly color of puce, but she was thrilled with the process.

Freestone's process had a much better outcome.  He searched for pictures on the computer and found one similar to this, which he copied.  I didn't help him one bit.  That's why it turned out so amazing!

After the rest of us left for the park, Ruby continued working on her sign.  She is on a little committee for Young Women in Excellence night, and their quote is "There's Noplace Like Our Heavenly Home," with a Wizard of Oz theme.  They're having a great time with the planning, and Ruby wanted to get a leg up on the work, so she painted this quote from Glinda the Good Witch.  I love everything about it!  It's true, and I can't wait to see what else the girls come up with for their night in Oz.

Every time we paint, I wonder why we don't do it more often.  I hope we do!