Tuesday, July 19, 2011

More Christmas in July - Three Wisemen !!

In addition to the Nativity in the last post we also made the Three Wisemen or Three Kings at my friends' little art camp!! This is a basically free project using "stuff" you already have on hand. The Wisemen are made from paint sticks ( I have friends who believe I can make anything out of  a paintstick!! I'm trying!! I have that great Sherwin Williams contact who keeps us supplied and it is fun figuring out ways to use them up. I had over 400 children through the summer programs at work and we used 1200 paintsticks in a month!!! )
We simply painted the sticks in rich, royal colors. There is a little indention that makes a natural separation for the head. We base coated that in a flesh color. The beards are scraps of brown peel and stick fun foam. We just free handed those :)  Some beards were a little ZZ Top but that's OK. The crowns were cut from scraps of glitter fun foam and glued on. The "turban" was a scrap of fabric. We used fabric scraps around the necks and then the absolute best part- I just pull out all the glitter, glitter glue and odds and ends of sequins and confetti and we glue, glue, glue. No limits - we just give those Kings a ton of bling!!
The eyes are two dots made with a Sharpie- Sharpie are my favorite art tool in the world. Seriously. I must have 10 Sharpies in my purse right now and I always write and doodle with a Sharpie. People give them to me as a gift. I really love Sharpies.

A confetti tip- Every time we have a function or party or event and people toss confetti on the table... I gather it up at the end. I don't care what the shape is- I grab it and put it in my "magic confetti jar". Then when we have a project like this I bring it out and the kids go through and find what they want. They love it. And since it's free they can use all they want. They will ask me if they can use the "magic confetti jar!"
 I almost forgot- you can't tell in the pictures but I made a little torn fabric loop and glued it to the back of the middle king when I was gluing all of them together. Then they can be hung if you wish.


8 comments:

  1. Muito bonito! Parabéns! Vou fazer com os meus alunos para levarem para casa no dia de Reis. Obrigada pela partilha! Marília Ceia do blogue JardimdaAldeia2

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  2. Hi Mollie's Mom, your wise men craft is so cute! Love that it's easy to make. Especially for young children. Happy Feast of the Epiphany!

    BTW~ I came over from Jennifer's blog, Catholic Inspired. She featured your art project for her readers. I'm going to mark this for next year!

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  3. love these! any thoughts on how to make them stand up for display???

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  4. love these! Any thoughts on how to make them stand for display??

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    1. Thank you. We put a loop on them and hung them up. As far as making them stand I think you could use a chunk of 2x4, paint it and then either have an adult nail the bottom of the paintsticks to it to make it stand or glue them. If the "square" of 2x4 is big enough I think it would hold them up!! let me know if you give it a try and it works!!

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  5. Hi Mollie's Mom. I had a couple questions about these paint stick wise men. I am writing a book for a Christmas advent calendar with activities in it. I was wondering if I could put this activity in my book. I would put you as the reference or this blog. Whichever you would prefer.

    Thanks,
    Katherine

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    1. I would be happy for you to feature this activity as long as there is a clear link/reference to my blog with my name attached. Very exciting. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about how these are created. And I would love to know when your book is published - is it an e-book or hard copy??

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  6. Hi Mollie's Mom,
    My name is Katherine and I was wondering if it would be okay if I use this activity in a Christmas book I am writing. I will reference you or your blog, whichever you would prefer if I have permission to use the activity.
    Thanks,
    Katherine

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