Homeschool Art
This past school year, I decided to take on teaching an art class to my kids as well as my niece and nephew. We tried many different projects and had a great year.
While I taught the older kids, my sister-in-law taught the younger kids at her house.
To celebrate, we decided to invite family over to see all they had accomplished this year.
They really enjoyed being able to talk about and show off their projects and I was incredibly proud of them for all their efforts this year!
The set up
Disclosure: Our shopping links are sponsored, or affiliate, links, which means that we could earn a small commission that helps fund our blog (at no additional cost to you!), so thank you for your support and happy shopping!
Now, of course, this can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it, but I decided to try and make it an extra special evening. From the invitation to food to display ideas, I wanted it to feel like a well thought out art exhibition.
The Invite
Did you know that you can find free images to use for invitations, backgrounds, and more at pixabay.com and unsplash.com. I love having these sites at my fingertips! I simply searched “Art” and then downloaded this image from Pixabay. I opened it in photoshop and wrote in the words on top of the notebook.
After I had the invitation made, I texted it to my sister-in-laws and they sent them out to their families as well.
The Tables
I set up a couple of tables, along with my dining room table, for the kids to display their projects. I put a strip of washi tape between artists, creating a line of separation so they knew where they could place their stuff.
I already had a couple of wooden easels like these that they had used throughout the year to paint but also found some additional wire easels at Dollar Tree for them to be able to have some of their artwork displayed nicely.
These easels may also work and are even more cost effective!
This really made the tables look nice and gave some height variances.
The Food
Well, you can’t have people over and not feed them. I wanted to keep on the art theme and so I looked for colorful and creative food options. And of course, don’t forget simple!
Rainbow Skewers
I bought grapes, blueberries, kiwi, pineapple (in a can), mandarin oranges (also canned), and raspberries. Positioned on a skewer in the correct order, they made a beautiful rainbow effect and were a huge hit!
Veggie cups
Little plastic cups with veggies and some dip already conveniently in the bottom made for an easy snack as well. I just put already made ranch dip and buffalo ranch dip in the cup and then placed carrots, cucumber, and tomatoes inside.
For a twist on the cucumber, I cut them into sticks instead of circles. I may start doing this and I like eating them this way!
Of course, we added a splash of color with some toothpick umbrellas!
Buffalo Chicken Dip
I also made a simple buffalo chicken dip.
Jump to RecipeThe recipe is:
- 8oz cream cheese
- 1/2 c. ranch dressing
- 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 c. Franks Red Hot Sauce
- 2 cans (12.5oz) of chunk chicken-drained
Mix together in a large bowl, spread in 13×9 inch pan, bake 30 min. at 350 degrees. Serve warm with tortilla chips. (Or crackers, veggies, crisped bread, Fritos, you get it.)
There are many variations of this recipe online, but this was yummy and made from ingredients I typically have- no fancy bleu cheese, etc. and it turned out great!
I would double this recipe if you are expecting more than 8 people. We ran out fast! I didn’t even get a photo.
Cookies!
You can’t have an art party without cookies! Just kidding, of course you can. But why would you want to? These are becoming my signature cookie to make. I am having so much fun learning to decorate with royal icing!
For these cookies, I wanted them to look like little canvases, so I cut out a fancy frame shape like these and then piped white royal icing in a rectangle shape. I decorated them with food coloring and a new paintbrush. The kids had made cactus paintings so I decided to replicate the look in cookie form.
They dried just fine and I was able to stack them to store. I’m excited to try this technique again. I didn’t wait long enough to start painting, so next time, I will give them 24 hours to dry first. I am not a very patient person….. it will be hard.
I also made little paint palettes using a pumpkin cookie cutter that I squeezed to make a longer shape and then I cut off the “stems” before baking. But I would have loved to have had this cute art set!
I displayed a few on mini wooden easels. How cute is that?
I got the wooden easels from Amazon. They came with mini canvases that we used to do a mini painting. I just love miniature things!
The show
We did this open house style, starting at 6pm and going to 7pm. An hour was a nice amount of time. The kids each stood or sat behind their artwork so they could answer questions and talk about their projects. We had such a great year in art and we can’t wait for next year!
Buffalo Chicken Dip
Ingredients
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1/2 c. ranch dressing
- 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 c. Franks Red Hot Sauce
- 2 cans (12.5oof chunk chicken-drained
Instructions
- Mix together in a large bowl, spread in 13×9 inch pan, bake 30 min. at 350 degrees.
- Serve warm with tortilla chips. (Or crackers, veggies, crisped bread, Fritos, you get it.)
Leave a Reply