Posted by Nicole Carney on Dec 5, 2013 in Christmas Activities, Literacy Activities, Painting, Picture Book Activities, Winter Activities, Winter Picture Book Activities | 0 comments

Across Alberta we’ve had to contend with mountainous snow drifts, skirling winds, and frigid temperatures dipping below -20°C; the last thing I’m dreaming of right now is snow! Nevertheless, after reading Eric Carle’s beautifully illustrated book, Dream Snow, I couldn’t help but be inspired for an art project for the boys.

What M and B like most about this book is guessing which animals are being hidden under a blanket of snow. Carle uses a transparent sheet over his illustrations, and spatters it with white paint to create a snowy effect. Each farm animal is concealed behind a mound of ‘snow’ so you don’t know which animal he is referring to until you flip the page.

Originally, I thought it would be neat to use a pine tree painting, which would transform into a decorated, snowy Christmas tree when you placed the transparent sheet over top. Then I had an even better plan; why not feature the boys frolicking in the snow instead? My bugs loved this idea and were eager to get started!

Materials:

tempera paint (white + whatever colours you want for the background and snowsuit)
transparent sheets
brad clip
white paper
clear picture of your child’s face
white cardstock paper (optional)
glue stick
paint brushes

Eric Carle Dream Snow Art

We started this art project by finding, and printing off, a picture that showed a nice clear image of each of my boys’ faces. I cut our their faces and drew a quick body around each of them, using the card stock paper. Then my bugs painted the bodies, using just their fingers, to create colourful snowsuits. Once they were dry, the boys glued their cutout faces onto the figures.

Next, the boys painted their backgrounds. We decided to make the backgrounds a night sky, so we used purple, black and blue paint.

Once they were dry, my bugs glued their snowsuit figures onto them.

Then, using a brad clip, they fastened a transparent sheet overtop of their artwork (we used a hole punch first and just slipped the brad clip through). The boys used their fingers to dot white paint all over their transparent sheets, to create a snowstorm effect.