and newsprint. I showed the kids how they could use different parts of the charcoal to make different size lines and different shades and I showed them how they could use their fingers to blend and soften the lines.They had a fantastic time, even if some of the subtlety of the art form was lost on them. First Son's only concession to the new media was to give his Veggies (the same five pictures he always draws) shadows.
First Daughter was more abstract. (I actually love this picture.)
She was also very messy.
I was a little concerned by the warning on the package to wear a mask, but didn't find anything terribly frightening about letting kids use charcoal when I looked online. So we just opened a window and cleaned up well. The charcoal was easier to oversee during the actual art time than painting (which we did last week), but the clean up was a bit more time-consuming. Art is important for a lot of reasons, but I'm glad we focus our messy art energies only once a week.
