This post is sponsored by Target. More Turtles, More Bold and Daring Fun: Blur the lines of fantasy and reality with your favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at Target.
Art is a part of my daily life. It just is. Remember how I told you my son’s life passions all lead back to art? Art, art projects, new ideas, and collections of a random assortment of feathers and rocks and random paraphernalia for new collaborations make their way into my house every single day. So I thought it would be fun to throw an art party for some kids, friends of my son, to celebrate some of his favorite artists. We held our party mid-summer, but this turned out so fun it would also be great for a birthday or end-of-summer bash.
We looked to the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the artists they represent, for inspiration for our art party. Also, they lend some serious street cred to the event. Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, and Raphael, all artists of the Renaissance period in Europe.
I set up four different art stations so the kids could rotate through each one and try different techniques while learning a bit about the masters of each. We had green drinks, balloons in green, orange, blue and purple, colored candies to coordinate with the turtle characters, and goodie bags with TMNT toys and treats to send home with our artistic guests. What’s also great about this party is that nearly everything we needed could be picked up at Target. Amen.
If you’re planning to host an art party (and I would highly recommend it, we had such fun!) you could take inspiration from different artists or works of art to lead the color palette and decor of the party. The TMNT colors aren’t necessarily ones I would have chosen, but they made for a very festive and boyish atmosphere.
Before we got started with the art projects, I told the kids a little bit about each Renaissance artist and their most famous works of art, and then let them loose on the art stations.
Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, aka Donatello, was an Italian sculptor from Florence, so naturally we had an art sculpting station. Donatello supervised.
I love watching kids create and witness their brains at work. My son spent an inordinate amount of time with sculpting tools, and this work of art is called: split mountains. Or towers. Split bridge?
I can’t remember.
The little blue guy in the bottom right corner? He’s a chicken. Can you even handle the cute?
Leonardo (da Vinci) was a man of many skills; he was the ultimate Renaissance man (get it? Renaissance man? I slay myself.) Inventor, architect, painter, sculptor, mathematician, engineer, and the list goes on, and on. It was hard to choose which art station for Leonardo supervise, but in the end I went with architect/inventor.
We offered basic supplies of craft sticks, craft glue, and a little bit of modeling clay. Renaissance architecture + invention is harder than it seems, but the kids killed it and created super fun projects anyway.
Michelangelo (Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni) was in charge of our painting station. Since he painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and all, I figured he’d be okay for the job.
A pink pig with green legs and blue feet, come on. The piggly wiggly tail is my favorite. Next to the extra long snout.
The last station was Raphael. (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino). Again, like the rest of the Renaissance masters, Raphael was hugely talented in a variety of art forms, but he was a noteworthy print-maker. Did you know that? I had no idea.
The kids carved potatoes into stamps and did some printmaking of their own. They rolled craft paint onto their potato stamps and printed up full sheet pages of their designs.
I absolutely love what they came up with. I’m always surprised and amazed, but I really shouldn’t be. There’s a little bit of artistic genius in all of us, right?
This post is sponsored by Target. More Turtles, More Bold and Daring Fun: Blur the lines of fantasy and reality with your favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at Target.
This post is sponsored by Target. More Turtles, More Bold and Daring Fun: Blur the lines of fantasy and reality with your favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at Target.
Allison
Hello there! I'm Allison Czarnecki, founder + editor of Petit Elefant, a blog all about style on a budget for every part of your life: style / home / travel / family. I do a lot of how-to beauty + style tutorials, travel posts, easy recipes, home remodel projects, and cool DIY crafts you totally want to try. I'm super happily married (to a hot Polish immigrant) and am the mother of two kids, a daughter and son, all of whom are featured here on the regular. We live in the country but we're a little bit rock + roll. Welcome!
