Kindergarten Art

Hailey is a young married girl who lives in our basement apartment with her husband and 1 year old son. Ralph has hired her to help me with daily activities that I cannot do anymore. Besides being a great help, she has become a good friend too. Every Wednesday we cook something togethern, or I should say she cooks and I just lay on the couch nearby in case she needs any questions answered.
Hailey was an Art major in college before she got married. On Thursdays we do an Art project together. Since the bulk of my experience is in kindergarten, Hailey puts up with my simple projects but it is good to know what little children can do and how to help them. We have made snowflakes, Bubble prints and a 3-D mouse. (kind of like origami) This week I showed her how to make lettering for a sign or bulletin board. This was shown to me by an older teacher (who taught before die pressed letters were invented), not taught in any teacher training classes. Still it is a handy skill to have.

The letters are made out of construction paper. To start, fold and cut pieces of paper to make equal sized cards or pieces of paper,depending on the size you want your finished letters. This assures that all the letters are the same size and you can make them as small or as big as you want. I've made letters as big as 1/2 piece of 9"x12" contruction paper. You can fold the paper to mark equal sections then cut out equal sized pieces.
To make each letter, fold each way to mark the half-way points. I use my finger or thumb as a guide to keep the thickness of each letter line consistent. For example, to make letter A, using the lengthwise and crosswise folds as guidelines, cut out the outside slanted shape of the A by folding your paper lengthwise and cutting both outside lines. This assures that each side will be symmetrical. Open up the paper and cut the inside to make it look like an A instead of merely a triangle shape.
The crosswise fold mark can be used as a guideline to make the bar that goes across the middle of the A. The paper can be folded in half lengthwise again to cut out the triangle space above the bar. Hopefully by now you have made an A with abou 1/2 in. wide lines.
This probably sounds complicated but a little practice will help. Be sure to use the fold and finger guidelines to help you. Practice with each letter of the alphabet. One of the things I liked about it, besides having nice looking lettering at my disposal, was that I think it improved my visualization skills. Call me if you have questions or troubles.