Welcome to the Artful Home Blog with JLC Pottery

Hi and Welcome! My name is Jennifer Cooper. I am an artist and educator with 2 young children. I started this blog to help share access to simple art lessons, art supply lists and different, helpful, artful home activities such as effective time management strategies for setting up art spaces, art lesson plans and having children participate in cleaning and organization of their creative areas. I will also share strategies for older children to have a creative space at home while being encouraged to express themselves through open ended projects and ideas and of course, I will share what I am working on... when I have time. What are some of the biggest hurdles of art making at home? Set up, supplies, and MESS! In this blog, I will succinctly as possible provide my friends at home with art teacher hacks that make art projects more fun and less stressful. Please sign up for my monthly mailing list for easy tricks and tips for getting your little to help you set up and clean up their project, no matter how long it took them to create their masterpiece. Messy Space Do you have a designated "messy space" for your kiddo to explore through different materials? Be it Legos, playdoh, paint or just a pile of manipulatives? This is the first step to give your child ownership over their area. This space might make you crazy, and it's important to not let it get out of control. But, having a designated messy area, art table, or corner of their room that they have ownership over can give your child a place for imaginative experimentation. Art making at home is not about controlling the outcome of the project, but allowing your child to have the freedom to experiment and take risks without any type of fear of failure. Giving them a place where they can come and go within their creative process is helpful to give them this experience. This space can be their room, a corner of the kitchen, a desk in the basement or even a cardboard box that you put on the floor. I like being able to contain the creative media to a space so it is manageable for them and my family alike. This way, you can set boundaries of how they are able to leave their creative process until next time, or clean it up after each session. How to get your kiddo to focus and be creative longer Allow your child to listen to music or a podcast while being creative. Amazon Music Unlimited, Kindle, and Audible all have great kids content for listeners of all ages. If you have an Amazon subscription, you are also able to add parental controls to make sure all content is appropriate to your parenting. Supplies to have on hand for your kid's art space:

Here is a list of easy to purchase items which allow open ended creativity to flourish for all ages 2+ (All items are linked for easy purchasing)

• Age appropriate scissors

• Construction paper

• General white paper

• Watercolor Paper

• Crayons

• Markers

• Colored Pencils

• Tempera paint

• Paint holders and brushes (great for little hands)

• Watercolors

• General Paint brushes

• White all purpose glue

• Glue sticks

• Drawing Pencils

• Pencil Sharpener

• Playdoh

Supplies to add for older artists (5+)

• Oven bake clay

• Eraser

• Airtight paint pallet

• Fine tip markers

• Acrylic Paint (does not wash out)

• Canvases

• Advanced colored pencils

• Advanced Watercolors

Thank you for visiting my blog and taking the time out o

f your busy day! I would LOVE to hear from you in regards to how I can help you create creative spaces at home or what types of art lessons you need help with! Please send me a message and sign up for my new posts! Disclosure: We sometimes use affiliate links in our content. This won't cost you anything but it helps us to offset the cost of paying our writing team. Thank you for your support and I am always only supporting products that I know and love.