Annunciation Artwork

I freely admit that I am not a naturally crafty or artsy person.  When it comes to teaching Jack art for school, I'm often at a loss for new and interesting ideas.  I also don't like projects that are super messy or expensive to set up, since many times I end up doing 3 art projects since Thomas and Peter want to get in on the action.  Some of my easy, inexpensive, simple ideas have fallen flat on their faces ... like my "let's make new crayons by melting old crayon stubs" project that ended up looking like droppings from a crayonivore animal. 

The other week, though, with the Annunication coming up, I really wanted to do a nice art project that had something to do with the feast day.  I researched ideas well ahead of time (which helps!), and I found instructions online for making simple triptychs -- three-sided displays that can be decorated/painted.  I used some cardboard we had lying around, cut out the triptych shapes, had the boys paint them gold, and then had them choose artwork that I've been saving from the Magnificat magazines we receive every month.  The Magnificats always have gorgeous cover art, but I've never figured out what to do with it.  I also made a space for a "stained glass" window -- which was colored tissue paper pieces that the boys sprinkled between sheets of clear contact paper.  Anyway, I was pleased with the results and the boys were pretty happy, too.  I also let them put white/sparkly glitter on top of it as a final touch, and they went a little crazy with that, but they loved it!



Jack's triptych




Peter's (note the liberal use of glitter on the left panel)




Thomas's




I like how the stained glass window effect looks when light shines in from behind.