Process art projects are always fun for kids because they are about the process and not the end result. They love using their own creativity to make something without worrying about what their creation “should” look like. Process art sounds fancy but all it really means is letting explore materials without having to adhere to a certain end product. It’s great for fostering creativity and making dinner. Yep. Process art engages kids and allows you time to get something done. Win win!
These heart hangers were inspired from the Art Workshop for Children book by Barbara Rucci and Betsy McKenna. This book is full of amazing art ideas for the kids. After reading it I set out to find supplies for our next art project. These heart hangers were easy to make and, just as awesome, we had all the art supplies on hand except the hangers. After a few calls to family we had a stack of wire hangers! Now we were ready to make art.
The kids loved painting these hearts so much that we made more without hangers just for the love of painting. That’s when you know an activity is a winner!
Heart Hangers Process Art
Supplies for the Process Art Project:
- paints in different colors- we did pink, purple, white, and teal colors.
- DIY glitter glue paints- just mix clear glue and glitter together to make.
- jewels
- glitter butterflies
- pipe cleaners
- decorative tapes
- beads
- hangers
- cardboard
- paint brushes
How to Make Heart Hangers with the kids:
- To start of gather supplies.
- Next bend the wire hangers into hearts. This is the hardest part of this art project. Thankful my hero, my hubby, stepped in and did this for us.
- Now take the wire heart and trace on cardboard. We still had boxes from Christmas in the garage so we put them to use.
- I added paints, glitter glue paints, paint brushes, jewels, etc. to a tray and set on the table.
- I gave them place mats to paint on (something we use for arts and crafts) but you can use newspaper, an old table cloth, or get a cheap plastic table cloth at a dollar store…
6. The kids started out by painting their cardboard hearts. You can let the kids use glue and glitter without making paints but I only like glitter when it is trapped in something ex. glue, slime, playdough. Loose glitter looks great and can be used too depending on your preference.
7. Once the kids had painted and decorated the hearts with jewels and butterflies we left them to dry. Since they were having so much fun painting I made them smaller cardboard hearts to keep painting while we waited for the big ones to dry.
8. When the hearts were dry we got out our decorative tapes, heart wires, and some beads.
9. The kids can add beads to the top hook of the hanger and then use tape or a pipe cleaner to wrap around the hanger to keep the beads on.
10. Now the kids can tape their hearts to the wire.
Now we have lots of bright and cheerful hearts to hang up in the house! With Valentine’s Day coming up this would make a fun Valentine’s Day craft for the kids too. Or even a sweet act of kindness to make for someone to show how much you care about them. I can see these being great gifts for nursing home residents or hospital patients.
I have a feeling ours will be hanging up for a long time! The kids just love how the heart hangers process art project turned out. And I do too!
Affiliate links included below.
Process Art Activities for Kids
Love this idea of letting kids take the lead and want to do more process art projects with your kids or class? Then you will love Art Workshop for Kids: How to Foster Original Thinking with more than 25 Process Art Experiences by Barbara Rucci and Betsy McKenna.
The photos in the book are gorgeous enough to warrant a purchase, but the real reason to buy is how easy and awesome the authors make doing process art with kids. After flipping through the book you literally cannot resist setting out supplies and letting your kids create. It’s one of those books that you’ll refer to again and again and good for any age. In other words, it’s a must-buy.
Click here to read more about it: Art Workshop for Kids
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