Rainbow Experiments and Color Mixing with a Three-Year-Old

A Story Told in Pictures:

Tutorial: Place Mats to Teach Place Setting to a Toddler in the Montessori Tradition

I've been wanting to teach my newly-three-year-old how to set the table for some time. Although I sew and could make the place mats myself, I found some place mats I've had FOREVER (and not used in over 10 years); they were just "begging" to be re-purposed! I've also recently discovered the joys of freezer paper stencils. What a great technique to create the outlines of a plate, cup, and utensils to guide the child in learning the placement of these items!

How can you make a set for your toddler and empower his/her independant spirit? It is so easy!

First, I made a template of 2 forks, a knife, and 2 spoons. I printed out the high-contrast template, placed the freezer paper over the template (shiny side facing down), and traced the utensils onto freezer paper. I traced around the actual plate and cup to create the circular stencils for those objects. I then cut the designs out - five sets of them for my five place mats. In the end, I decided we really weren't fancy enough to require 2 spoons and 2 forks at our meals!

I ironed the freezer paper stencils (shiny side down) to my place mat, checked that the edges were adequately "sealed", and the place mat was ready to paint!

Finally, I painted the silhouettes of the place setting, using a foam brush and fabric paint purchased at Michaels. I used navy blue to match the blue place mats.

After the paint was dry, I removed the stencils by simply peeling them off the surface of the fabric place mats! (The freezer paper does not leave a residue on the fabric.)

TA DA!!! My three-year-old sets the table for himself & our family!

Peaceable Kingdom Quilt

So, I had never "quilted" before last fall... I can still say, I've never quilted"correctly".. As with all creative endeavors, I jumped in feet first, figuring it out as I went along.

I wanted to be a part of an art exhibit in Anderson, SC that took its inspiration from the Peaceable Kingdom in theBook of Isiaah:

⁶ The wolf shall live with the lamb,

the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
⁷ The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together;

and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

⁸ The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,

and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
⁹ They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

After designing my work on the computer, I had my design commercially printed onto quilting weight fabric, using www.spoonflower.com, a company in North Carolina. I wanted to machine quilt the design. In retrospect, I realize a different sewing machine presser foot would be helpful in this endeavor. :) Next time... However, I completed the project without breaking a needle!

The design depicts animals peacefully surrounding the Earth. There is subtle variation within all of the colors, as there is in batik fabrics. The quilt was machine-quilted on the edge of the world, as well as in a design surrounding the animals. The edges are finished with blanket stitching, using embroidery thread that matches the colors of that portion of the quilt.

As a former Montessori Primary teacher and current stay-at-home mother, I designed it with a classroom or nursery in mind!!

Artist's Bio

A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Amy Kuhl Cox received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Art Therapy and Photography from Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, and a Masters degree in Modern and Contemporary Art History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Amy has served as an artist-in-residence at a Montessori Infant-Toddler Community and Preschool in St. Louis, an adjunct instructor in Modern Art History at a university in Anderson, SC, as well as the Education Director at the Anderson County Arts Center. Amy received her American Montessori Society Primary certification from Lander University in Greenwood, SC, and served as a Primary Directress at a Montessori school in Simpsonville, SC. Amy has presented on children’s creativity and handmade classroom materials at American Montessori Society and South Carolina Montessori Alliance conferences.

In 2008, Amy launched several websites with her colorful designs to promote peace, an appreciation of diversity, and an awareness of Montessori education. Merchandise with her designs is available at:
www.zazzle.com/peacemontessori*
www.cafepress.com/peacemontessori
www.printfection.com/peacemontessori
These designs abound with bright, fun, bold colors to appeal to primary-aged children whose creativity is the source of her inspiration.

Amy has exhibited her photography in national juried exhibitions and has completed several series of self-portrait photography, exploring the varied sides of a single personality. She has enjoyed black and white photography in a traditional darkroom setting, creating Polaroid transfers of color slide film, as well as digital photography. In college, Amy used liquid emulsion to apply her photography to ceramic vessels. Most recently, she has combined her original photographic images with polymer clay and resin to create pendants and earrings.

Amy’s jewelry and hand-made fiber accessories, including scarves, hats, and felted purses, can be found at her website www.amykuhlcox.etsy.com as well as at Bay 3 Gallery in Anderson, South Carolina’s Anderson County Arts Center Warehouse and Blue Connection Gallery in Decatur, Illinois.