The Butterfly Adventures Continue!

by: Jennifer Anderson, Art therapy teacher

Did you know…
…butterflies range in size from 1/8 inch to a huge almost 12 inches?

…monarch butterflies journey from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and return to the north again each spring?

…butterflies can see red, green and yellow?

These are just a few of the factoids we learned on Day 4 of art therapy camp. The students have done a remarkable job of retaining all of the information we have learned each day regarding paper mâché, dragonflies and butterflies. I am so proud of them!

It was definitely the “Day of the Butterfly”…we recycled a canvas from another project by spray painting it with black gloss spray paint. By painting the background black it gives a totally different kind of contrast than the plain ol’ white canvas we all love and know.

After spray painting the butterflies, we realized the posterboard beneath the butterflies was a gorgeous piece of artwork all on its own.

We took that concept and placed butterflies onto the black canvas and the students sprayed several different colors onto the canvas was quite impressive! They blended the colors perfectly…with colors fading one into the other…it’s a beautiful piece of artwork they created with a team, which is not always an easy thing to do.

Our dragonfly is still a work in progress…I have to admit this was my first experience with paper mâché…I had no idea how long it takes to dry! Can’t wait until we can paint it and put on the finishing touches. We will of course show the finished product!

Remember art therapy isn’t just about the finished product…it’s all about the journey, not the destination. It gives students an outlet to create, but it also has the benefits that can help improve fine motor skills needed for good hand-eye coordination, which is important for activities such as tying shoes, writing, using utensils, and working with manipulatives. Fine motor skills are also important for good eye-motor (oculomotor) movements, and for talking and expressive language.

Art therapy is the best of all worlds — students get to express themselves in a different way, have fun, improve on skills necessary for everyday living, and of course, produce amazing artwork and have the satisfaction and self-confidence in knowing they created something beautiful.