I have two videos to share with you about drawing portraits! Both of these tie in with the portraits I drew of the young activists in NO VOICE TOO SMALL.  

Watch my mini art class on visual storytelling in portraits, recommended for grades 3-8, This video is seven minutes long, and delves into a little bit of portraits in art history before introducing the #MeetTheArtist meme. I then walk you through how to create your own using my template or on a blank sheet of paper. 

Download the printable #MeetTheArtist drawing prompt page!

To meet the needs of teachers and students in 2020's constantly-changing school landscape, Lindsay H. Metcalf, Keila V. Dawson and I have created a flexible school author visit package for NO VOICE TOO SMALL.  We have built this on-demand (asynchronous) library of videos, suitable for classroom or at-home use.  
Many of the poets who contributed to NO VOICE TOO SMALL have created mini writing workshop videos, some have also recorded themselves reading their poem. I have learned so much from watching these master craftspeople talk about their creative process, and I hope you and your students will as well.  
Because schools and families are in unique situations in 2020, we have developed multiple ways for you to access and use these free, on-demand materials in your ​classroom, for distance learning, or homeschool classrooms at home.  

Links for Use in Google Classroom 
If you prefer to embed links into your own Google Classroom documents, we have gathered the links to all of the Writing Workshops and Poetry Reading videos that are currently live on You Tube into one google doc. Click here for NO VOICE TOO SMALL Distance Learning Links. 

Book trailer

• NO VOICE TOO SMALL book trailer, featuring the voices of some of our young activists. 

YouTube playlists

• NO VOICE TOO SMALL Writing Workshops  Poets from NO VOICE TOO SMALL share their inspiration and writing tips with young readers. 
• NO VOICE TOO SMALL Young Activists Speak  A collection of videos of the young activists featured in NO VOICE TOO SMALL. Some were created just for readers of this book, others are news videos, speeches, or performances given by the young activists in the past. 
• NO VOICE TOO SMALL Poetry Readings  A rotating selection of poets read their own poems aloud. 

Some kids absolutely love the freedom of playing with line, shape, and color without trying to make their art look like something realistic. Others may have a hard time letting go of the concrete, or of ways of drawing familiar shapes like hearts or stars that they have been taught.

This free, downloadable class introduces kids to some famous abstract artists, and to some of the basic elements of design: line, shape, and color.  It includes a game and a simple,  name-based painting project that makes abstract art and color theory accessible to elementary age kids (or preschoolers with a bit of help from an adult) 

CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO DOWNLOAD THE PDF: 

If your house is anything like mine, there is a lot of screen time going on right now. Screens for school, screens for work, screens for fun, screens because you are stuck inside while it is sleeting in April and there is nowhere to go.  I wanted to share some ideas with you that I've created over years of teaching art to kids for ways to unplug and tap into the creative process.  All of us can use these - even myself!  After long days of working on digital illustration I can feel disconnected from the world.  Some hands-on crafting reconnects me to the playful side of art making. 

I've chosen to create these in pdf form instead of making a video because I feel overwhelmed by all of the (fantastic) educational videos and online events being created right now. Sometimes what we all need is to slow down, unplug, and do a home scavenger hunt through our recycling. 

Feel free to download or print this first "class."  Please credit my work and link to it here if you share.

Click on the image below to view pdf: 

1. Print out the frame template onto colored card stock.  (download below) 

2. Carefully cut out heart, leaving edges intact. (Younger children may need assistance getting started.)
3. Fold paper on center fold line.
4. Use glue stick to glue photo into inside of frame. 

5. Glue interior of paper together.
6. Decorate with handprint, stickers, crayons, markers, or wherever your imagination leads. 

This is a craft I developed for a public library event.  Young children will need assistance from an adult. Older children can work in pairs.  For a large group project, it is easier to prep the craft before the event by cutting out the felt pieces so that kids can focus on assembling their penguin chicks.

You will need: 

Gray adult socks (one pair will make four penguins)
Colorful adult socks
Light gray felt
Dark gray felt (try to match the socks)
Rice (one cup per penguin)
Rubber bands (5 per penguin)
Fine point marker, such as a sharpie
Black construction paper
Glue (I used tacky glue, a glue gun would also work)

Step 1: Cut the sock in half, avoiding the heel

Step 2: Turn sock inside out. Use a rubber band to close one end of the tube, then turn inside right again. 

Step 3: Pour rice into your sock.  Using a measuring cup with a spout or a plastic cup that you can squeeze into a spout shape makes this step less messy. 

Step 4: Pour the entire cup of rice into the sock, then tie off the top with a rubber band.  

Step 5:  Use another rubber band to create a neck for your penguin chick. 

Step 6: Slide the light gray felt belly piece under the next rubber band to create Kipling's belly fuzz. Then slide the arms under the rubber band to attach them.

Step 7: Cut off the toe of the colorful sock to use as a hat.  You can also create a beanie hat with a pom pom on top by cutting a wide band of the sock and rubber banding one end.   Cut a narrow strip of the same sock to create a scarf.

Step 8: Put on the hat and scarf.  Adjust the belly and arms until your chick looks symmetrical, then glue into place. 

Step 9: Draw dots for eyes right above the cheek line.  Cut out a small triangle of black construction paper for your chick's nose, and glue it on. 

Let your new friend dry before playing with him or her! 

Click below for a printable PDF pattern.

Small cardboard box (reduce, reuse recycle!)
Pink or red paper for cutting out hearts (if desired, use the template to print 6 hearts to a page)
Used postage stamps cut off envelopes
Glue stick
Stamps and stamp pad for “cancelling” the stamps
​Crayons or markers
“Treasures” to put in the box, like rocks, feathers, pom poms, buttons, beads, or other found objects

Pro tip: avoid the problem of kids cutting one heart out of the center of piece of paper by printing out this heart template that fits six hearts to a page. I like to print it onto pink card stock. 

LOVE, MAMA is fiction, but the illustrations in the book are based on my research into the animals and built environment on real Antarctic islands. I even had the chance to talk with scientists who work in the Southern Ocean about the animals they saw in their work - and what kind of souvenirs are available in Antarctic research station gift shops. 

Cool facts: 
Chinstrap penguins actually collect rocks.  They will even give them to each other as gifts. (And also fight over them, like human siblings.) 

Kipling and his Mama live on an imaginary island in a real part of the world.  Chinstrap penguins make their homes on the rocky islands in the Weddell Sea - between the southern tip of Argentina and Antarctica. ​ All of the animals in LOVE, MAMA live or migrate in this part of the southern ocean.

This is the southern-most post office in South America - located in Tierra del Fuego National Park, Argentina. It is staffed by human postal workers, but it looks like birds and seals could easily take over. 

Interested in learning more? 
Download this free educational guide created by Deb Gonzales!  It's full of STEAM-infused activities and printables for K-2 students. All are aligned with common core standards.