Brashear Teens: Christmas Art with Ms. Penny!

Hey guys! Danyelle again from the Hilltop! Continuing with our holiday festivities and activities, this week we had a special guest artist, Ms. Penny that came in to share her talents with us.

We always try to be environmentally friendly and there are so many uses for old magazines. Ms. Penny brought in some pre-cut scraps and skewers and showed us how to roll the pieces of paper up into tiny tubes.

As you can imagine, this took quite a bit a patience and getting used to, but once the teens got the hang of it, it went quite quickly. After rolling up the pages, we glued them to a die-cut tree shape to make an ornament. Then the students decorated them with jewels and, of course, a gold star on top.

Since rolling was frustrating, some of the students decided to take their own path and use different techniques. Art is art and every one is different! They all turned out amazing no matter what technique/method they used! The students had a blast creating new art out of old materials and many decided to give their ornaments away as Christmas gifts.

Special thanks to Ms. Penny for designing and facilitating this activity for us and bringing cookies! We'll have to have her back again soon for some more amazing fun! (Although Ms. Penny came up with this project, a basic concept can be found here if you'd like to try it at home.)

The Hilltop YMCA will be closed for 2 weeks from Monday, Dec. 21-Friday, Jan. 1 and will re-open Monday, Jan. 4 for programming. Join us for Kids Cook! with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank on Wednesday, Jan. 6 as we learn about nutrition and cook up some tasty treats! See you there!

Happy Holidays!

Danyelle