Martin Luther King Jr. Art Project, Books, and Letter M Alphabet Book Page

To celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Jan. and Black History Month in Feb., I came up with this fun art project for my girls. We have been making a creative alphabet book this year to go along with the things we are learning and I thought that Martin Luther King Jr. would be perfect for our letter "Mm" page. To see more of our alphabet book pages, click here.

First I started out by reading two books to the girls on Martin Luther King Jr. and we also watched clips of his "I Have a Dream Speech". Not only did I want to teach the girls about Martin Luther King Jr. life but I also wanted them to understand the good that he stood for. I wanted them to be aware that it doesn't matter what a person looks like on the outside, what religion they are, if they like playing sports, drawing or writing poetry, etc., what matters is who they are on the inside.

Reflection:

Growing up I was blessed to have two of the most wonderful parents. Seriously, I don't know why God blessed me so much to be sent to their family. I know that there are so many children who grow up in such difficult situations in life. My parents are the type of people that love everyone and they have always taught me to find the good in people. They have been such wonderful examples to me growing up and I hope that I too have been able to set this example for my girls.

The two books we read were:

Martin’s Big Words – The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, JR.

By: Doreen Rappaport              Illustrated By: Bryan Collier

Martin's Big Words is a wonderful book that tells Martin's vision and the things he hoped for. It uses direct quotes from Martin Luther King Jr. and it is fabulous.

My Brother Martin – A Sister Remembers Growing Up With The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King JR.

By: Christine King Farris                     Illustrated By: Chris Soentpiet

My Brother Martin is another fabulous book written by Martin Luther King Jr.'s sister, Christine King Farris. It is a sweet book that shares some personal memories of a Martin from his sister's perspective. I love how the book is written and the illustrations are just beautiful!



"M" is for Martin Luther King Jr. Art Project
Materials Needed:
-Brown or burgundy (that is what I used because I didn't have brown on hand) colored tissue paper cut up into squares.
-Elmer's Glue
-Water
-Paint Brush or Sponge Brush
-Oil Pastels
-Black Acrylic Paint
-One piece of Brown Construction Paper
-Scissors

Now onto our super fun art project. First I gave the girls a piece of brown construction paper and had them draw a shape of a face. They then cut the face shape out. After that I mixed up a mixture of 1/3 Elmer's Glue and 2/3 water. It makes a wonderful watered down glue that is perfect for gluing down tissue paper.

Side note:
Notice I love using recycled containers when crafting. I am using a recycled plastic salad container for the tissue paper and an empty baby food jar for the glue mixture.

Next the girls painted their glue mixture onto their paper and layered tissue squares on top of each other. It is important to glue as you go and not cover the entire area with glue.

After they glued on their tissue paper squares, they let them dry completely. Once the faces had dried the girls glued them onto our alphabet page. They then drew eyes, a nose, and a mouth with oil pastels. My youngest "Little Red" whose Martin is on the left decided he needed to have ears as well. So cute. After they drew their facial features they used paint brushes and painted on hair and mustaches and "Little Blonde" decided to draw a shirt below the face as well. Brilliant. The last thing they did to complete their art project was fill out the speaking bubble that said, "I have a dream...".

Little Red wrote: "I have a dream that I hope that I always have a family like my family".
Little Blonde wrote: "I have a dream that more people will care about animals".

So precious!

 I have to say that I completely love how our "M is for Martin Luther King Jr." alphabet pages turned out. The above picture of "Little Blonde's" completed project is not of the best quality, but I have to tell you that in person, both the girls faces looked so amazing and they had such a wonderful texture and dimension about them. I hope that this sparks a little inspiration for you.

I am hoping to get a few more fun blog post posted this weekend. Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous weekend!