A Remarkable Book & Carousel Spin Art!
After reading Sharon Langley & Amy Nathan’s “A Ride to Remember: A Civil Rights Story” we decided to create some Carousel Spin Art! We used the FREE Printable (found HERE in our Free Printables Library) and a salad spinner to recreate the spin of a carousel ride in our art! I’m excited to walk you through this incredible Carousel Spin Art, so let’s get started…
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Summary of “A Ride to Remember: A Civil Rights Story”
“A Ride to Remember: A Civil Rights Story” written by Sharon Langley & Amy Nathan and illustrated by Floyd Cooper is a remarkable book based on a true story about Gwynn Oak Amusement Park. It’s about a community that came together to make a change to the segregation laws that were in place at the time that did not allow black people to be admitted.
On July 4, 1963 there was the first protest outside of the amusement park. Then there were more protests and finally on August 28, 2963 the park was officially open to all. Sharon Langley was almost 1-year-old when her parents and her were the first Black family to walk in. The newspapers photographed her ride on the carousel as it was a momentous part of history! That very same day Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his unforgettable “I Have a Dream” speech! Needless to say I highly recommend this incredible book.
How We Made Carousel Spin Art…
We tend to keep the activities as simple as possible around here. We’re not interested in complicated or costly. We are also all about fostering independence. For this activity we printed our FREE Printable Carousel Horse Silhouette, cut on on the pre-measured line so it would fit our salad spinner perfectly, & hit the art closet to choose our paint colors.
I chose to use the same colors represented on the carousel horse in the book (red, yellow, blue, brown, & black). My daughter chose pink, orange, yellow, & blue. We placed one of the printables into the salad spinner, added drops of paint in each color we wanted to use around the carousel horse silhouette, & got ready to spin it. Simply, close the lid and pull the lever as many times and as fast as you want. They came out fantastic!
Wait?!? Am I Supposed To Be Making One Too?
I highly recommend getting hands on and doing art projects with your child. If you’d rather not, thats okay too, but please do not correct anything they do. If you want the art to look a certain way – make your own.
Especially if your child is little, its okay if it doesn’t turn out the way you imagined. Maybe its what they imagined. Also, its a process. They are learning. They will learn more through trial and error than if you correct them or do it for them. All they will learn if you “help” is that they didn’t do a good enough job on their own or they can’t do it; not exactly the message you want to give your kid. Am I right?!?
Believe me, I know it can be really challenging to let them make “mistakes”. Try doing the project along side them. It will allow you to focus on your own work, give them appropriate modeling of how to use the materials, and show them that you like art too! A lot of what I talk about in “What about the Sensory Mess?” applies to Art projects as well, you might wanna check it out! I love how each art has its own identity. I would suggest Carousel Spin Art if you’re looking for a simple and inviting art activity to connect with your child.
Materials We Used
- “A Ride to Remember: A Civil Rights Story” book (from the library or buy it HERE)
- Salad spinner
- Scissors
- Cardstock paper
- Our FREE Carousel Silhouette Printable found HERE
- Paint
Click HERE for Free Printable copy (Email Subscribers Only)
How to Make Carousel Spin Art?
- Print out your FREE Carousel Silhouette Printable found HERE.
- Cut along the circle so it will fit in your salad spinner.
- Place the Printable in the salad spinner face up.
- Drip paint onto the Printable, we used a spoon because we had the paint in bowls, but we also tried it with squirt bottles or you could even just squirt the paint right from the paint bottle. Whatever is easiest.
- Close the lid of the salad spinner.
- Hold the lid with one hand, and pull on the lever with the other.
- Spin as many times and as fast as you like.
- Open the lid to the salad spinner.
- Remove Carousel Spin Art Printable and allow to dry.
Click HERE for Free Printable copy (Email Subscribers Only)
Wait, There’s More…
I believe you can easily strengthen communication skills and foster independence all while playing and connecting with your child. To help you do this; I’ve created a FREE printable for each activity called, “Communicating & Connecting”.
It will give you a list of suggestions I’ve found very helpful as a Mom & as a special education teacher; to help you build lifelong skills. Please don’t feel obligated to do everything on the list (but if you do, you’re a rockstar 😉 ).
As a Thank You for subscribing; this is a special FREEBIE for our Email Subscribers Only. 🙂 Click here if you’ve already subscribed. Otherwise, Sign Up below to get the password & access to our entire FREE Printables Library today! 😉
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