- little inchie squares, I cut mine 2" x 2" as they are easier to work with, use wc paper, heavy sketch paper, whatever you have on hand

- tempera disk paint or watercolors (pan or tube)

- paintbrush

- oil pastels or wax crayons

- some assorted papers (newspaper, old painted papers from your stash, etc)

- contact paper or masking tape

- a nickel

- a kleenex tissue

- glue

- a straw

- some raffia or tissue (optional)

- an old book page (can be photocopied if you prefer)

- some poppy seeds (optional)

- a small square of plastic wrap

- a small bit of modeling clay or plasticine

- toothpick

- a little googly eye

- sharpies, markers, or pencil crayons

- little alphabet stamps if you have them

- paper for mounting

whew.....honestly just adapt and use what you have that's the whole point of this project.

PROCEDURE:

I like using 9 squares. A good number for a real nice collection/display yet not overwhelming.

Now one thing I have talked about before with an inchie project is you don't have to do them all in one sitting.

- you could set it up as a center, one square a day, or however many you have time for.
- give each child an envelope and as the squares are completed (and dried) just have them keep it in their desk until you are ready to mount.



You can also do all the backrounds one session and then let these dry.


Come back and finish them off in a second session and mount your collection.

Now the first square is just a painted yellow background and some leaves cut out of colored/painted paper with FALL stamped on with.

I keep a stash of painted papers. I always get a few of the kids to paint extra pages whenever we do a project.

If you don't have a stash you can use colored paper, scrapbook paper, etc.

Now this is from a different project but you can see the little alphabet stamps I use. I get them from Michael's in the dollar bin (yes, seriously!) I have many many sets.

The next one is a sunset. You want to paint on some yellow and then some orange at the top.

While the paint is still wet wrap the nickel in a kleenex and lift out a sun.

When the sky dries paint in your horizon line with brown paint, leaving 1/2 the sun.


 

The 3rd square uses a sticker resist. Now I cut mine out of repositionable contact paper. 

You could also use painter's tape cut into the shape you want.

I chose candy corn, one of my favorite Fall indulgences, but you could do a leaf, pumpkin, apple, pear, squash, etc.

Stick on your sticker and paint on your background color, go right over the sticker it will resist the paint.

When the square has dried remove the sticker and color in the details, use a fine marker or pencil crayon to outline if you wish.


You then can add stamps or cut out letters and words. For a class I'll print out words off the computer.

Paint your square with a few Fall colors. With the square being so small just put a few drops of watery color at the corners and then shake the square to mix them just a bit.

When dry put a drop of black paint on the edge and blow with the straw. Add some more drops along the trunk if needed and blow additional branches.

For the crow square, have the kids glue the inchie to an old book page. Trim off the excess and draw in your crow.

I added a little googly eye.

The little cobs of corn square is made from paper that has been splattered with paint in fall colors.

I use a splatter box. This saves me lots of clean-up at the end.


Cut out a few little cobs and the glue onto your background with a little bit of raffia.

The pumpkin square is a pastel resist. Draw on your pumpkin with oil pastel or wax crayons and then paint on a background color.

The sunflower square is based on this project.

Paint your background blue, cut out some petals and glue them on and then add a few poppy seeds for the middle.


The last square I did a plastic wrap effect background. Paint some Fall colors on your square and then before they dry add a little piece of plastic wrap on top. Smoosh it a little to get a few wrinkles and then leave on until dry. (a few minutes)

I then made a modelling clay/ plasticine stamp. 
Take a little piece, roll into a little log. For a leaf shape I taper the ends a bit. Pound one of the ends on the table a little bit to flatten the surface and then using a toothpick carve in the veins of the leaf.

Put a little bit of tempera on a plate (flatten out the paint on the surface with a paintbrush) and then use your stamp. Stamp the first impression on some paper to blot a bit and then use the 2nd or 3rd impression. When you are done just wipe off the stamp and put the plasiticine in a plastic bag. You can reuse it over and over again to make more stamps.