Using Art to Celebrate Diversity!

My name is Francine Towbridge, and I am an Account Manager for the Washington D.C. area. I take pleasure in working with customers who really love our Discount School Supply® products!

The United States is a very diverse country. I happily reside in a suburb of Washington D.C., and I live in an exciting community with a beautiful mosaic of people and cultures. We all know that technology propels the world and because of the internet we are a global society. Therefore, it is important that children learn lessons of appreciation and tolerance for those that are different from them. Do you remember the Ray Stevens song “Everything Is Beautiful”? It is a song of unity, and it celebrates diversity and the beauty of all people.

The value of art expands beyond theories of color and design. Like music, art projects can be used to teach children valuable lessons of appreciation and tolerance for other cultures. You can celebrate diversity by making beautiful diverse people with Colorations® Multicultural Dough (MDS). I’m inspired by the Ray Stevens song, so I call this activity the Everyone’s Beautiful Art Project!

This project will encourage children to take pride in their own cultural identity while gaining respect and appreciation for others. I believe the children’s positive attitude toward others will help promote peace and harmony in your classroom!

The multicultural dough is affordably priced and it comes in six skin tone colors. It’s non-toxic, does not crumble, and is soft and pliable. It gives children an opportunity to practice their fine motor skills and experience making 3-dimensional art. Also, you will be happy to know that it does not stain surfaces and hands.

The Everyone’s Beautiful Art Project is simple and fun. I found a cute picture on the internet of dough people. In addition to the Colorations® Multicultural Dough you will need paper plates (DIXIE), wiggly eyes (100C), and Colorations® Classic Dough (BVRD). The paper plate serves as your canvas, and you use the multicultural dough to form the faces. The classic dough can be used for making hair, jewelry, etc. Have fun celebrating diversity with this project, and I hope you have a beautiful day!

Watch our video for more information!

Take a Tropical Vacation!

Hi! My name is Cory Smith and I develop and design curriculum products at Discount School Supply®. Curriculum, as in Math, Language, Science, Social Studies…so why am I writing about an art supply like Colorations® Tropical Colored Dough (TROPICAL) you ask? Two main reasons: I have a degree in art, and Colorations® Dough is a useful classroom material for all curriculum areas! Plus, Colorations® Dough is used in several methods of teaching, especially our Colorations® Best-Value Dough – Tropical Colors (TROPICAL).

It’s great! You get three pounds each of six tropical colors including buttercup yellow, sea foam green, lavender, light blue, melon and pink - that’s 18 pounds of top-quality bright and squishy dough! It comes in big, reseal-able plastic tubs that make storing and organizing easy. It can be reused again and again without drying out or crumbling, and it never stains. Plus, it’s non-toxic and doesn’t contain common allergens like latex, dairy and casein, egg, or even peanuts or tree nuts!

Naturally, Colorations® Best-Value Tropical Dough is a perfect fit for your Arts and Crafts curriculum. It provides children with varied opportunities to develop and widen their artistic skills! It targets NAEYC curriculum content areas for Cognitive Development in Creative Expression and Appreciation for the Arts. Plus, it’s excellent for practicing fine motor skills.

But, I like using it outside the world of Arts and Crafts to help widen children’s imaginations, especially when teaching ‘dry’ math skills, like geometry, or retelling the same nursery rhyme over and over. Need a new way? Ask the children to bring the characters in a story to life by modeling them in fantastic fantasy colors! Tropical colors! Who says the cow jumping over the moon can’t be lavender? And boring old geometry? Make the connection between 2-D shapes with 3-D with Tropical Dough! Roll out some dough and cut flat circles, squares, triangles, etc. Ask the children to form buttercup-yellow-colored dough pyramids, melon-colored spheres, or even sea-foam green cylinders and match them to the flat 2-D shape partners. Add faces to the 3-D shapes, name them, and have the shapes tell a story about themselves! I haven’t even mentioned the endless uses and how beautiful our dough is for forming letters of the alphabet and numerals in Tropical Colors – think about the bright future in learning your children will have!

Back to our Tropical Colored Dough and art usage, you could always ‘just’ make a brightly colored dough scene with sea foam green-colored breezy palm trees, a native island woman dressed in buttercup yellow with a pink fruit basket on her head, walking in front of Caribbean light blue-colored houses and call it a day. Wait! That sounds really nice. Make it more beautiful and realistic with Colorations® MultiCultural Dough (MDS)! Plus, add Colorations® Scented Dough (ORANGE) to make the fruit basket on the head of the island woman come to life! You’ll triple imaginations and possibilities when you add additional dough sets for endless combinations!

Watch our video and check out the different varieties of dough we have available below!

Colorations® MultiCultural Dough - 6 lbs. (MDS)

Colorations® Scented Dough - 6 lbs. (ORANGE)

Colorations® Classic Colors Best-Value Dough - 18 lbs. (BVRD)

Enjoy your classroom tropical vacation!

Create with Colorations® IncredibleFoam® Dough!

Hi, my name is Kathie, and I work in the Merchandising Department at DiscountSchool Supply®.

When I think back on some of the toys that I played with when I was a child, I would have to say that -- other than my favorite kid-friendly baking oven and my sno-cone machine -- play dough was one of my all time favorites. I’d like to tell you about the Colorations®IncredibleFoam® Dough Sampler Pack (FOAMSAM)…..my new favorite!

This is a dough like no other. From the tiny beads to the bright colors to the non-sticky texture, you are in for a treat that will last for hours! From the moment you open the pack, you can dive right in with creating anything that you can imagine. The time you used to spend working dough until it was soft you can now use to create with IncredibleFoam® Dough.

One of my favorite things to make with IncredibleFoam® Dough is pretend jewelry. The tiny beads make it easy to mold, shape and create into a fabulous “one of a kind” piece. I don’t have to worry about the colors mixing together and altering the overall look of my jewels. Colorations® IncredibleFoam® Dough allows the “designer” to mold the colors together and easily separate them when done. Clean up is quick and easy with no sticky or smelly residue left behind.

While working with IncredibleFoam® Dough in a classroom, this product allows children of all abilities to participate and explore sensory and tactile experiences along with endless open-ended creative play. It’s easy to work with and never dries out, and it’s all the things dough should be and more!

For more information on our Colorations® IncredibleFoam® Dough, watch our video below!