Art is all around us every day. It is in furniture design, it is in informational posters, it is in our backpacks, makeup and our clothes.
As students get older, they will probably start experiencing a desire to express themselves visually. And if they are artistically inclined... they might start gravitating towards adorning themselves with their artwork. This is amazing, and should be encouraged, but caretakers might not be the most excited about students painting or experimenting directly on their everyday clothes. Patch making is a happy medium when it comes to permanent versus temporary artistic alteration of clothing. Painting on a patch allows for students to only put the art they are happy with on their clothes.
It is simple to do a patch making lesson with your students. Simply cut up some excess fabric (or have them cut it if they are developmentally able), go over the difference between painting on paper vs. on fabric (or prime the patches with a base white paint layer), provide some examples and let your students go wild with fabric or plastic based acrylic paint. You can choose to teach your students how to sew them on, or let them do it at home, but it is important to remind the students to only put their patches on items that their caretakers are okay with.
