Sunday, August 14, 2016

Another Process Art Painting Day


Those little ones have pretty short attention spans - shocking, right? Sometimes I like to keep their interest by having several short steps in a project that they move through in one session to create an artwork. These days can be either a big disaster - key kids running around like slippery little ants avoiding any semblance of focus - or in this case they can really buckle down and keep their attention focused on the short little tasks at hand. The best part, IMHO, is that they are so focused on each step that the end result is a big surprise not only to me but to them as well!

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Sensory Play With Colorful Tapioca Balls!




If you want to keep 15 preschoolers happy, curious, and engaged for OVER AN HOUR, try this amazing sensory play activity using colorful tapioca balls in water bins.

Preschoolers Draw From Live Flowers



In researching some potential projects for the lambies I found several posts about how little kids can draw from life. I thought, okay, how hard can that be? Lots of teachers do it, so can I! I stopped at the grocery store and picked up a bouquet that had a large variety of flowers in it.

Rainbow Spaghetti!



Thinking back on this day with the lambies all I can think is OMG! What great fun! They were literally eating this up…

Nature Sculptures - So Fabulous!



So after we did the Halloween sculptures, I thought it would be fun for them to create more sculpture, but this time using natural materials. My son and I went for a walk around our block and collected lots of sticks, leaves and rocks, and I supplemented these with another trip to the dollar store (my favorite!) for some more rocks and shells.

Halloween Sculptures


In October I did a really fun manipulative process art project with the "lambies" (that's our name for the little one's who attend this preschool - so sweet!). I went to the dollar store and bought styrofoam discs (2 for $1!). Then to Michaels for pipe cleaners, beads, and paint in halloween colors with a few other colors thrown in for variety. The lambies had a blast making these!

Shapes and Colors - So Much Fun!

Our second process art project was a collage using cardboard, glue, and paint. This was a two-day project that turned out amazing!