Little Fun; Little Learning: art

Showing posts with label art. Show all posts

Showing posts with label art. Show all posts

Monday, April 18, 2011

Simple Spring Flowers

I was looking for something easy and springy to put on our classroom bulletin board. These flowers were easy and each one is unique.

To make the flowers I had each child paint a piece of white construction paper. They were able to choose which color they wanted. After the paint was dry I took a light colored marker and drew a flower design on the back of the paper to use as my template and then I cut out the flower. We put glue in the center of the flowers and the children were able to choose what they wanted for the inside. You can see the choices which included various colors of glitter, colored sand, sequins, and pom poms.

Cute, simple, and easy. Enjoy!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Construction Theme: The Three Little Pigs

One of our recent themes was construction. We used The Three Little Pigs as our main book for the week. Here are a few activities to go with the theme.

There are so many different versions of this story that I actually had a difficult time finding the original story. You could share the different versions with your class. Depending on their age and abilities, you could compare the differences.

We also read Our Tree House. This book talks about building a tree house and it shows the people working and building so we were able to point out the different tools and the purpose of the tools.

For our craft we made pigs. We used three circles for the body, head, and snout.

We have a blocks center in our classroom. We recently added some of the sturdy cardboard brick blocks to our collection.

My son had some toy tools at home so I borrowed them to take to school. They were a hit and they preschoolers have really enjoyed playing with the tools.

We are fortunate to have a nice manipulative center in our classroom which has many wooden puzzles.

I added some of these pig coloring pages in our art center that week as an optional activity. The kids could color and trace the word "pig". Other sources for printables: First School, Coloring.ws, Coloring Pages for Kids.

Other things we did during the week:
Read Humpty Dumpty
Sang the Humpty Dumpty song
Watched The Three Little Pigs from the Discovery Education website
We made The Three Little Pigs stick puppets. We used our puppets to retell the story.

Other activities to try:
Blow paint with a straw.
Pig craft (from paper towel roll)

Friday, February 11, 2011

Snowman Photo Keepsake

This snowman doesn't need much explanation. It is simply a snowman that kids can help cut and assemble. Then the teacher can add a photo of the child for the snowman's face.

Be sure to check out the other snowman ideas.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Apple Activities

I was doing some cleaning today and found these cute apple activities from kindergarten class. Enjoy!

Apple basket - This is a cute introduction to number sentences and color words.

Apple people - This is simply an apple with black crinkled arms and legs.

Apple trees - Every kid loves to paint. :)

Torn Paper Apples - Tearing paper is good exercise for little fingers. Have students cover an apple you've drawn or copied. Encourage them to make a layered look.

What kinds of fall activities have you enjoyed?

Friday, April 10, 2009

Paper Plate Easter Basket

I've seen this paper plate Easter basket several times, but now I finally have a picture to show you. You simply take a large paper plate and cut out a small half circle, leaving the rim intact. Then you paint or color the backside the plate. You decorate paper eggs to glue on the other side. DLTK has some printable eggs that you can use, if you don't want to decorate your own.

Materials needed:

paper plate

paint

paint brush

construction paper

markers or crayons

glue

Have fun!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Handprint Flower Craft

As some of you know, I will be moving in just a few weeks. My time here at Little Fun is limited, but as I come across some of my old teaching things I'm trying to share those ideas with you.

This is a hand and footprint flower that is easy to do and inexpensive to make. (Well, other than getting the kids to sit still! lol)

To make:

1) With a paint brush, paint the child's foot with green paint. Press foot down onto cardstock paper.

Tips: I have found that if the children look at their foot while pressing it down, they will try to press it down themselves and it makes a smudged mess. I ask the child to look at something while I press their foot down. This helps a lot! I had a pan of water sitting by to clean the children's feet. It looked like I was having a foot washing service. ;)

2) On separate cardstock, make the petals of the flower using the child's handprints. As you can see from the picture, you can face the handprints whichever direction you choose. After the petals dry, cut around them to make a flower shape.

3) Use the child's forearm for the stem. I wait until the feet have dried before I do this. Cut around the feet (leaves) and forearm (stem). Attach the handprints (petals) to the feet and forearm by stapling them together. If you choose, you can use a poster board instead of having to attach the pieces together.

Although this craft is easy, it is very time consuming when you have 13 children in your class. I suggest spreading it out over several days.

If I remember correctly, this idea came from an older Mailbox magazine.

Have fun!

Friday, May 16, 2008

Fun-Filled Friday: Nurture Your Little Artist

Children develop numerous skills while completing art projects. It does make quite a big mess, but it's worth it. Wait . . . did I just say that? lol

Here are some ways to help your child develop their fine motor skills, spatial awareness, and to stimulate their senses.

1) On a warm day, take your child outside and give him a bucket of water and a paintbrush. See what kinds of pictures and creatures your child can paint.

2) Read together and enjoy books with different illustrations. Try to create your own art using the techniques from the book.

3) Provide a place for your child to work. Furnish it with supplies - tape, crayons, markers, glue sticks, child safe scissors, etc. You may need to use a small bookshelf or plastic totes to help keep their supplies.

4) Finger paint with food. You can use chocolate pudding, applesauce, Gogurt, icing, whipped cream, etc. Give your child a cookie sheet to work on or cover the table with a clean vinyl tablecloth. It's ok to taste your creations!

5) Have a box of junk to use. Put those film canisters, toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, small boxes, scrap paper, and cardboard packaging into a box for your kids. Let them glue them, connect them, build with them, etc.

6) Make edible art. Use pretzel rods, gumdrop candy, marshmallows, fruit roll-ups, plastic straws, coffee stirers, crackers, etc. Make shapes or buildings. Just have fun!

7) Play with edible playdough. Here are a few recipes to get you started.

8) Glue a random object to a piece of paper and let your child create something. The object used could be a leaf, shape, sticker, etc.

9) Make creatures out of fingerprints or handprints. Give your child some washable ink and let them make fingerprints on paper (younger children will need help). Encourage them to make butterflies, bugs, dinosaurs, and other creations from the prints.

10) Save your spray bottles and fill them with diluted paint. Let children use them to spray poster board, cardboard, etc to make their unique picture.

11) Keep a supply of old magazines in the art station. Encourage children to cut out pictures to make a collage about families, food, animals, cars, etc.

12) Allow children to paint with different objects. Some suggestions are cookie cutters, string, toy cars and trucks, golf balls, marbles, straws, fingers, different sized brushes.

Other tips:

When I was teaching, we would use old newspaper and vinyl tablecloths to protect the tables. Old shower curtains also work well to protect the floor.

When the children were finished with their artwork, I would put it on an old shower curtain to dry. If the paper was big, I would hand it on an indoor clothes drying rack (with shower curtain underneath to catch drips).

What fun artsy activities do you enjoy with your children?

Saturday, April 12, 2008

April Showers Art Activity

This umbrella was simply made by cutting an umbrella from construction paper and then allowing the children to golf ball paint the umbrella.

This was made a few years ago, but I'm sure we picked purple for the umbrella because purple was our color of the month.

I think this umbrella looks a bit funny because it's handle is so short. One of the other teachers cut them out so that they would fit onto one piece of construction paper. You could make a smaller umbrella with a longer handle.

Other options:

Paint white raindrops with blue paint or blue rain drops with white paint.

This golf ball painting idea can be used for many seasons. You can paint pumpkins for fall, ornaments for Christmas, heart for Valentine's Day, etc.

Let children sort of stamp the paper using paint and cookie cutters, rather than golf ball painting.

Use marbles instead of golf balls.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Height and Weight Art Activity

Here's another momento I found from my days of teaching pre-k. This is simply a girl that was traced from a stencil and it has been golf ball painted. After these were dry, we wrote the child's name, height, and weight on their person. Of course, for the boys we used a boy stencil.

Some other thoughts:

You could paint these with the color you're studying that month.
These would go along well with these themes: our body, God made me, measurement, and/or I am special.
You could do one at the beginning and end of the year as a cute way to record how much the children have grown.
Put these on the bulletin board with a cute saying.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Painting with Ice

A few weeks ago, my daughter's preschool class learned about winter. One day the teacher made ice cubes with food coloring and then left the kids "paint" with them. I thought this was a pretty neat idea.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Thanksgiving Place Mat

Here is a cute idea for a Thanksgiving place mat. You write "I am thankful for . . . " and then have the child draw pictures of things for which they're thankful. It looks like this particular mat has die cut leaves around it. You could cut some out yourself and/or have your child help you. If you don't feel too creative, then a plain colored border would work too.

Have your children made anything for Thanksgiving?

Friday, November 16, 2007

Thanksgiving Turkey Craft

My friend sent these pictures to me today. Her daughter made this in preschool.

brown material - burlap (Don't forget to pick up some extra for the vests.)
feathers - fingers painted different colors
body - brown construction paper
beak - yellow craft foam (construction paper would work fine too)
eyes - wiggle eyes
wattle - red construction paper
legs - yellow paint

The SPUMPS is the name of their preschool.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Fun-Filled Friday: Thanksgiving Ideas

It's hard to believe, but Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away. I'm sure some of you are already looking for Thanksgiving arts & crafts ideas, so here are some to inspire you and get you started.

Thankful Pumpkins

For each pumpkin, cut out the inside portion of a large paper plate. Paint the remaining rim orange. Cut a white construction paper circle a little bit larger than the open area inside the rim; then glue the paper to the back of the rim. Have each child add a green or brown construction paper stem to their pumpkin. Around the top of the orange part of the pumpkin, use a permanent marker to write, "I am thankful for . . .". Then have the child draw and color something to complete the sentence.

Optional: If you have a classroom of pumpkins, you can mount these to a bulletin board and make a vine to go around the pumpkins. You could also change this design and use orange construction paper instead of painting the paper plates.

Rustic vests

My first year teaching preschool, I actually made these for each of my preschoolers. This is before I had children of my own, but still the project took me so long that I was left frazzled and wondering, "What was I thinking?" LOL The children loved their vests and they wore them to the family Thanksgiving dinner at the school. Anyway, on to the project.

You will need 1/2 yard of burlap for each child's vest. Fold the burlap once for an 18-inch square. Cut a v shape in the fold for the neck opening. Then cut from the bottom of the front panel to the bottom of the v-shaped opening. This will be the front of the vest. Pin the sides at least half way up. Using a plastic yarn needle and yarn, sew the sides as pinned and remove the pins. (I chose to sew the sides of the vest myself. My students were 3&4 years old.) Draw a Native American design onto the vest with permanent markers. (Supervision is needed with permanent markers!)

Optional: Using bright colors of yarn, straight stitch over the lines. Finish the vest with additional stitching as desired. (I skipped this step. It was all I could do get enough of these done for everyone. lol) If you have only one child to make this for, then you could try this step (or if you actually have some help).

This idea is from a very old, but still good Mailbox magazine.

More Thanksgiving ideas via link love:

Turkey Fan Toilet Paper Roll Craft

Thanksgiving Word Search

Make Your Own Books

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Fun-Filled Friday: More Fall Stuff

Hey you all. I'm leaving for Virginia tomorrow to see my buddy Kelly. She co-authors with me at Thrifty Mommy. This week's Fun-Filled Friday is going to be posted a bit early due to our traveling plans.

I did a little digging today and found some activities from when I teaching a 2-year-old preschool class. There are also some things from when my daughter was in a 1-year-old class.

Top picture:
1. There is an orange leaf shape that has been painted, I think with a string. You just dip the string in paint and let the child move the string across the paper.

2. The second is a triangle that is just colored with an orange marker. Previously, I told you about having a color and shape of the month. In October, our shape was a triangle and our color was orange. I actually think this one was something that my daughter did in her 1-year-old class.

3. Last is a fingerpainted pumpkin.

Next picture:

1. A squirrel with cotton glued on his tail. (Supposed to be his tail. lol My daughter was only 1 at the time.) You can also talk to the children about how the squirrels are gathering food for the winter.

2. Another triangle. This one is painted orange. Something else from my daughter's 1-year-old class.

More fall ideas:

1. Ghosts - This one is more for Halloween. You paint the children's hands with white paint and press them on a black piece of paper. The palm of the hand becomes the top of the ghost and the fingers pointing downward are the bottom of the ghost. Glue wiggle eyes on the palm.

2. Watercolor leaves - Trace a leaf pattern onto white paper. Have the children paint the leaf with water color paints. Glue the leaf onto black construction paper.

3. Squirrel - This is a variation of the one shown above. Cut a squirrel out of white construction paper. Let the children color the squirrel grey. Give the children small white squares of tissue paper to glue on the squirrel's tail. Or you can help them wrap the squares around a pencil to make the paper curled and give the tail a more bushy look.

Hope you enjoyed these ideas. There are more fall ideas at Little Fun; Little Learning that have been posted during the last few weeks. I hope you'll stay and lurk around some. :)

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Fun-Filled Friday: Fall Arts & Crafts

Tanyetta emailed me and asked for fall/nature craft ideas. Here are some that I have used in past years with my preschool classes. The children really seem to enjoy doing these. I hope you enjoy them. If you need help with some ideas or a particular theme, leave a comment and I'll try to help you. :)

Fall Tree

This can be done 2 different ways.
1) Trace child's forearm and hand. Have child color the hand and forearm brown to be the tree trunk and branches. Give the child brown, green, yellow, orange, and red construction paper. Help the child tear the paper into little pieces. Glue the pieces on the tree and on the ground to be the leaves.
Or
2) Paint child's forearm and hand with brown tempera paint. Press the hand and forearm onto the construction paper. This makes the trunk and branches for the tree. Leaves can be made by dipping the child's fingers into different colors of paint (brown, green, yellow, orange, red) and pressing onto the paper.

Fall Collage

1)Take children on a nature walk. Let them collect leaves, gum balls, small twigs, etc. Glue the items onto construction paper.
Or
2) Take children on a nature walk. Collect different types and colors of leaves. Glue them onto construction paper. Label the paper "Leaves are Falling".

Leaf Rubbings

Collect several different types of leaves. Place a leaf on the table and cover it with thin paper. Take a crayon and rub the paper. Use different leaves and colors of crayons.

Leaf People

Collect different types of leaves. Have the children pick out leaves to be the bodies of the people. Glue them onto the paper. Have the children add head, arms, legs, feet, etc to their leaf people.

Golf Ball Leaves

Cut leaf shapes out of construction paper or paper for painting. Put the leaf shapes into a box top (like you would get with a case of copy paper). Dip golf balls or marbles into fall colored paints (using a plastic spoon works well). Put golf balls into the box top and help the child roll the golf balls around, making prints on top of leaf shapes.

Monday, June 4, 2007

Letter X crafts and activities

clip art courtesy of fotosearch.com

We are nearing the end of the alphabet, but since I started in the middle, we are actually only about halfway through this series. *smile*

The letter X is, to me, one of the more difficult letters in our alphabet. I mean, what X letters can you think of other than xylophone, x-ray, and xenophobia? (I bet I caught your attention with that last word, didn't I?)

As usual, you can find wonderful "X" resources over at First School, Apples4theTeacher, Preschool Express by Jean Warren, and DLTK's Growing Together. Here are a few sites that are new to me and offered several X activities and ideas.

Brightly Beaming Resources was by far the best site I encountered. The Letter X page offers ideas for Language Arts, Music, Snacks, Bible Story/Character Traits, Math, Science, Social Studies, Art, Games, and even a Field Trip. Take the time to browse through the Brightly Beaming Curriculum - a free online curriculum for infants through children age 8. I like this site so well I am adding it to my sidebar!
Everything Preschool offers X Songs, Art (make an X-ray or a treasure map where X marks the spot), Games (remember Tic Tac Toe?), Science (look at real X-Rays), Coloring Pages, and More.
Just Preschool Themes.com offers good general suggestions for teaching the alphabet (make letters out of sandpaper and play-doh). Their letter X file is rather small, not surprisingly. As I said, this is a tough letter; however, they offer plenty of ideas for other letters.
A to Z Kids' Stuff Alphabet Letter X page contains links for Letter X Patterns, three coloring pages, and ideas for X art and games.
A to Z Teacher's Stuff offers this easy yet fun X Relay for preschoolers.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Letter R crafts and activities

Yes, I'm finally getting back to the alphabet theme. I took a little break from the alphabet because I don't want to bore anyone by doing the same thing all the time so I try to vary what I post.

First School offers a Alphabet Letter R Preschool Activities and Crafts page where you will find numerous ideas including Letter R Alphabet Letter Printables, a Noah's Ark and Rainbow lesson plan page which includes a craft, a heart theme Raccoon craft (see illustration at side), Raccoon coloring pages, Rabbit Paper Bag Puppet craft, Rabbit printable puzzle (a 4 stage puzzle for children 18 months-6 years) with lesson plan, The Tale of Peter Rabbit Activities, and more.
DLTK's Growing Together always has a lot to offer, and this time is no exception. Look at their Letter R crafts for kids page which includes the Robbie the Robot Rectangle Shapes craft, Rabbit Toilet Paper Roll craft, Rainbow (hand print) craft, Letter R Alphabet songs sung to familiar tunes, Letter R Games and Puzzles, Letter R mini book, and much more.
From my friend Karen, a thrifty mommy and preschool director/teacher, come the following ideas for rainbow crafts.

Froot Loops Rainbow
Suitable for 2+ years

Supplies

Froot Loops cereal
Paper
Glue
Something with which to write

Directions

Separate the Froot Loops according to color. This would be good color practice for a child who is still working on color recognition.
Draw a rainbow on the paper.
Help or supervise your child as they glue a different color of cereal on each band of the rainbow.

If you are an adventurous parent, you can use the same idea but, instead of cereal, substitute finger or poster paint.

clip art of letter R courtesy of fotosearch.com
raccoon craft illustration courtesy of First School.ws

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Letter P crafts and activities

Here are links to activities, crafts, and work sheets to aid you as you teach the letter P.

Mrs. Jones' Room is an excellent resource for kindergarten ideas. She has a Letter P page which has activities, songs and poems, and 3 sing-along songs.
Preschool Express by Jean Warren is another great source for fun activities and educational ideas. Her "P" activities page includes art, games, language, science, cooking projects, and songs and rhymes emphasizing that letter.
Alphabet Soup has a free printable alphabet coloring book. Each page features a letter from the alphabet and includes pictures of several objects that begin with the letter. You do have to print each page individually. (Click on the photo of the coloring page at the right to go to the page where you can print it.)
Activity Village has a page full of ideas for alphabet games and number games using their Alphabet and Alphabet and Number Strips. They have a LOT of fun activities that your kids will enjoy.
First-school also features a page for Alphabet Letter P preschool activities and crafts. I particularly like the following crafts from their site: Panda Paper Bag Puppet (circles theme), Hearts Penguin Craft (includes printable accessories for Valentine's Day and Christmas/Winter), and Pumpkin Theme Crafts.
DLTK's Growing Together has a fun craft: a Styrofoam (air)Plane. Templates are included for both the cargo and jet plane versions.

Letter P clipart courtesy of fotosearch.com

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Inside activities

With the current rainy and cold weather, I thought I would share some links to indoor activities which will help keep your children occupied.

(All these ideas came from Family Education)

Activity

Hide and Seek - here's a different version; hide a ticking clock and have the child find it by its sound
Bean Bag Toss - make some bean bags for inside fun
Hot or Cold - play this with small toys or edible treats for an exciting change
Pillow throw - hit the moving target; PLAY THIS IN A PLACE WITH NO BREAKABLES

Creativity

Let your runaway artist create his own mural - tie his crayons to his easel or create a place to tie them so that your child cannot write except where allowed
Paper bag faces - your child gets to tear paper into pieces, stuff them into a bag, and create his own puppet face
Froot Loop Sand - put that sugar-laden cereal to good use; your child will enjoy creating his own sand artwork on a sheet of paper
Play with boxes - encourage your child's imagination and story making abilities

Kitchen time

Light to dark - add food coloring to a glass of water, one drop at a time. Talk to your child about light and dark colors. (You could also mix colors and talk about how to create new colors.)
Apple smile - your toddler or older child will enjoy creating an edible smile complete with teeth
Alphabet sandwiches - using alphabet cereal, your child can write messages on a slice of bread spread with peanut butter
Living room picnic - create happy memories with your child
Kitchen helper - let your child help you put away silverware

Take advantage of this weather to spend some extra time enjoying your child.

Friday, January 12, 2007

The joy of painting

I think most little children love to paint, and because they are uninhibited by fear of failure, they often create beautiful artwork even when they just splash paint onto paper. We can easily channel this fun activity into an educational opportunity.

For instance, while a toddler is painting (I recommend letting them use the little Crayola watercolor boxes) say the names of the colors he is using and have him repeat them.

For an older child who already knows the color names, show how mixing 2 colors together produces a third color.

Explain what makes primary colors primary: they are colors that you cannot make by combining other colors but can combine to make any color other than white, black, or grey.

Help your child make a sunset scene, like the photo at the top of this post, by gradually mixing red and yellow (click the link for the instructions for creating the scene).

For the more advanced, I think you could use red and blue and white to create a sunrise scene similar to the sunset scene.

Let go of your inhibitions and have fun painting with your child. You just might learn something, too.

artwork courtesy of Ideas for Children's Art Lessons

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)