Create – Page 13

Book Activity: If You Give a Pig a Pancake – Syrup Paint!

April 2, 2009 by notjustcute Filed Under: Building Readers, Create, Learning through Play and Experience 2 Comments

Laura Numeroff has a good thing going. And it keeps going, around and around as her circular stories charm children every time. As part of her series that began with If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Numeroff explores the cause and effect cycle from the obvious to the outlandish as a pancake leads to syrup, then eventually tap shoes and even a tree houses! All coming full circle as the pig is led to ask for another pancake!

As you read this book with children, pause before some of the pig’s requests to see if the children can anticipate what will come next. After reading, you might even pose some hypothetical questions, like, “What if you gave the pig a blanket? What might she ask for next?” Remember that there isn’t a right answer. You might think the logical request would be a pillow, but a child may connect the blanket with something entirely different. Just as a pancake eventually leads to a tree house, your children will have reasons for their connections, so let them explain! This kind of discussion reinforces the concept of cause and effect, while also allowing for creative thinking.

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Colored Glue Art!

March 30, 2009 by notjustcute Filed Under: Create, Learning through Play and Experience Leave a Comment

For a simple spin on a classic medium, try colored glue! Children love glue, in fact, more than once I’ve prepared a collage type activity, only to have some of the children spend the entire time playing with the glue, and never using it to adhere anything to the paper! Well, it’s time to let glue have a well-deserved turn in center stage! Simply add food coloring or water color powder to regular old Elmer’s and mix with a popsicle stick, right inside the bottle. Put the caps back on and you’re ready to fire! (Well, nearly. It’s actually best if you have time to leave them on their sides, and rotate a time or two to get the color mixed in fully. That is, if it didn’t mix completely when you stirred.)

Depending upon their fine motor control and strength, your wee ones can fill their art papers with color straight from the bottle, or with paint brushes (fill baby food jar lids with the colored glue and have them use small “watercolor brushes”). Either way, you will be building fine motor skills while also fostering creativity.

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Crayon Melting, Dino Style

March 28, 2009 by notjustcute Filed Under: Create, Learning through Play and Experience Leave a Comment

If you work with preschoolers, you have them. Those partially unwrapped, broken crayons piled up in a box or ice cream bucket. Well here’s a way to use those nubbins up!

Get an old cheese grater (it’s a pain to clean wax, so use one you can devote to the arts) and let your little ones help you grate up those crayon cast-offs into a colorful assortment of shavings. (While you’re doing this, warm up your iron on a medium setting.) Next, fold a piece of wax paper in half, and have the children arrange the shavings inside the “paper sandwich”. Place the paper sandwich into an art towel sandwich (one on the bottom to protect your surface from wax leaks and heat, and a thin one on top to protect your iron from the same). Depending upon the age and maturity of your children, you may point out that they may hold the handle of the iron with you while you rub it across the towel covered wax paper, or, if that’s too risky, just put them in charge of counting. (Your total counting time will depend on the thickness of your top towel, but start with say 10-15 seconds.) Check to see if the wax has been satisfactorily melted. Add more time if needed.

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Make a Fantastic Dinosaur Mural

February 25, 2009 by notjustcute Filed Under: Create, Learning through Play and Experience 3 Comments

To create a dinosaur mural that involves all of your preschoolers, start with a piece of paper as large as you have room for. This art project on a grand scale gives the children just a taste of how big dinosaurs were. I covered my art table, but you may want to take it outside and use even more space! Draw the outline of a dinosaur with a Sharpie. If you’re not comfortable free-handing, use an overhead projector to transfer an outline you can trace. Provide a variety of painting tools with different textures. I used sponges, combs, texture rollers, brushes, print blocks, and paint brushes in a variety of widths. The children will often use their own fingers and whole hands to paint with as well. To accommodate all the different tools, I poured tempera paint thinly into the lids of plastic containers (sour cream, ice cream, etc.).

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Preschoolers Painting with Water – Can it get any easier?

February 24, 2009 by notjustcute Filed Under: Create, Learning through Play and Experience 2 Comments

dscn11802 It seems too simple for many adults to consider, but from a child’s point of view, painting with water is a fascinating activity! Paint cups filled only with water and a brush transfer disappearing patterns on chalkboards or sidewalks. The consistency of the medium causes any excesses to find their own course of least resistance, giving every masterpiece an abstract flair, while also giving the artist a front row seat to the evolving shape created. Combine the water painting with chalk for a unique creative experience as the two media are combined. dscn0938

I often introduce painting at the easel by having the children paint with water. Together, we can work through the processes of brush control, keeping the paint at easel, and keeping the lids on the containers, without the mess of actual paint. It’s almost like training wheels for little artists!

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Create Your Own Print Blocks

February 21, 2009 by notjustcute Filed Under: Create, Learning through Play and Experience Leave a Comment

dscn0368 For a great creative art activity in your preschool, consider print-making. You can create these texture print blocks in a matter of minutes. It’s quick and easy!

Take a few wood blocks, about 3 or 4 inches on each side. I used leftover MDF, used for finish trim in our house, but you could use other wood boards as long as they are sanded smooth. MDF is great because it is already smooth. Buy a length of trim from Home Depot, or even better, you can sometimes ask if they have any remnants and they’ll give it to you or sell it to you at a bargain.

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Mixing Colors the Easy (and Fun) Way!

February 20, 2009 by notjustcute Filed Under: Building Readers, Create, Learning through Play and Experience 4 Comments

dscn0535 Here’s a color-mixing project that is quick, easy, and inexpensive. Fill three clear containers(jars are great) about 2/3 full with water colored blue, yellow, and red with liquid or powder water colors, or with plain old food coloring. Provide a few extra empty containers for mixing. Place all of these on a towel-lined tray, or in a sensory table. Provide a baster or dropper for transferring water, or provide several different instruments of varying sizes for experimenting. Children will be absorbed in this activity, transferring water and creating new colors, while building a bundle of developmental skills!

Mixing colors is a cognitive, as well as creative, activity. Moving the water with a variety of tools is a provides small motor strength, hand eye coordination, and an exposure to basic science tools. As the amount of water in each container changes, or as tools with varying capacities are used, discussion can be guided toward math concepts such as “less than” and “more than”. To support literacy, use this activity in conjunction with a great color mixing book, such as Mouse Paint, by Ellen Stoll Walsh.

Flying Fish and Other Playdough Pets

February 16, 2009 by notjustcute Filed Under: Building Readers, Create, Learning through Play and Experience Leave a Comment

dscn1143 While implementing a Pets theme, I gave the children some playdough, a paper plate, and an assortment of items with varying textures (feathers, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, batting, sequins, etc.). As part of a book activity, the children had just read But No Elephants, by Jerry Smath, a truly fantastic book, and were asked to use the materials to make their own pet – real or imaginary. The picture above is just one example from a 5 year old: “a flying fish”. Other children used the batting as fur to make “fancy poodles”, and “hamsters”. Try this activity as a stand alone or as part of a book activity.

As the children work the playdough, they build fine motor strength and control, as well as gaining a sensory experience. Creating the pet in both image and character builds creative and language skills as well. Children also display an awareness of pet characteristics and detail as they transfer their mental image of a pet to a playdough representation of that idea.