Colors

Colors are always a regular theme that we do in class at the beginning of the year. 

I tell my students stories such as
Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle or I Went Walking by Sue Williams

To get into the concept of primary and secondary colors we read books such as
Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh or White Rabbits Color Book by Allan Baker

With colors as a theme, there is a wealth of art activities that follows, such as

• We make recycled crayons and color pictures with them, click here.

• We mix 2 primary paints with our fingers and have some sensory fun

• We put together 2 different primary colors of play dough and work on dexterity as we watch how the colors change.

• We can also paint with colored popsicles, click here

• We talk about the rainbow and the colors, and then I ask them why the colors of the rainbow follow the sequence ROYGBV -- we skip the indigo

• We also sort Froot-Loops according to color and make a fruity rainbow art project. 

Kid-Stuff Christmas

Preparing for your Christmas feast is one busy feat. An idea to make it a bit easier on you is to get the kids busy while you prepare for your holiday spread.

Here are a couple of ideas.

Get the kids busy starting with having them make their own breakfast on Christmas morning. Have them make…

Reindeer Sandwiches

Mid-day is also crucial task-filled time especially when you are hosting your holiday party. Have the kids make their own creations while you make some magic happen in your own kitchen. Get them to create some

Marshmallow Men

When all the guests have arrived, greetings are done, gifts are opened, and food have been served, some catching up with invited friends and family usually commence.  While you and your guests get a chance for some adult time, have all the kids do a little get together of their own by decorating

Oh So Sweet ChristmasTrees

Oh So Sweet Christmas Trees

You Will Need:

Ice Cream Cones

Tub/s of Frosting (White or Green)

Paper Plates

Pieces of Candy

The first thing I ask the kids to do is to spread the frosting on the plate. I usually use white for a snowy landscape, then have them use green to spread all over the cone. Green frosting, however, is hard to come by. So I would put a drop or two f green food coloring on the white frosting and just mix it until all the green is evenly distributed. You can, of course, go all-white, for a White Christmas effect, or just all-green and tell them it’s for a grassy field or meadow! 

When the frosting has been put on the plate and on the cone. Invert the one over the plate. This will be the tree. Then use the candy pieces to decorate.

I just used the extra choco chips and M&Ms from the Reindeer Sandwiches, and what was left over from the Marshmallow Men, and added a little bit extra from what I could find in the pantry (think left over Halloween Candy!)

So the kids are a bit more invested in the creative process, tell them the best Christmas Tree wins a prize! When everything is decorated and done, have the children set all their creations on a table or corner and call in grandma to be the judge. The best one wins a special prize!

Marshmallow Men

You Will Need:

Toothpicks

Marshmallow in different sizes (during the holiday season they also come in different colors and Holiday flavors!)

Tube icing (optional)

This one is easy. All the kids need to do is use their imagination (which they seem to have an abundant supply of) to put together the marshmallow pieces and hold them with toothpicks. Use tube icing to make little dots for the eyes or mouth.

They need not create just one Marshmallow Man (or woman), they can make their own army of Marshmallow People! Or a whole herd of Marshmallow monsters, or Aliens. Let get carried away with their creations, but DON’T let them poke each other with the toothpicks! 

Reindeer Sandwiches

You will Need;

Sandwich slices

Plastic knife

Chocolate chips

Red M&Ms

Pretzels

Spread (could be anything your kid like)

The objective is to have the children get their own feel for food preparation. Whether it be making a PB&J sandwich (spreading peanut butter on one slice and jelly on the other) or a Bananas and Chocolate (spreading Nutella on one slice and having them peel and cut their own bananas), you want the kids have fun making food that they will eat. 

After deciding on what spread you want your kids to have, the Reindeer effect is all in the assembly. See the picture.

Use the pretzels for the ears, be sure to tuck them in the middle layer between the bread slices, use chocolate chips for eyes, and a red M&M for the nose.

Food Art

I did two food art activities for our Thanksgiving Theme Week. This was a good project for my students who still are very “sensory seeking” in nature. This is also a good project idea for toddlers and preschoolers.

Popcorn Painting

What you need:

Lots of popcorn

Glue mixed with tempera paint. I used purple, yellow, orange, and red paints.

Construction paper or tagboard

What to do:

Get a piece of  popcorn and dip it into the glue paint mixture. Then crush and smoosh it onto the construction paper or tagboard.

A very messy, but fun activity.

Just make sure that the kids do not eat the popcorn… at least not yet. It was enough motivation for my students to let them know that they can eat all the popcorn after they clean up themselves and their work centers.

Everything was really clean right after and so everyone got into the popcorn tub to get popcorn-full!

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Painting with Berries

What you need:

Resealable Sandwich bags (like Ziploc)

Red Berries, Blue Berries and Black Berries

Paint brushes

A Painting picture or a blank sheet of paper

A paper plate

What to do:

Tell the kids they will be working with berries. Tell them the names of the berries, and give them a taste of each one. Enjoy the expression on their faces, especially the first time fresh berry eaters.

Then hand each child a resealable sandwich bag, and they get to pick a berry that they want to smoosh. Put the berries in the bag and the students pop and mash the berries with their fingers. This time, they will show you not only funny facial expressions, but add sound effects as well.

Put all the same smooshed berries in a plate. All blue berries in one plate, all raspberries in one plate and all, black berries in one plate… you probably get it.

Then, using a paint brush dipped into the smooshed berry mixture, the kids paint their painting picture or create their own.

Here’s a finished project that one of my students did.

Most of the berry painting projects look like they were only colored with the same berry. That’s okay… it was fun painting with the berries anyway.