Holiday Boughs with Puffy "Snow" Paint

We are always looking to incorporate nature or natural elements into our art or activities at the school. This week, I brought in the bottom branches that I had cut from my Christmas tree. I snipped them into small segments, tied some ribbon to the top, and had the children paint them with Shaving Cream Puffy Paint (see recipe below or click the link to find other fun activities with this recipe). They also shook on some gold glitter and Christmas sequins.

The result was a set of stunning holiday boughs. I just wish we had done these at the beginning of December!


RECIPE: Shaving Cream Puffy (Snow) Paint: 1 part white school glue, to 4 parts shaving cream. Mix well. The final product dries puffy and white!

The Great Debate

There has been a stir around our school in regards to whether offering pre-cut or shaped paper is considered truly "process" oriented. We are a Reggio-Emilia inspired school and we consider ourselves to be extremely developmentally appropriate and discovery oriented. We cater to the child's right to play and we focus on the process over the product. But, as one can guess, there are always differences of opinion when it comes to...well...anything! The Autumn season sparks the desire to set the preschool ablaze with hues of orange, red, and yellow. Paintings of pumpkins, leaves, and other Fall decor simply seem to fit the bill. However, the debate started when a few teachers put out some pumpkin and leaf shaped paper for the children to paint at the easel. These were not coloring pages of pumpkins...simply pumpkin shaped paper (and I will note that we did offer rectangle paper as a choice also). A few teachers thought this to be "stifling" to the artistic process as it predetermined the outcome of the work. The anti-paper-shaping teachers, however, felt no issue with having the children paint on rectangle paper and then cutting it into a shape once the painter had created his masterpiece. We do not offer dittos and we are not a "crafty" type of school. We honor the child's process. But the question remains...does the shape of the paper stifle the process or does it inspire some young students to explore an object through art? I would LOVE to hear your comments and opinions. Let the great debate begin! ;-)

Race Car Painting

I have done this activity several times with young children and it never seems to tire (no pun intended...haha!). You can do this on a flat surface or on an easel like I did. Basically, just set out a few flat dishes filled with various colors of paint. Let the children run the cars through the paint and then onto the paper. This project was completed over the course of an hour with many hands contributing to the project.

Boxes, Boxes and More Boxes!

You know, it always make me laugh how we feel the need to buy expensive toys for kids. It seems we fill that if we offer an expensive toy, their imaginations will be able to unfold like a butterfly's wings. We spend and we spend, and then we are frustrated that the children are not playing with the toys on end as we would hope. Well...out with the spending...grab some boxes for endless fun!

This week we added some painted boxes to our Outdoor Classroom. The children had painted them over the past week under the trees in our art center. They painted A LOT of boxes. They also painted the tires that we used as blockades from the bikes, the side walk, and the concrete around the garden bed. Hmmm...we'll have to work on that! Most of the children were also fairly covered in large blotches of paint as they forgot that leaning against a large, freshly painted box could be a slightly messy affair! I also saw a lot of the two year olds squishing the paint-filled rollers in their hands and watching as the bubbles of paint squeezed between their fingers. We did say it is the process that count, right???

Each day, we added new boxes of all shapes and sizes. We also changed up the colors and varied the painting tools each day, using brushes, rollers, etc. On one day, I only put out the color green. Our project focus was dinosaurs, so the big green box became a "Boxosaurus" (created by my imaginative coworker). We cut holes into the front and the kids had a go of throwing soft balls and beanbags into him.

This poor guy looks like he had a rough night...little did he know what he was REALLY in for!

 Of course, many of the kids did try to get into the holes, but hey, that's part of the fun. The kids had a blast!

Once all the boxes were painted, we put them into the block center for the kids to play with. I did tape some of the boxes shut, but left some open as well. This station was filled with children for the entire week. Many of the boxes had to be "retired" throughout the week, but somehow we managed to replenish our stock with other boxes we found lying around. The kids have asked to keep the boxes going for another week...perhaps we should add some extra fun and make a "whole body pendulum" like the one I saw on Teacher Tom's blog (check it out...it is quite a sight!)! Nice work, Tom!

Did you know? Painting boxes allows children to develop fine, gross and stabilizing muscles. Painting on vertical, flat, and horizontal surfaces forces the children to stand upright, bend down, reach, and change motions as they paint!