Putting the Pretty In Preschool - Page 3 of 3 - Finding Beauty In Everyday Early Childhood Experiences

Book Inspired Calendar Art

October 9, 2018 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

The topics cat, pumpkin, and mouse are delightfully intertwined in the featured storybook and calendar art activity!

Pumpkin Cat by Anne Mortimer

Reading the book Pumpkin Cat by Anne Mortimer gave me the idea for this calendar art activity. In the story two unlikely friends, (a cat and mouse), are paired. Cat wonders how pumpkins grow, and mouse shows the various stages of pumpkin growth. At the end of the story mouse carves out a jack-o-lantern as a surprise for cat. The last page of the book gives detailed instructions about how to grow a pumpkin.

Coffee Play Dough Turkey

September 25, 2018 by Annette Kaminsky 1 Comment

Use this aromatic coffee play dough recipe (also featured in a dinosaur themed post), or your favorite recipe to make a play dough turkey.

Coffee Playdough

1 ½ cup flour
½ cup salt
1 cup old coffee grounds
½ cup cold coffee

Mix and knead all the ingredients in a large bowl. Add a little more flour if needed.
Store in the fridge until use. Take the dough out of the fridge to warm up if there is time.

Color Mixing Paint Project

September 11, 2018 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

Preschoolers love, love, love to mix paint colors, and I like some unique art for memory albums and/or classroom display. The orange/fuchsia diptych art quilt entitled “Now” by textile artist Laurie Brainerd provides just the right inspiration for children to color mix and have an interesting finished project. The unique paper shapes add interest to the paint project.

Transparent Page Divider Activities

August 28, 2018 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

Photo collage for transparent file folder activities for the early childhood classroom.

School supplies are stocked everywhere, sales are on, and I’m buying a substantial amount of transparent page dividers! I am using them for their usual purpose, and setting some aside for the following activities.

Transparent Page Divider Jellyfish

Page divider jellyfish shapes, transparent stir sticks and picture prompts offer an invitation to create on the light table.
The jellyfish can give each other “hugs” so new colors are discovered.

[Read more…]

Book Inspired Tree Art

August 14, 2018 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

Tree Art inspired by the storybook "Wow" by Tim Hopgood.

Inspiration For The Tree Art

Trees are a popular art theme, and I love using tree art in a mosaic pattern on a bulletin board display.

I’ve done a few tree displays celebrating our four Alberta seasons over the years. This year I chose an art project based on the storybook “Wow” by Tim Hopgood. In the story an owl stays up past his bedtime one summer night and notices the beautiful colors of early morning, midday, and dusk. The owl loves all the color schemes but decides the night colors are still the best. As I read the story, I was saying “Wow” right along with the owl, because the illustrations featuring the owl and tree throughout the day are gorgeous!

Tree Art Set Up

Paper supplies needed to make the tree art pictures.

Based on the colors in the book, I used heart themed paper punches to cut a variety of leaves. I used circle paper punches for the suns and moon. Butterfly paper punches came in handy for the midday picture. A sticker owl was available to complete each picture.

For the art project I used four different blue shades of 9 x 12 fade resistant paper. This size displays perfectly as a mosaic pattern on a feature bulletin board I have access to. I cut tree trunks in different shades of brown, and glued one on each piece of blue paper.

Then children got a little bag with shapes to create a tree scene. Paper pieces were attached with a glue stick. Some children questioned why we were using heart shapes for the leaves, so I showed them heart shaped leaves from real plants.

Tree Art Themes

Children completed at least two of the following projects.

Sunrise Paper Craft Tree
Mid Day Paper Craft Tree
Sunset Paper Craft Tree
Night Time Paper Craft Tree

Some of the completed pictures were saved for each child’s memory album; others were saved for the bulletin board display.

Completed tree art projects arranged in a mosaic pattern on a bulletin board. — Tree Art Bulletin Board

Tree Art Printable

Another (and slightly easier) way to do this activity is to use a template with a tree, owl, and butterfly. The tree can be decorated with dot or fingerpaint leaves, or any way of your choosing.

Tree art template to decorate with dot or fingerpainted leaves. Collage shapes would also work well.

Download the printable here. (This printable is for personal use or use in one classroom only.)

Owl-In-Tree Download