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.

Art Activity

For the art activity, children paint a pumpkin, using red, yellow and orange paint. Color mixing is a part of the fun. When dry, the pumpkin and a construction paper mouse are glued to a calendar picture featuring one or more cats. Preschoolers enjoy choosing which cat picture their pumpkin will be displayed on!

The assembled calendar art projects make a showy wall display.

A construction paper mouse and painted pumpkin layered on a cat calendar picture.

For another book inspired art activity, view the Book Inspired Tree Art post.

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.

Making The Play Dough Turkey

Have children use a large turkey shaped cookie cutter to make a turkey shape. Set out feathers, espresso beans and googly eyes for children to decorate their turkeys with.

Feathers, espresso beans and googly eyes to decorate a coffee playdough turkey. — Feathers, Espresso Beans And Googly Eyes

With this unique sensory experience, preschoolers are bound to have fun making play dough turkeys and others creations of their choice.

For more holiday sensory activities, visit the Sensory Play page.

Do you have great activity for this play dough? Let me know in the comments below.

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.

The Two Part Paint Process

Cut out the two shapes displayed above on light pink or white fade resistant construction paper.

Day One

Set out yellow and a little red tempera paint along with brushes for children to decorate the shape featured below.

Red and yellow paints set up with an unusaul paper shape. — Red and Yellow Painting Invitation

Day Two

Set out white and a little red tempera paint along with brushes for children to decorate the shape featured below.
(The red paint tends to dominate, so a small amount works best.)

Red and white paints set up with an unusual paper shape. — Red And White Painting Invitation

Finishing The Look

After both projects dry, use glue tape to attach the pieces to a 12 x 12 piece of card stock. The art can be displayed on a wall and/or saved for a scrapbook style memory album.

Two painted interlocking shapes mounted on a white paper background — Completed Two Step Paint Mixing Project

About Laurie Brainerd’s Work

The art quilt “Now” (2008) is part of Laurie Brainerd’s series of abstract work around formal elements of design. Commercial, hand dyed, and vintage fabrics were used in the pieces. I discovered the quilt in the gorgeous book “500 Art Quilts” by Karey Patterson Bresenhan.

Laurie Brainerd makes many unique art quilts. You can find out more about Laurie’s interesting and varied pieces on her website.

For another color mixing activity, read the post Book Inspired Calendar Art.

Transparent Page Divider Activities

August 28, 2018 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

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.

Invitation to make jellyfish on the light table with transparent file folder shapes and stir sticks. — Transparent Jellyfish

Creating With Geometric Shapes

Cut geometric transparent file folder shapes set on a light table with acrylic jewels. — Transparent Geometric Shapes And Jewels

Cut geometric shapes in various sizes, and a tray of transparent gems inspire open ended creating.

Transparent Page Divider Picture Accents

A strip of transparent color added to a black and white picture adds a striking element. Black and white animal themed coloring pages and calendar pictures work especially well.

Sketch Art picture of meerkats looking into a pumpkin enhanced with a transparent file folder strip. — Sketch Art Meerkat and Pumpkin Photo

Sketch Art photo of a pier enhanced with a transparent file folder strip. — Enhanced Sketch Art Photo

A photo of a barn in a field enhanced with a strip of transparent file folder. — Weathered Barn In A Field

For more sensory activities, visit the Sensory Play page.

Book Inspired Tree Art

August 14, 2018 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

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

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.
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.
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. — Sunrise Paper Craft Tree

Mid day paper craft tree. — Mid Day Paper Craft Tree

Sunset paper craft tree. — Sunset Paper Craft Tree

Night time 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.