Putting The Pretty In Preschool

Finding Beauty In Everyday Early Childhood Experiences

Valentine’s Day Process Art

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Early learners love process art. They delight in exploring art materials and are not usually concerned about the finished product. Often the messier the project, the better! Here is a simple ice cube and powder paint activity your child will love to investigate.

Valentine's Day process art with an ice cube and powder paint technique. Llama shaped ice cubes give the project a South American flair. An art project suitable for all ages.

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This Valentine’s Day process art activity employs red and purple colors. Adding llama and heart ice cubes gives the project a South American flair. The painting activity transitions from a Winter to a Valentine’s Day theme.

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Valentine’s Day Process Art Supplies

  • llama and heart ice cube tray
  • shaker of red powder paint
  • shaker of purple powder paint
  • red glitter shaker
  • purple glitter shaker
  • 12-inch x 16-inch multipurpose art paper
  • plate
  • spoon

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Valentine's Day process art supplies for an ice cube and powder paint technique. Llama shaped ice cubes give the project a South American flair. An art project suitable for all ages.

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Ice Cube and Powder Paint Process Art

Freeze water in the llama and heart ice cube tray.

Take the ice cubes out of the tray and place them on a plate.

Set out the paper, powder paint shakers, glitter shakers, ice cubes, and spoon.

Optional: Shapes or a word can be drawn on the paper with a crayon. Then the project will have a crayon resist element.

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Valentine's Day process art with an ice cube and powder paint technique. Llama shaped ice cubes give the project a South American flair. An art project suitable for all ages.

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Invite your child to shake powder paint on the paper, and spread it around with ice cubes. Your child can use a spoon to move the ice cubes or use hands for an added sensory experience.

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Valentine's Day process art invitation to paint using powdered colors. Llama shaped ice cubes give the project a South American flair. An art project suitable for all ages.

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If the paper is very wet, some watery color can be dabbed off with a scrunched-up napkin. This technique adds texture and depth to the project.

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Ice cube and powder paint technique. If the paper is very wet, some watery color can be dabbed off with a scrunched-up napkin. This adds texture and depth to the project.

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Invite your child to sprinkle on red and purple glitter for a finishing touch.

The picture can be left as is, or cut into a large heart shape when dry.

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A heart shape cut from a completed ice cube and powder paint process art picture. This Valentine's Day activity is suitable for all ages.

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This completed art piece looks like an exploding volcano on a mountain. It would sizzle as a backdrop for a few painted or drawn dinosaurs.

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This completed ice cube and powder paint process art picture looks like an exploding volcano on a mountain. It would sizzle as a backdrop for a few painted dinosaurs.

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A Valentine’s theme word or saying can be added.

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The word "Love" added to a heart shape cut from a completed ice cube and powder painted picture. This Valentine's Day process art activity is suitable for all ages.

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The words "Be KInd" added to a heart shape cut from a completed ice cube and powder painted picture. This Valentine's Day process art activity is suitable for all ages.

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All ice cube shapes would work wonderfully with this activity. Themed ice cubes add interest to an “of the moment” topic.

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Snowman Sensory Play

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These snowman sensory play ideas can be explored any time of year – winter or summer. When it’s super cold out and there is real snow on the ground, I’d rather play with these activities indoors!

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Snowman themed sensory play. Rice bins, sensory tube, and ten frame activities for early learners. Free printable included.

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Snowman Sensory Play Supplies

Collect these supplies for the activities that follow:

  • clear chunky gems
  • silver snowflake confetti, bead garland strips, and balls
  • white pom poms
  • orange beads, pom poms, and pipe cleaner pieces
  • black buttons and beads
  • snowmen buttons, ice cubes, and bottles
  • silver spoons

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Loose parts and snowman themed supplies to use in a sensory tray or tube.

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Snowman Sensory Tray

The materials are sprinkled on a white rice base in a square metal tray. The snowmen bottles are the find I was most excited about.

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Snowman sensory tray with a rice base and loose parts. Snowman bottles, ice cubes, and buttons are the highlights of the tray.

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Snowman sensory tray with a rice base and loose parts. Snowman bottles, ice cubes, and buttons are the highlights of the tray.

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An easy alternative to themed bottles is to draw snowmen’s faces on clear cups with black and orange permanent markers. Design some extra faces for snack cups…a dandy idea featured on a post from passionforsavings.com.

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Snowman sensory tray with a rice base. Clear cup snowmen, themed buttons, and snowmen ice cubes are included along with clear, orange, and black bits and baubles.

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Funnels, dessert cups, large white pom poms, and snowmen erasers would also make great additions.

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Ten Frame Activities

Ten frame activities are perfect for this snowman sensory tray. The frame makes it easy to introduce counting and adding challenges.

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Include this ten-frame printable (downloadable below) in the center and have your child find …

  • seven snowmen buttons
  • five ice cube snowmen
  • six orange beads and four black beads
  • five black parts and five orange parts
  • ten objects of any kind

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Snowman themed ten frame activity using rice bin supplies. Snowmen buttons and ice cubes with loose parts sprinkled in are ready to count in this math prompt.

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Ten FrameDownload

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An egg carton with two sections trimmed off transforms into a ten frame. A bonus is that the cups easily contain the supplies.

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An egg carton with one section cut off makes a perfect ten frame for counting snowmen buttons and ice cubes and loose parts.

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Snowman Themed Sensory Tube

Extend play possibilities by adding these snowman-themed materials to a sensory tube. You can get by with less of each supply, and variety is always nice!

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Snowman sensory tube with a rice base and loose parts. Snowman ice cubes and buttons are the highlights of the tube.

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You can never go wrong with a snowman theme, for any age! I hope these snowman sensory play activities enhance your child’s hands-on learning opportunities with this beloved topic.

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Related:

Magic Creamer Color Experiment

Try this magic creamer color experiment using half-and-half coffee cream. An easy-to-do science experiment with stunning results.
[Read more…] about Snowman Sensory Play

New Year’s Sensory Tray

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This New Year’s sensory tray shines bright with gold and silver accents. Two watch heads are the highlight of the bin, and children treasure finding them.

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New Year's sensory tray with gold and silver pieces. Two watch heads are the highlights. This tray offers math, language and sensory opportunities for learning.

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The collection of pieces below is all gold with a few silver parts added in. The musical instruments are black, only because the gold finish wore off in previous play! The alphabet letters are cut from “Happy New Year” necklaces.

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Gold and silver supplies to use in a New Year's sensory tray. Opportunity to sort and count pieces and make sets. Invitation to spell the wish "Happy New Year."

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The base ingredient is parboiled rice, as its yellow hue complements the gold tone of the bin. The ingredients are showcased in a silver metal square-shaped tray.

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A square-shaped silver metal tray is perfect for showcasing the gold and silver pieces in this New Year's sensory play center.

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Items In The New Year’s Sensory Tray:

  • parboiled rice
  • antique watch heads set to 12:00
  • tube confetti
  • confetti party hats and stars
  • sequins
  • foil pieces
  • tiny balls
  • beads
  • pom poms
  • bead garland strips
  • tinsel
  • bells
  • musical instruments
  • alphabet letters that spell the wish “Happy New Year”
  • star dessert cups
  • spoons

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Safari Toob musical instruments would be a stand out in this tray.

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Activities To Extend Exploration

Your early learner will enjoy sifting through the sensory tray and filling the star dessert cups with treasures.  A few prompts will extend learning opportunities.

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New Year's sensory tray with gold and silver pieces. Two antique watch heads are the highlights. This tray offers math, language and sensory opportunities for learning.

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Search And Find Challenges

Challenge your child to…

  • find letter H, Y, etc.
  • collect five pom poms
  • shake bells in cupped hands to make music
  • search for watch heads
  • find three silver stars and two gold stars
  • add musical instruments to a star dessert cup

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Spelling “Happy New Year”

Cut necklaces into “HAPPY NEW YEAR” sections. Ask your little one to find the letters that make up the New Year’s greeting. 

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New Year's sensory tray with an invitation to spell the wish "Happy New Year". This tray offers sensory, math and language opportunities for learning.

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The gold and silver pieces are not precious metals, but this New Year’s sensory tray has a rich feel that is sure to be inviting.

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To create a similar tray, keep an eye out for baubles to recycle from Christmas events or gift openings. As an alternative, you can put together a bright, colorful bin as seen at rubberbootsandelfshoes.

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More New Year’s Activities

New Year’s Eve Sensory Tray

New Year’s All Gold Sensory Activity

New Year’s Crafts

New Year’s Countdown Activities

New Year’s Art and Math Activities

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[Read more…] about New Year’s Sensory Tray

Chinese New Year Noodle Bin

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This bright and cheery Chinese New Year noodle bin has a "year of the rat" theme. A rat figurine takes center stage in the bin.

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Sensory bins are always welcomed by little learners, and this Chinese New Year noodle bin promises to be a hit. And with this bin, you’ll be ready to celebrate the next Chinese New Year, which is on January 25.

To add interest, the noodle-based bin features the Chinese zodiac animal for the year 2020 – a rat! The rodent is a metal rat and is associated with qualities such as industriousness, quick wit, persistence, and kindness.

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Related:

Year Of The Pig Sensory Bin (Chinese New Year 2019)

Year Of The Ox Sensory Tray (Chinese New Year 2021)

Year Of The Tiger Chickpea Bin (Chinese New Year 2022)

Year Of The Rabbit Sensory Bin (Chinese New Year 2023)

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Supplies In The Chinese New Year Noodle Bin

This bright and cheery Chinese New Year noodle bin has a "year of the rat" theme. Your little learners will love to explore it.

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The bin used is a square silver metal tray. The noodle base is a package of German egg pasta, selected for its gold color.

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Loose parts for a Chinese New Year noodle bin with a "year of the rat" theme.

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In addition to the noodles, the following loose parts are in the bin:

  • rat figurine
  • gold play coins
  • coin purse
  • red buttons
  • pink and white cherry blossoms
  • silver and red balls cut from garland
  • bead garland strips
  • silver bells
  • red tassels cut from hanging decorations
  • gold miniature present, bow, and drum decorations

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The Year Of The Rat Noodle Bin

This bright and cheery Chinese New Year noodle bin has a "year of the rat" theme. Your little learners will love to explore it.

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The German egg pasta is layered in the bottom of the “year of the rat” bin.

Red and gold are common Chinese New Year colors, so there are plenty of loose parts in both hues.  

The official metal rat color is white. My rat is grey, as that’s the color I have handy. The grey metal tray and silver bells and beads are intended to match it.

Since rats do not have a good reputation, little learners may be hesitant to play with the toy rodent. So flowers and tassels are intentionally added to the bin to soften up the look and feel. Tassels are a staple in Chinese New Year decorations, and the flowers represent the coming of spring.

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For more early learning play ideas, follow me on Pinterest.

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Loose parts for a Chinese New Year noodle bin with a "year of the rat" theme.

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Happy New Year Art And Math Activities

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In a few days, we will celebrate the beginning of a new year. If you are looking for no-fuss activities for your child to start the year with these simple art and math projects fit the bill. Offer them at home or save them for the first days back at school in January.

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Related: 2025 New Year’s Crafts

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2025 New Year Keepsake Supplies

For this first craft, gather the following supplies:

  • golden glitter cardstock
  • tan cardstock
  • 8 ½ x 11-inch cream cardstock
  • gold sequins, stars, balls, and confetti
  • gold glitter
  • gold glitter glue
  • glue paddle
  • collage containers
  • pencil
  • scissors
  • metallic gold felt pen
  • glue stick
  • glue gun

The 2025 New Year Keepsake Craft

Trace your child’s hand on a piece of tan cardstock, or let your child do the tracing.

Help your child cut out the hand.

Add gold glitter glue and collage items to small containers.

Set the collage items, glue, glue paddle, and paper hand on a table.

Decorate handprints with glitter glue and gold stars, sequins, confetti, and glitter. A collage activity for all ages.

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Invite your child to glam up the hand with gold-colored collage items.

Sprinkle on gold glitter and confetti at the end for an added dose of glitz.

Let the handprint dry.

Cut a pair of number two shapes and one number five shape from golden glitter cardstock.

On cream-colored cardstock, help your child use a glue stick to tack on a number two, the decorated paper hand, another number two, and the number 5. Reinforce the shapes with a glue gun if needed.

Add the words “Here I Come” underneath the number 2025 with a metallic gold felt pen.

Glitter paper and gold collage items are front and center in this 2020 handprint art activity. An easy to make New Year's keepsake suitable for children of all ages.

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To introduce a simple version of this art project, trace and cut out a couple of number twos, a number five, and a hand from white cardstock. Let your child color the paper hand and numbers, and glue them onto a contrasting background. 

Feel free to download this template to use for the numbers.

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2025 Here I Come Gold PrintableDownload

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For more 2025 templates, view my blog post “New Year’s Crafts.”

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New Year Countdown Fireworks Picture

This second activity gives practice in number recognition and counting down from 10 to 1. It does double duty as an art activity.

Supplies Needed:

  • Happy New Year printable (download below)
  • scissors
  • three toilet paper rolls
  • magenta, yellow, and light blue tempera paint
  • small plates or lids
  • paintbrushes
New Year's Countdown template to use for art and math activities with young children. Invitation to add paint print fireworks, count down from 10 t0 1 and match numbers.

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Download this “Happy New Year” printable on 11-inch by 17-inch paper, or 8 ½ x 11-inch paper.

Happy New Year PrintableDownload

This printable was created in PicMonkey and is for individual and one classroom use only.

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Paper Roll Firework Paint Project Set-Up

For this second New Year’s activity, cut fringes into one end of three toilet paper rolls.

Bend the fringes on each paper roll outward.

Pour magenta, yellow, and light blue paint into small plates or lids.

Set the paints, paper rolls, and paper on a table covered with a waterproof tablecloth.

Ring in the new year with your early learners by introducing an activity to make toilet roll and paint fireworks. Use the Happy New Year printable to count down from 10 to 1.

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Ask your child to dip the fringed end of each paper roll into a color of paint and make a firework print on the printable.

Encourage your child to add more prints in each paint color to the page.

Tip: Try this on a practice sheet first.

Practice making paint print fireworks on a piece of scrap paper before making prints on the Happy New Year printable.

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For more control, paint the fringed ends with a brush instead of dipping them in paint.

Toilet paper roll firework paint prints. For added control, paint the fringes of the paper roll and press onto the Happy New Year printable to create fireworks.

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A paper roll and paint art activity to ring in the new year with. Introduce this activity with your early learners using this Happy New Year printable. Incorporate math by having children count down from 10 to 1 and match numbers by adding numerical stickers.

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To incorporate number recognition and matching practice, ask your child to cover the numbers 10 to 1 with numerical stickers.

A paper roll and paint art activity to ring in the new year with. Introduce this activity with your early learners using this Happy New Year printable. Incorporate math by having children count down from 10 to 1 and match numbers by adding numerical stickers.

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These two art and math activities are sure to help your child start the new year off on a positive note. I hope 2025 will be fabulous for you and your loved ones!

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More New Year’s Activities

New Year’s Eve Sensory Tray

New Year’s All Gold Sensory Activity

New Year’s Crafts

New Year’s Sensory Tray

New Year’s Countdown Activities

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[Read more…] about Happy New Year Art And Math Activities