Preschool Spring chicks

Want something SUPER easy to do with your toddler this weekend? You have to try these preschool Spring chicks. Set up is super simple - just grab a piece of card stock and draw three chick silhouettes (which isn't even actually a silhouette...just a circle head with a bigger circle body underneath.)

Have your child sponge yellow paint all around the circles. 

Once the chicks are dry, spread glue all over the head and let them stick eyes and a beak on their chicks! You could also have them draw on the eyes and beaks, but my daughter's fine motor skills are definitely not there, if you know what I mean. 

After the faces are attached, have your kiddo draw on the legs! Lastly, use some green paint with a new sponge to give the little chicks some grass. 

This project was so easy, and cleanup was a cinch - just toss out the paper towel of paint and rinse the sponge!

Have you tried this project? Please link me to a picture in the comments below!

Collaborative Kindergarten painting

Yesterday, (and all week, really!) we have had beautiful weather. Because of this,  I was eager to take the kinders outside for art. I quickly came up with a little lesson - collaborative painting followed by a print. It went really well - they had fun mixing colors (even though I wasn't smart enough to put out all primary colors - definitely a lesson learned for next time!) By the time they had all had some time to paint, the painting was super soggy and over saturated. But they just LOVED watching the print come out!

original painting

print

Kindergarten James Rizzi Style Mother's Day Cards!

Aren't these the cutest? Today with my kindergarten class, they did James Rizzi style mother's day cards. Inspired by this post, I showed students how to draw the birds using Sharpie. Then, they added little squiggles and circles around the bird, to look like confetti and streamers (celebrating Mom!) On the inside, they wrote their message - Bonne Fête des Mères!


This lesson was nice and quick - I only have 30 minutes with the kinders per week, and we were able to do the entire thing, including cleanup, in that time!

Kinder-lions

 

This is a lesson that I adapted from this site. I did it with Kinders, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! They worked hard for two thirty minute periods to mak these lions. They mixed paint, washed brushes, and outlined their drawings. It was a lot of hard work, but they turned out great!

 

Kindergarten lizards!

Oh boy. Kindergarten (and younger grades in general) have never been my strong point, so teaching art from K-6 this year has been a huge stretch. It makes me so happy when I do a lesson with a younger group that just goes so well. These lizards are really just the cutest things I think I've ever seen. They look so weepy and sleepy, and I just love them. I found the idea here.

On the first day, they drew the lizards, then painted them in using watercolor paint. On the second day, they cut them out, then decorated a backing paper. When they were finished coloring, they glued the lizard to the background. A very simple yet adorable lesson!

 

Ps. My favorite chameleon video of all time is this one. I laugh every time!

Kindergarten Monsters

I did a really cute, simple lesson with my Kindergartens on Tuesday. I was inspired by the book J'eleve Mon Monstre, which a colleague showed me. I found a page where the monsters were hatching, and made a template of the bottom part of the egg. We looked at the book, and talked about different ways the monsters look - their eyes, their teeth, their noses, etc. I did some demonstrations on the board. Then, students got to draw their own monsters! I made example sheets with eyes, noses, and mouths, but I don't know if any of them even used them. They were having too much fun creating!

Love the look of the one on the right. They used Sharpie and crayons to do their drawings. 

On another note - tonight marks the end of my Seven Year Pen giveaway. Congratulations to commenter number 9, Phyl from There's a Dragon in my Art Room! Keep checking back, as I will be running another giveaway shortly! Thanks to everyone who entered!!

Kandinsky circles - Kindergarten

This is a lesson that is all over the internet (Kandinsky circles) and has been attempted with all grades. I have been wanting to do it with Kindergarten for a while, because it seems so simple, and I've always seen such beautiful results.

 

 

 

All I needed to do was split an 8.5 x 11 paper into six sections and photocopy. Students drew a big circle in each square, then a smaller one inside, and a smaller one inside. They chose 4 oil pastels which they used to color in their circles, never putting the same circle in a section as the square beside it (somehow this made sense to them.) I LOVE how these turned out - one short lesson, SO easy!!

Kindergarten cardinals

Don't have much time for an update as I am currently trying to make a calendar, sew 33 presents for my students, and wrap up assignments for an AQ course. As a result, I will just let the pictures speak for themselves! These were all drawn and painted by Kindergarten kids. I'm thrilled!