Letter X superheros!

You have to get pretty creative with art activities

 to go along with the letter Xx! One of my favorites is to

 let the kids build a superhero Xman or  Xwoman.

Its fun to watch how creative they get with

  a plate of collage materials,a  

large X cut out of tag board

 and a superhero mask cutout.

I put out sparkle stickers, colored pasta

colored craft sticks(cut in half), buttons,eyes, and 

  I gave each child a super hero mask for their X.

After passing out  the glue bottles they were busy getting creative!

 They loved adding stick arms and legs, pasta buttons and bows,

 shiny stars, and big googly eyes.The mask was a big hit! 

I enjoyed sitting and watching  the kids work as they

 chatted about their superhero Xman and Xwoman). 

They enjoyed picking through  the collage materials in 

search of just the right items to glue on their superhero!

 I love that no two superhero Xs were alike!

Materials needed

precut Xs (out of tag board)

precut super hero masks

collage materials

googly eyes

white school glue

Beautiful  butterflies

My kids love blotto painting! 

They love dropping the paint onto their paper 

folding it closed, rubbing it gently 

 and opening it up to see the colorful surprise inside! 

It doesn't have to be a precut shape

they are happy with just a piece of paper!

Today as we finished up our spring theme we

did blotto butterflies. I cut out butterfly shapes

and left  them folded in half.

 For easy cleanup I set them onto a piece 

of folded of newspaper.  

I  cut egg cartons in half and filled them with paint. 

I found perfect mini appetizer spoons at party city

that work great in the paint. 

The kids drop paint onto the butterfly.

 Be sure and leave it folded in half. 

Then when they are done carefully fold the butterfly keeping  

 the paint inside the butterfly shape. Slide it in between the newspaper.

 Let the kids rub it to squeeze the paint all over the butterfly. 

The excess paint will be on the newspaper instead of your table! 

Let the kids carefully open their butterflies and watch their smiles

 as they see the gorgeous creation they just made!

Supplies needed

precut butterflies

Egg cartons for paint

mini spoons (or craft sticks)

washable tempera paint

newspapaer

  

Tie dye butterflies

I love coffee filter art projects! They are colorful,

age appropriate for even the youngest artist

and best of all they are cheap!

You can use washable markers and a spray

 bottle,dot painters, or as we did today

 you can use watercolor paints.

I like to buy the small coffee filters because

 my kiddos are preschoolers and the small ones

are just  right size to keep their interest.

I set out the filters that  I have pressed flat

on newspaper for easy cleanup.

I also set out washable watercolors,

( I prefer a good quality paint such as Crayola or Prang) 

cups of water and brushes. For the bodies I let the kids

 paint clothes pins. After the kids are done painting 

let the filters and the clothes pins dry.

Then gather up the filter and clip it into the clothespin.

 You now have a beautiful tie dyed butterfly.

 For added fun you can  help the kids
roll up the butterfly and 

 put it in a toilet paper roll "cocoon"!

This is a fun activity to go with

"The very hungry caterpillar" book. 

Supplies needed

coffee filters

wooden clothespins

washable watercolors

water cups and brushes

newspaper

toilet paper rolls

Flower power!

One of my favorite things to do is walk through

 the arts and craft isles at Micheal's.

I always find something to spark a new 

craft idea for my kiddos!  

This week I found these great textured brushes (by creatology). 

They looked like lots of fun, and sure enough my kids

 had a great time making flowers with them!

I put out shallow bowls of paint. I added  the textured brushes 

as well as some foam shaped circles blocks I  had found in Targets dollar bin. 

 I drew lots of stems on the paper and then let the kids add flowers.

They had lots of fun painting with their new brushes! 

Tomorrow I will add them to the easel center 

and see what the kids come up with on their own!

Supplies needed

textured brushes

shallow bowls for paint

washable tempera paint

construction paper

 A garden of Flowers

We are learning about spring this week in preschool. 

At the art table I put out  small bowls of paint and water bottles 

and told the kids they could paint a  garden with the water bottles. 

They thought it was so fun to dip water bottles in paint 

and stamp flowers with them. I added circle shaped sponges

( I found them with the tole painting supplies at Walmart). 

for the center of the flowers. When they were happy with their gardens I gave 

them a paint pot of green paint and let them add stems, leaves and grass. 

The gardens came out amazing. Each one a bit different.

 Each one  full of color and creativity!

Supplies needed

Butcher paper cut into the  length of  your choice. 

(ours were about 24"  long)

water bottles (we used 5 with 5 colors of paint)

small bowls for the paint and water bottles

circle shaped sponges

washable tempera paint.

paint pots and brushes.(for the green paint)

Spring flowers

Here in Phoenix it's a beautiful first day of spring! 

I decided it would be fun as an introduction to our spring 

theme if we made a garden of colorful flowers.

I set out  assorted colors of paint, small brushes, and small paper plates.

(I taped a stem to the back of each plate).

I also set out pompoms for the kids to glue (tacky glue works best)

 to center of the their flowers.

The flowers came out so cute, full of  bright colors! 

The kids had such fun painting 

 that we ended up with quite a large garden of flowers!

Supplies needed

 washable tempera paints 

paint pots and brushes

small paper plates

green construction paper

pom poms

tacky glue

Sparkly  rainbow paintings

Today we got out our watercolor paints, spray bottles and salt shakers

and ended up with colorful  sparkly paintings that are worthy of framing!

I first had the kids use the spray bottle of water and spray their paper.

 Then they went to work painting on the wet paper. 

It was great fun watching the colors run together.

Once they were pleased with their beautiful rainbow

 paintings they took the salt shaker and shook salt all over the painting. 

So much fun, such lovely pictures! 

Supplies needed

watercolor paints (I like a good quality paint such as crayola or prang)

water cups and paint brushes

salt shakers

white construction paper.