Celebrate Spring!

Flower week celebrates the rebirth of flowers and plants, and the arrival of Spring! During circle time we introduce the topic of flowers to our preschool students by reading books to help explain the varieties and how they grow. We discuss with the children the parts of the flower and use manipulatives and games to reinforce learning. Walking trips outdoors show children real life examples of daffodils, hyacinth, forsythia, and tulips. Art is an integral part of our preschool curriculum so flowers were painted at the easel. Although light blue paint was used for the sky to unify all the paintings, each child picked their own flower to paint using a book to guide them. I believe children learn best by "doing". As the week progresses the topic of flowers is presented in many different ways ensuring that learning is occurring.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is a favorite book for story time in our preschool classroom. The book tells the story of a caterpillar eating and eating until it is ready to form its chrysalis and metamorphosis into a beautiful butterfly. The children like the colorful pictures, especially of the fruit  and different types of foods. I like reading this part of the book as well because it introduces the days of the week, and numbers. In addition, it provides an opportunity to count. Our classroom has The Very Hungry Caterpillar puppet. The children retell the story to each other using the puppet. We brought the story to life by making a caterpillar out of an egg carton. We cut the egg carton into pieces that contain 3 egg holders. Then paint the outside bright green and add an antenna (Pipe Cleaners), eyes and a mouth. Once all the caterpillars are complete they are placed in a brown bag to represent the chrysalis. Meanwhile, children are using their fine motor skills to cut out a butterfly shape that has been traced (by the teacher) on a piece of Manila paper. Students use spoons to put small blobs of paint only on one side of their butterfly (use 3 different colors). Once there is enough paint on the butterfly wing fold the paper in half and smooth with your hands. Press down firmly all over the paper. Open the butterfly to see your unique symmetrical design. Once the paint has dried staple on your caterpillar to the center of the butterfly to represent its metamorphosis into a butterfly. 

Throughout these activities our preschool children watched real caterpillars grow bigger and bigger until they formed a chrysalis. The chrysalis were transferred into a mesh butterfly cage. Once the Painted Lady butterflies emerge from the chrysalis they will be set free outdoors by the children.

Note: Fold the butterfly in half before it gets painted. It will be much easier to refold the butterfly after the paint has been placed on one wing.

Be An Artist: Alexander Calder

When I introduce Alexander Calder to children I like to focus on the circus people and animals he created. He made his circus figures using wire and embellished them with ordinary items that might have been lying around his studio. Calder's circus is an important part of his body of work. This year I decided that not only would the students create their own circus figurines out of pipe cleaners and Twisteez, but they would create their own circus scene in a recycled shoe box. I began by asking the students if they had ever seen a circus. Then we discussed the things they saw at a circus. I also used a book about Calder's circus to show them images of his circus figurines. Our discussion and the visuals I provided helped spark the children's imaginations. Then I let them pick their shoe boxes. A mix of construction paper and felt in assorted colors were used to cover the brown cardboard on the inside of the box. The felt was cut into different shapes to create a circus ring, a high wire, stage curtains, and stars to fill the night sky. Although one class session was not enough time to transform the inside of the shoe box into a complete circus scene, the students are off to a good start.   

Be An Artist: Andy Warhol

The last time I met with my after school art class I took a photograph of each child. At home I used my computer to take all the color out of the photograph. What I was left with was a black and white image of each student with great positive and negative spaces. This is good. When I talk about Andy Warhol to children I like to show them his celebrity self portraits. His use of bold color in unexpected ways is innovative and exciting. I give the children several copies of their self-portraits so that they can create a series like Andy Warhol. I explain to them that artists often create many versions using the same subject. This process helps artists better explore their subject. I think it also allows the child to take risks and try different ideas. I like the way the children's self-portraits look together in a group and encourage my students to walk around and take a look at their fellow classmates work. Children love to see themselves in different ways. I saw children using bold colors, lines, bullseyes, dots like Seurat, and stripes in their self-portraits. They were at ease trying new and unconventional designs.

Be An Artist: George Seurat

I introduced my students to the French painter George Seurat and explained to them that he was famous for using dots - many tiny dots in his paintings - a technique that is known as Pointillism. His most famous painting, La Grande Jatte, took 3 years to paint and was very large ( 7 feet high by 10 feet wide). I showed them a book that had images of the painting so they could see all the tiny dots. Up close the dots looked separated, but from far away they become a cohesive whole. Then the children chose an image to fill-in with tiny dots and dashes (a cupcake, dog, hearts, a flower). I told them to imagine how George Seurat must have felt painting his enormous painting La Grande Jatte. I asked them if it was easy or hard to fill-in their image with dots? Did their hand hurt? Their answer was "yes" - it was much harder than they thought it would be. Some students used only one color throughout big areas, while others blended several to give their image more dimension. Dots that were small and perfect compared to dots that were wide and imperfect created different feelings as you viewed the artwork. I believe giving students the opportunity to learn by doing is an excellent way for them to better understand different artists and their techniques. 

Preschool Valentine Project

This project is a great way to work on fine motor skills in preschool aged children, while making a special valentines gift. Begin by letting your child choose the paint color(s) they want to paint on the heart shaped box. They can paint the box one color, or the lid one color and the bottom another, or create a pattern all over. One person painted strips, while another pressed down on their brush to make an abstract flower on the lid. Paint the box with the lid on, then remove it when you set it aside to dry. This will insure that your lid does not stick to the box during the drying process. The next step is to write a secret note to your child's special person(s). We used a heart shaped piece of paper and helped each child write I Love You and their name. You can modify this based on your child's capabilities. The note gets folded up and put in the box. Shh, it's a surprise! The last thing we did to make this box extra special was put colored gems on the lid. Children chose the colored gems, and the design. Some designs were: a smiley face, a border, a flower or an all-over design. One child made a pattern using blue and red gems around the edges of the lid. The gems were big and small so we also talked about size while we worked. We used tacky glue because it is strong and adheres best. I placed the glue on the box with a q-tip for each child. Children are engaged and learning throughout this multi-step project, because they are having fun creating a gift for someone they love. 

Recycling Project

Students at Hoff-Barthelson Preschool learned about the 3 Rs - reduce, reuse, and recycle - by creating a scene from The Nutcracker. Clean garbage that were destined for the trash found a new use in another form. A brown shipping box became the living room. Paper towel rolls and green ribbon turned into trees. Plastic Easter eggs were transformed into mice. Students also learned the story of The Nutcracker by listening to the music and hearing the story read aloud during story time. Hoff-Barthelson Preschool does a recycling project every year.

Photo by Zak Failla 
http://scarsdale.dailyvoice.com/schools/see-preschoolers-recycled-art-scarsdale-library