Art

Picasso in Preschool?

September 26, 2018 by Stacy Leave a Comment

Picasso in Preschool? What’s that all about? Parents and educators alike might think art by Picasso is “above a young child’s head” or it’s unnecessary to introduce these types of concepts at an early age. After all, some of it is unusual or even unattractive. Will children even understand concepts like cubism? I’ve learned it is beneficial to introduce famous art to young children and appreciate activities like this Picasso inspired Invitation to Create included in our Mother Goose Time Friends and Feelings kit. See how we’ve learned about Picasso in preschool along with the feeling of being surprised and why Picasso in preschool is important.

Picasso in Preschool

I admit that when I began to use Mother Goose Time and discovered these old masterpiece art inspired projects in the kits, I felt a little overwhelmed. It would be my job to introduce concepts like “cubism”. Yikes, I hardly know anything about it myself! Actually, that’s one of the great things about using Mother Goose Time – I’ve learned so much along with my kids!

Let’s think about this – Cubism is “a form of painting that features simple geometric shapes.” Well, children definitely can learn about shapes! They also know about faces, we all have one. And they love to paint! So that’s not so overwhelming.

Ask the children what they think about this face. Do they like it? Or not? In this case, the creative art activity goes along with the feeling of being surprised. So I asked, is it surprising? Why do you think so? This was just the beginning of our lessons about the feeling “surprised”. More about the creative activity below.

Surprise!

One way to make sure circle time is beneficial is to keep it exciting. Mother Goose Time helps me do that. It was just a simple thing, to place a small item a box and pass it around the circle while playing a song. When the song is paused, the person holding the box opens it and looks inside. Everyone shouts “surprise!”

I didn’t play a song and pause it because I know my group would just open the box as soon as they had it in their hands anyway. I did ask that they just looked inside and not show or tell everyone else what was in there. To develop self-control and listening skills, this game could be practiced often with the music. I didn’t feel my group was quite ready for that. Instead, I focused on introducing the concept of being surprised.

H is for Hiding

Something that hidden can be a surprise. This small group literacy activity was a hit! They have seen the letter builder set before but when it’s introduced in a new and exciting way, we can use the same materials and practice the skills once again.

Surprise in a Bag

Our Table Top Math exercise also included some familiar items – puzzles. They had already seen the blue bear puzzle but the green Johnny Appleseed puzzle is from the October kit so that one was new to them.

I mixed up the puzzle pieces and put some of each into two paper bags. They worked together to select a puzzle piece out of the bags and determine which puzzle it belonged with. The puzzles were put together in no time! I was amazed, or shall we say, surprised, at their ability to take turns, determine which puzzle the piece belonged as well as work together!

Letter Books

We also colored in our letter Hh booklets. This year’s Letter Books are very popular! Sometimes we color in the floor, as an extension during circle time.

I encourage the kids to lie on their tummies while they work. Tummy time for older children? Yes! Read about it here.

Millie Waits for the Mail was our book for the feeling “surprised”. Millie likes to hide and wait for the mailman. Then she surprises him. Everyday!

Picasso Invitation to Create

This is how I set up our Picasso Invitation to Create. One of my almost-four-year-olds came in and said: “Miss Stacy, why are you going to have us make an ugly mug?” Haha!

The painting isn’t appealing to be me either. Some of the kids think it’s a “zombie” or a “monster”. We talked about how when we look at the picture it looks surprising. That’s how I connected it to the surprised feeling.

Mother Goose Time Invitation to Create Picasso in Preschool

While they were working I told how Picasso used shapes in his art and I pointed out different shapes in the painting.

gluing shapes on paper in preschool Picasso in Preschool

After a bit, the 4-year-old said, “The longer you look at it, the better it is. At first, it just looks like “slops and globs” but then it looks better.” Haha!!

Picasso in Preschool - colorful shape art influenced by Pablo Picasso

I have to say I was so impressed with his observation and his new appreciation for art!

Supporting Creativity

Some prompts I used in this activity (that are so helpfully included in the teacher guide!):

What facial features do you see in the Inspiration Photo?
How do you think the person is feeling?
Can you add any other details to the face?
How will you build a face?
What shapes do you see?

My group didn’t really make faces but that is okay too. We practiced “dot, dot, not a lot” while squeezing glue and just enjoyed the process of selecting shapes and making a colorful design.

Why learn about Picasso in preschool?

Young children are capable of so much more than we often think or expect. Just think of it as an introduction, a starting point, where we expose children to art, art techniques, concepts. Viewing and thinking about art broadens our horizons. Art makes us think differently like the 4-year-old expressed when he looked at the Picasso painting. It also gives the opportunity for children to learn about history and gain general knowledge about their world. Looking at famous art can inspire even the youngest to create something they haven’t before. Art can also encourage children to “observe closely, think critically and discuss respectfully” as noted in this article about art appreciation. I love that Mother Goose Time includes famous artist’s work as inspiration for our art!

More Artist Inspired Activities

Host a Preschool Art Show
Starry Night Sensory Play
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Preschool Art Study: Painting Sunflowers

Spilled Milk Art

August 17, 2018 by Stacy Leave a Comment

Lesson 9 of our Folktales and Fables unit was the story of The Milkmaid and Her Pail. We made spilled milk art to extend the lesson.

The Milkmaid and Her Pail

The fables have been so fun to read and talk about this month. The stories are short but captivating for the little ears. I’ve introduced many vocabulary words.

Each fable comes with story pieces so the children can retell the stories themselves. I laminated our pieces and attached a piece of Velcro to the back so they can be used on the felt board. My double-sided story board is from Discount School Supply.

Spilled Milk Art

Since our project is about spilled milk, I thinned down white tempera paint with white liquid watercolor. I also added some silver sparkly paint because glitter is always a good idea.

When the paint is in a cup, it can be poured. Then I offered paint brushes so they could spread the paint too.

Some of the kids squeeze glue into their paint cups and some put it directly on their paper.

Cotton balls offered a three dimensional option for their spilled milk art.

Offering several materials and and tools, children can make decisions about what they want to use and how they use it.

Spreading around puddles of paint.

Sparkly, sticky spilled milk art.

It’s fun to guess what the designs look like!

Our “Spilled Milk” display:

To create your own letters for wall displays, print letters using outline fonts such as KG Red Hands (shown) or KG Shake It Off Outline in 250+ pt font size.

I printed mine on cardstock but you can use regular paper or even construction paper.

Cut out the letters and laminate them. Cut out again. In this case, I cut out the letters with a piece of black construction paper behind them, so I had two of each.

Then I glued them together with a glue stick before I laminated the letters for a shadow effect.

We loved this simple cause and effect story! The process art activity extended the fable perfectly.

Next month’s theme from Mother Goose Time is Friends & Feelings. See what’s in the box here: What’s In the Box: Friends & Feelings.

Handprint Spiders & Paper Plate Webs

July 24, 2018 by Stacy Leave a Comment

We’ve been learning about animal homes including holes where rabbits live, beaver dens and lodges, and spider homes which are webs. These lessons are part of the Mother Goose Time Nature Detectives theme. These Handprint Spiders & Paper Plate Webs are super cute for spiders!

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Handprint Spiders & Paper Plate Webs

Making Handprint Spiders & Paper Plate Webs is quite self-explanatory but here’s a list of supplies you will need if you’re thinking of making them with your little ones. Mother Goose Time includes all the starred ** materials in the kit, which is super helpful.

Needed Supplies:

paper plates **
black tempera paint
thread or yarn **
paper punch
googly eyes **

Making Handprints with Children

I help each child make their handprints. If you’re a little easier going with black paint, they can probably paint their own hands and make the prints. I’ve found it works best to paint the hand with the brush and then press the hand onto the plate. Keep a paper towel handy to wipe up the extra paint.

For the spider handprint, just paint the four fingers, not the thumb. Press the handprints in opposite directions.

It can probably be done with one hand but we used both hands to make the prints.

Brushing the paint on the hand reduces the amount of paint used so the paint dries faster.

Glue the googly eyes on. Hot glue or a thicker craft glue works best for googly eyes otherwise they pop off easily.

Use the paper punch to make several holes around the plate. No exact number is necessary.

We used embroidery thread to lace through the holes and make the spider web. We used all the strands, so the thread is thicker. You could use yarn as well. I like the bright colors over top of the black spider! You could make colorful spiders too for that matter.

My group needed some help with the web weaving with the thread. It’s a little more challenging using the embroidery thread but the large holes on the sturdy paper place helps. Young children can still help with the lacing part if you sit with them and guide them.

I hold the plate and give the child the thread. I say, “put it in this hole” and then turn it over and say, “pull it out!” This is how they learn and feel successful when something is hard.

Make these Handprint Spiders & Paper Plate Webs for Halloween too! They make a fun handprint keepsake for parents.

Spiders really are friendly little guys. At least these ones are!

I received curriculum from Mother Goose Time for honest and authentic stories resulting from my daily experiences using the curriculum. After using Mother Goose Time for about 10 years, I am pleased to promote quality educational learning experiences through play with Mother Goose Time! #sponsored #MGTblogger

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Parts of a Bean Plant Diagram Art

May 26, 2018 by Stacy Leave a Comment

We made Parts of a Bean Plant Diagram Art as part of our gardening theme this month. Disclaimer that this is not process art, some may say it’s not developmentally appropriate and it’s too hard for young children. That’s fine but we did it anyway and we did it successfully. The purpose of this project was to learn about the parts of a plant. There’s quite a few! Before starting, we looked at a picture of a plant and pointed out the leaves, stems, roots, flower, fruit or in this case a bean. Read this post about the Value of Both Product and Process Art.

Parts of a Bean Plant Diagram Art

Our Parts of a Bean Plant Diagram Art were a little more of a complex project with preschoolers but I felt it was well received and meaningful to my group. I could have certainly just put out all the materials for everyone to use as they desired but I thought this was a good opportunity to work together as a group and work on listening skills, considering the needs of our friends and developing patience.

I don’t have photos of the process since I was busy helping the process. First of all, I loved the materials provided by Mother Goose Time! The colors and the creativity were appealing to me and as engaged as everyone was, I believe it was for my kids too.

We started with the seed. Everyone put a drop of glue on their paper for the seed. Placed the seed. Then on to the pipe cleaner stem. The yarn roots.

The leaves came next. And the beautiful tissue paper flower! What grows on this plant after the flower? The bean!

I helped some glue on the word labels but for most, I placed them and they glued them on.

The children were quite proud to take home their project because they spent a lot of time on it.

I will say it was a busy time and not the easiest type of project to guide a group of six all at a time but the results were worth it!

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Creating Seed Mosaics

May 26, 2018 by Stacy Leave a Comment

First, we explored soil, then seeds as part of our gardening theme. One of our seed activities was creating seed mosaics which turned out beautiful! I’ve been enjoying them all month on display in our room. Creating Seed Mosaics allowed the children to explore seeds and handle them to create a design of their own.

Creating Seed Mosaics

Our seed mosaics required basic supplies Mother Goose Time included in the Growing Gardens box. Look at this beautiful inspiration photo that was included. Now, I will admit I had ideas of beautiful well-placed results like this, but in reality, toddlers and preschool results are much different. The idea of a mosaic and inspiration is what’s important. The inspiration photo creates interest, introduces a concept (mosaics in this case) and provides an idea, to begin with.

Toddler and preschool skills vary but we’re not looking for the next Picasso here. What is the purpose of this activity? It’s to explore seeds! That’s exactly what they did. We talked about the different colors an sizes of the seeds. Guessed which seeds produced flowers, grass or popcorn.

The rest is about the creative process and using fine motor skills to squeeze glue and place seeds.

There may be big pools of glue and a few seeds sprinkled.

Older ones are more likely to begin planning their art. We can guide that process a bit so children learn the concept of what we do first, second or third but sometimes I have to be careful with that because too many words, “rules” or steps and children lose interest. This 4-year-old, said, “I’m going to make my name” and he did. That was purely his idea and he was successful. He was satisfied and I thought it was fabulous. Was it anything like the inspiration photo? No, but that’s not the point.

Our youngest, 2 years old, perhaps had the most interesting result but that was because I helped her squeeze the glue. She usually can do it but her bottle was hard to squeeze that day. She held on to the bottle and I helped her squeeze and create a circular design on her paper. Then she sprinkled on seeds. So pretty!