stamping with plastic eggs

 

paint with paper

 

bubble wrap butterfly prints

The week before we did this activity we had bubble wrap on the easel. It was such a popular center that I wanted to keep it but felt hat it needed a fresh twist when I remembered back to my toddler art class days and how we covered the table with bubblewrap and pulled prints from the colorful mess! Let's make butterflies! We had our bubble wrap in two parts taped together. I took advantage of the taped seam, folding it all in half and free cutting a butterfly half from the seam out to the edges. Once unfolded I had a nifty bubble wrap butterfly waiting to be painted on!

The children were really excited to practice painting butterfly designs onto the bubble wrap. One of my kiddos got really into our lessons on symmetry and painted/printed up some awesome symmetrical butterflies! Another kiddo must have painted/printed up over a dozen butterflies. Our classroom looked so festive!

We changed out the colors each day to add a bit of variety to the project. I wish I had more photos, they looked so nifty! I'm glad I captured these small moments. A three year old classroom is always a very busy place!

it's a wrap!

In Rabbit's Gift, each animal in the story returns home with a different type of vegetable. To add to the literature, the children used various vegetables to create their own wrapping paper to take home for the holidays.

I brought in my acrylic paints and let each child choose up to three colors. To keep the paper from getting muddy, we kept each vegetable to one color with the children choosing which veggie got which color.

 

One child worked at a time at our smaller art table. I kept an eye out and rotated the paper a little to keep the stamping an all over process rather than a cluster in one place. Some children chose to stand and walk around as they stamped.

We rolled up their paper and secured it with a pipe cleaner to take home on the last day before winter break. Some of the parents in other classrooms were really dazzled by how modern the paper looked.

All but the kitchen sink...

St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner and there are oodles of projects you can do simply by using green. Check out what Rachelle from Tinker Lab thought up with a batch o green paint, paper and a sink mat. For instructions and nifty how-to hop on over to Tinker Lab. Thanks for sharing, Rachelle!

herein lies the (new) rub: a boredom buster!

You're stranded at home, the baby's asleep and your preschooler begins the "I'm Bored!" chant. Here's a new way with play dough or homemade play clay (checkout the CRAFTzine blog for a perfect recipe.) that will maybe, just maybe bust those boredom blues. Have a batch of homemade play dough in the fridge that might possibly be getting too old? Use it as an anchor for an assortment of household objects and make these nifty crayon rubbings.

You will need:
*play clay
*rolling pin
*semi-flat found objects like washers, bottle caps, etc.
*crayons without their wrappers
*paper (scrap paper is perfect)

scrumdilly-do it!

Set up your work area with splat mat, dough, crayons, paper and found objects.Roll out your clay/dough dough to a good sized flat blob.Have your wee ones play with their found objects by pressing them into the clay. Your found objects should be no thicker than the dough you rolled out.When they are happy with their arrangement, place a sheet of paper over the art (we used the backside of printed paper we no longer needed) and tape at the corners to anchor it down.Using the flat side of the crayon, have your kidlet rub the crayon back and forth over the paper to create a rubbing. Use more than one color for variety.You can even arrange your objects to look like a creature or robot. Cut cardboard from old food boxes into robot like shapes for a robot making factory. Use up all your scrap paper and make your own Robot Parade. Even better, play this song while you're at it!
Stay tuned for another take on this method...I've got two more ways with play clay that are easy to do in a pinch!

Spool Snowflakes

If yer a frugal crafty type like myself. You may have an assortment of empty spools laying about. Even the non-wood variety are hard to toss. Turn them into printing tools for your kidlets and watch them make some nifty snowflakes!

You will need:
*empty spools (plastic variety are actually better for this than wood)
*tempera or acrylic paint
*glitter and/or salt
*blue or white paper
*newspaper
*paint friendly zone to work inscrumdilly-do it!

This is a super easy printing project that children as young as two can do. All you need to do is set it up and make sure there is a large pile of paper to print on.

Set out your paints. Use at least two colors for variety. I used the silicone cupcake liners for the paint and salt. The glitter here is stored in salt & pepper shakers. For a cleaner print, layer a few sheets of newspaper under the work area so that there is some give when your wee ones print. This will help the image pop a wee bit. It all depends on how much paint they slop on.
Add one empty spool for each paint color and let 'em at it! They can print willy-nilly or in ap attern. It is up to your wee ones.
While the paint is still wet, have your kidlets sprinkle (dump) salt and/or glitter on top. Set aside to dry and shake off the excess.

That's it! Easy peasy and pretty to boot! Use large sheets of paper or the back of your non-holiday giftwrap to make holiday giftwrap. Cut the art into card sized squares and make some holiday cards. Whatever you do, enjoy yourselves and have a happy day!