A Whale of a Tale

During January the children learned about cold climates and worked with the story “A Whale of a Tale” from Twenty Tellable Tales compiled by Margaret Read MacDonald.  This story originates from the Eskimos.  At the beginning of the month children looked at the globe to see where Eskimos live and then where they live.  Our class talked about weather and animals found in arctic climates.

Teachers told the story using flannelboard figures copied from prints in the book.  Children also learned Chinese vocabulary related to the story.

A winter painting was created to go along with the story.  Children were given a canvas on which to squirt dots of acrylic paint in cool colors to create a winter background.   

The paints were then mixed to produce the background for the story figures to be printed onto.

Misty-Jade and I made stamps from the story figures.  We traced the prints onto foam sheets, drew in the details, and then traced the details with an Exacto knife.

 

 

Stamp pads were made using two layers of fabric interfacing cut into circles to fit inside a plastic picnic plate.  The fabric was soaked with water and then white acrylic paint was poured on top and spread out.

Children stamped the figures onto their winter paintings.  After the paint dried the children applied a coat of Mod Podge diluted with water to the pictures.  Some irridescent glitter was sprinkled over the Mod Podge for snow.

Last week the children retold the story during circle time using their pictures as a guide.   They were all able to include the Chinese vocabulary they had learned.

Here is M’s rendition of the “Whale of a Tale!”

Little Pandas Preschool

Halloween Silhouette Painting

Our preschool class made Halloween silhouette paintings last week.  The inspiration for this project can be found at That Artist Woman’s site.  Gail has many great ideas for elementary school art, many of which can be made doable with preschoolers.  This project took a week to complete.  A small piece was completed each day giving preschoolers ample time to do each step of the project well and not be overwhelmed with completing the entire project in one sitting.

We used water color paper that was taped to the table with blue painter’s tape to form a frame around the pictures.   The children used yellow and orange tempera paint cakes to paint the bottom third of the paper.

Red was added next.

Blue was added to the top of the paper.   The tempera paint cakes work like water colors and allow the colors to mix.  This was the first time I tried the paint cakes and love them!  I found a school supply store in Canada that carries 28 colors!  This is going to be my next purchase for the preschool.

The next day a contact paper mask was place over the top 3/4 of the picture.  The children painted the bottom 1/4 of the picture black.

Misty-Jade created black Halloween cut-outs for the children to paste over their paintings.   The pictures were then framed and put up on our new bulletin board.

 

This picture reminds me of the cyclone in the Wizard of Oz.

 

 

This was the first experience this group had using the tempera paint cakes.  Some of the children figured out how to make their paintings brighter by using less water and getting more paint onto the brush.

Little Pandas Preschool

Mosaic Art at Preschool

The preschool class has been working on a mosaic art unit during the last month.  At the beginning of the unit children watched a slide show of mosaic art examples and discussed the different pictures and medium used to create the artwork.  Several activities were planned to enable the children to eventually create a nice mosaic picture.

The first project was open ended and permitted the children the freedom to create a mosaic without any constraints.  The children could play with the triangles, choose any colors they wanted and glue them onto the black construction paper in any design they preferred.

An ongoing mosaic activity has been set up at the light table for the duration of the unit.  Several overhead projection transparency sheets were printed with pictures for the children to fill in with different colors of overhead projector circles.  The circles are stored in clear plastic paint buckets.  Children could also view transparencies of real mosaic art pieces.

The children were given sheets printed with simple geometric shapes and directed to glue a different color paper in each section.  The kids were very successful with this.

This week each child chose a picture that will be used in their final project.  They are practicing glueing different colors of paper in each section.  Next week they will begin making their mosaic picture with buttons on canvass.

Little Pandas Preschool

Melted Crayon Art

Last week the children created melted crayon collages on canvas boards.  I saw this idea at Teach Preschool and thought it would be a perfect activity for December when the kids are exploring color and light.

Children chose the colors they wanted and then used a cool glue gun to attach the crayons to the canvas.

A hair dryer was used to melt the crayons.

The finished collages are wonderful!

Little Pandas Preschool

Fall Leaves at the Light Table

This week the kids have been exploring fall leaves and all the beautiful colors at the light table.  Amber collected several leaves and I put them in contact paper so that they would remain flat.  

The leave’s colors are greatly enhanced with the light table.

The veins in the leaves show up very clearly.

Some of the children used the orange vase gems to enhance the leaves.  

Little Pandas Preschool

Bean Bag Colors

The toddler class played with color today and matched bean bags with construction paper.  

While learning to recognize colors the toddlers are also beginning to learn about teamwork.

After lots of practice matching the bean bags with the construction paper the toddlers were ready to find matching objects in their classroom.

Little Pandas Preschool

Graphing our Ball Collection

The children began bringing balls from home to add to our collection.  Each morning during circle time the children get to tell the class all about their ball. This is a great opportunity for the kids to develop language, speaking, and listening skills.

After circle time the children gathered all the red balls in the gym and talked about their characteristics.  

The children counted an equal amount of red squares to glue onto the color graph which they helped make the day before.

The process was repeated for the blue balls.

The preschoolers will continue to work on this graph for the rest of the week along with other planned activities.  In addition to the math and science skills being developed the children are also learning to count and recognize colors in Chinese!

Little Pandas Preschool

Salt Stamping

This a great project parents can do at home with their kids. Color one cup of table salt with one tablespoon of liquid watercolor. Let it dry on a tray overnight and then transfer it to a bowl. We used tropical colors for our project at school. Spread a thin layer of white glue mixed with a little water onto the tray. Let the kids stamp on construction paper and then sprinkle the colored salt over the glue. We used ocean animal stamps to go with our tropical colors. The kids loved this project, and it’s great for reinforcing the Chinese vocabulary they’re learning.

 

Summer Fun!

The weather has been very hot during the last two days and we’ve finally been able to begin our summer activities. This week the children painted murals on the white board. It’s great fun to see the bright colors and then mix them to make more. Before hosing the white board off children can take a piece of white construction paper to make a print of their painting.

No Mess Finger Painting!

Last Wednesday and Thursday the babies had a lot of fun doing some “No Mess Art.” The children were confused at first about why the paint was not on their hands… They would look at their hand and then at the paper. It was a lot of fun playing drums on our pictures as well! It’s a great project that you could easily do at home with your little ones as well. Pick paper of your choice, place globs of paint on the paper (use multiple colors), cover with plastic wrap, and allow your child to hit, push, and use their fingers to move the paint around. When child is finished, or the plastic wrap is beginning to come off, compliment your child’s beautiful art, remove plastic wrap (discard), and hang the picture to dry!

Teacher Kimberly