Construction Paper Art

This post is part of my at Home Pre-School Boot Camp.  For more information about the series, click here.

Construction paper, glue, and maybe scissors.  Pre-school art can be that simple, and this project can be adjusted to match the fine motor level of each child in your home.  

Early Motor Skill Development

When my children were just starting to develop their fine motor skills I approached this project two ways.  One way was to just let them tear the paper, then glue it down.  The motions of tearing and gluing strengthen the fine motor muscles, and you might be surprised how much effort can go into creating a piece in this way.

Sometimes, it is more satisfying to actually make a picture though, especially if the card or picture is for someone else.  I would ask my child what he wanted to put in the picture, and quickly cut it out.  He would then glue it on the card.  Again, this strengthens muscles and improves coordination in those little hands.  Working together we made some fun things and wonderful memories.

Scissor Practice

Using scissors is an important skill in its own right, but it also strengthens the muscles needed for holding a pencil well.   Get a good pair of kids scissors that you would not mind using yourself.  Show your child how to hold them, then help him use them to cut the paper.  He may just want to cut, or you can let him glue the pieces together to make a special creation.

Writing Practice

Once he is comfortable holding a pencil, you can ask your child to draw or trace patterns on the paper, then cut them, and re-glue.  This allows your child to gain confidence in manipulating the pencil, without the added pressure of trying to form letters.  

Projects!

There are so many great projects to do with construction paper!  We used it a year ago to make some finger puppets, and before that we made some self portraits.  In fact, T-Rex just saw these pictures and asked to do it again!

 We love Discovering Great Artists by MaryAnn F.Kohl and Kim Solga, and their lesson on Henry Matisse calls for a technique similar to this.  If you keep the colored paper, scissors, and glue together in an easy to find box, you will be ready to go with any of these lessons or just to enjoy the afternoon together making some art!

Click Here to return to the At Home Pre-School Boot Camp Week Three Summary.

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.  Click here for more information.   Thanks for your support!  The post, Construction Paper Art, by Christy McGuire originally appeared on WisdomKnowledgeJoy@blogspot.com.

Pretend Elevators with Bottle Cap Pulleys

This activity can be used to address the following Next Generation Science Standards

K-2-ETS1-1.	Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
K-2-ETS1-2.	Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.
K-2-ETS1-3.	Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

Project Recycle! and Create! has provided me with some much needed motivation to do creative projects with my kids this year.  This month's challenge is to make an activity with or for our kids using bottle caps.

We made play animal elevators with operational pulleys.

 My children helped engineer their elevators and enjoyed using them for pretend play when we finished.  It was a fun introduction to a simple machine.

Materials: bottle caps, preferably of a few different sizes

A Box

String 

Glue

Clothes pins

Small play animals

I let my children choose where to place the initial bottle caps, then hot glued them in place.

I tied string to some clothes pins.  They attached the animals.  My daughter put her favorite little turtle in a car made from a candy box.

I originally envisioned a multiple point pulley system, but they were intrigued lifting their animals with just one.  

My son was frustrated that the string kept slipping off of the pulley.  We solved the problem by gluing a larger lid on the outside of the pulley.

This kind of physical play is great for developing an intuitive understanding of physical properties. We also worked in a little problem solving.  I would like to come back to this concept and add some complexity when they are ready.  For today,  they naturaly made it into pretend play, while I slipped off to get dinner.

Lids have provided us with a few other great solutions. Including:

A drain stop  done by the Pony Artist

A lesson in Circular Motion at the Breakfast Table initiated by T-Rex

Check out these projects from my co-hosts.

Sink or Float Experiment by AlterNative Learning

Memory Game by Powerful Mothering

Solar System Model by Still Playing School

Bottle Cap Art by P is for Preschooler

Flower Card by There's Just One Mommy

Pattern Play by Teach Me Mommy

Or do you have a great bottle cap/lid project?  Link it up!

An InLinkz Link-up

Science Along the Way: Drain Solution

It seems that we find a lot of science in the bath tub--and it has happened again.  The mechanism in our drain broke.

"Don't worry," said the Pony Artist, "I have a solution."  

This is post has moved.  Check out our simple drain solution over at Thriving STEM.

The Pony Artist's Ice Melting Experiment

"Mommy, pouring water on ice melts it."

What do you think? True or false?

The Pony Artist had spent some time working with snow on winter days here in the Southern US. The temperature was always well above thirty-two Farenheit (0 C). We decided this was a good opportunity for a science experiment . The Pony Artist did a great job of designing a procedure to test her hypothesis.

She knew immediately that our set up included an ice cube,with water added. I reminded her that we also needed an ice cube alone in a second container to be sure that the water was what made the ice melt.

I suggested that we actually make two of each set up and conduct it twice, once on the counter and once on the refrigerator. Looking back, I short circuited the  learning process slightly. It would have been better to do the experiment her way, let her see that the ice melted both ways, then perform the next experiment.

We measured the mass of each container in case we had confusion about where ice had gone later.

In the end, that was not necessary, but it was good counting and measuring practice.  

The Pony Artist checked her a set up periodically.  Eventually, she ended up with this.

She concluded that ice melts when it is warm and (liquid) water freezes when it is cold. 

Not bad for a pre-schooler! My husband's co-worker observed an adult trying to melt ice on his wind shield by throwing water on it.  

If you are interested in trying this experiment,  you can click here to download a free printable via my TPT page.

What question should the Pony Artist answer next?

Sharing at the Mom's Library 

5 Ways to Use Cardboard tubes, from my 5-Year-Old

Happy March!  I am very excited to again be participating with a great group of bloggers to bring you Project: Recycle Create.  This month we are working with card board tubes.  I was building a stash in preparation for doing "something" creative when my five-year-old walked in with a whole pile of inventions.  My task oriented side was almost annoyed, when I realized that he had not only done my assignment for me, but had come up with some pretty brilliant ideas!  

 Here are T-Rex's top projects for cardboard rolls.

A great pretend toy.  The clear plastic material is shelf paper remnants.

This is a moving toy.  Simply add a star sticker or drawing, then roll it off the bed.  Use glow in the dark stickers or paint, and you can create a realistic meteor shower!

Who doesn't need a place to keep their favorite stickers?  You can guess what kind have been popular at our house lately.

Another great pretend toy, and T-Rex's favorite.  You might substitute packing tape for the shelf paper remnant and paint these.   Even pretend binoculars present a wonderful new way to look at the world.

This is my personal favorite.  I plan to pull it back out and do some experimenting.  If we hit on anything especially interesting I'll share.  If not, maybe your child will enjoy just playing like T-Rex did.

So, what's your favorite idea?  Most of us have a study supply of cardboard rolls, so check all the great ideas from my co-hosts. 

P is for Preschooler

Powerful Mothering

Afterschool for Smarty Pants

Still Playing School

A Kid Engineered Ball Run from Lemon Lime Adventures

Creative World of VaryaMama Miss

There's Just One Mommy

Little Bins for Little Hands

Peakle Pie

A Rainbow Craft from Sugar Aunts

A Ring Toss from Teach Me Mommy 

Danya Banya

ALLterNATIVElearning

Widsom Knowledge Joy

Preschoolers Day by Day

Playtivities

 If you have your own ideas, link them up!  Later in the month, I'll share a few of my favorites.

An InLinkz Link-up

Whose hole is that? Habitat study along the way

We were headed home from the play ground, when my four-year-old noticed this hole.  "Look, Mommy, a hole!"

My five-year-old immediately declared that this was an animal home.  After determining that it was a fairly deep tunnel, we began to discuss what type of animal would live in it.  He thought it was probably a muskrat.  She thought it was a beaver.

I asked whether the hole was big enough for those animals and whether they would typically want to hang out at the top of a hill.  My older child began to doubt his hypothesis.  The younger one is sure a beaver wants a tunnel from the river to the top of that hill.

I would guess that if it really is an animal burrow, it would belong to a snake, but I don't know.  It is fun to imagine possibilities.  Maybe some day one of them will be am expert naturalist who can point out the details needed to solve the mystery.

Toy Car Story Play

We followed our toy car direction investigation with a simple story telling activity.  Each child got a piece of poster paper and access to markers.  They were instructed to draw a scene that they could use to tell a story with a car.  After the restrictions of the previous activity, they welcomed the creative freedom. Since neither of my children is writing independently yet, they narrated the story while driving the car around their scene, and I wrote it down. 

 The process of them telling, me repeating back, and them telling some more, will hopefully turn into creative writing one of these days.  In the mean time we got some fine motor practice and some speech practice.

My idea was that older students could write down their own stories.  Perhaps small groups could perform their stories in the form of skits.  

Two activities were enough for us to call it a day, but we did pick up with measuring a few days later, and finish with one more major investigation.

Writing on the Walls

As the mom of pre-kindergarten children, I am always on the look out for  activities that will help them improve their writing skills.  This week, we broke out the window crayons and headed for the shower.   At first I encouraged them to write their names.  I inverted their whole names and wrote them on the outside of the glass.  They traced them happily without prompting, and spent several minutes working on their names and random letters.  Then we digressed to drawing.

When the shower glass was full, we moved our art to the living room windows, and ended up with this fun result of a camel moving past a palm tree.

Benefits that of using Window Crayons

Improved form, since writing on vertical surface forces the hand to hold the writing implement correctly.

Reinforced knowledge of letter formation.

Artistic development.

Positive attitudes about writing and drawing.

A clearer idea of where soap scum is hiding, since the crayon removes easily from glass, but not scum.  

If you are looking for an activity that develops, writing, art or is just plain fun for an hour or so, I recommend picking up a set of window crayons from your nearest back to school sale.

Does it matter if my child colors inside the lines?

Does it matter if my child colors inside the lines? 

Any serious artist will quickly tell you that willingness to color inside the lines has nothing to do with artistic ability.  Art is by definition personal expression of the artist.  It does not matter if the color is inside the lines or if the color is true to life.  Art is an experiment in expression. 

I do not force my children to color, although one is occasionally amused by it.  For the other, I provide plain paper, saving stress and money. Since art is not my strong suit, I read what others have to say.  The newsletter from Mary Ann Kohl has helped me understand what I could and should provide for my children to foster their art abilities.  You can sign up for it on her web-site.

What does matter?

Early child hood educators will often list coloring within the lines as an important step toward being able to write.  My perception is that the issue is not whether the child wants to color within the lines, but whether they have the ability to do so.  A child who physically can not color inside the lines will have trouble forming letters well. 

My child who finds coloring uninteresting really enjoys drawing shapes and filling them in with lines like I described in my post on the Montessori method of writing a couple of months ago.  He even likes to make the shapes look like certain objects.  For us, this has been a great way to cover the skill without forcing an activity that he hates.

What do you see as the benefits of coloring?  What other activities can you suggest that perform a similar function?

Montessori Writing Method:Pencil Practice

One of the reasons I am excited about using Montessorian techniques for writing with my kids is that  the stress of using a pencil correctly is detached from the joy of words.  Of course, it could work in reverse if using the pencil is a joy, and the words are stressful.  The Montessori method calls for a set of shape stencils, colored pencils, and plain paper.

Homemade tools

You can buy Montessori shape stencils, but I chose to make my own, largely because shipping was going to be hassle, but also because larger pieces are a easier to manipulate.

You may recognize the shapes from this Melissa and Doug puzzle.  It's a must have in my opinion, and if you look around you can probably find it for $8.  We have definitely gotten our money's worth out of this one!

To make the matching stencils, I simply traced the shape onto corrugated cardboard and punched it out with a tooth pick.

Using the shape stencils

The prescribed procedure is to direct the children to use the stencils to draw shapes, then to fill in the shapes with simple lines, drawn form one side to the other.  For some reason, my son finds this much more interesting than coloring.   He also likes to draw the shapes next to each other, so that they form a picture of some kind.  My daughter is more interested in the process of drawing itself.

This project was conglomeration of several things. We used the shape stencils toward the desired goal of making a crown.

So far this has been a great low stress way to work on mastering the use of a pencil.  Both of my children have really enjoyed using the shape stencils and the puzzle pieces to make their own creations, and  I can tell that they perceive it as a step toward competency and freedom, not an enforced task.

Related posts: Montessori Writing Method: Magnetic Letters
Montessori Writing Method: Homemade Tracing Cards
 Linked to:

Lower Stress Painting

Painting is a fantastic activity.  It allows for creativity as the child makes her own design. It fosters scientific learning as the child learns how textures and colors mix.  It even contributes to a correct pencil grip, especially if you are diligent enough to attach the canvas to the wall.

Painting is also really stressful for moms like me.  Please notice I used the present tense verb.   I would not choose to paint in my free time.  I would not choose messy little fingers while renting a house painted with flat paint.  But, my daughter chooses painting weekly, and I want to free her to go beyond my struggles.  Here are a few strategies I employ to survive while she thrives.

1.  Put an adult size t-shirt on the child, and use a clothespin to shrink the neck hole so that none of her clothing shows.

2.  Cover the table with newspapers.

3.  Use washable paint from squeeze bottles.  Water colors are fun, but my kids destroy them.  My sister, who would know, says that they are a difficult medium to master.  We'll save them for later.

4.  Use divided trays to hold the paint while painting.  Mine came from Hobby Lobby, but you could also just use an old egg carton.  By putting the paint in divided trays, it more or less stays distinct, unless of course my artist wants to have the mixed look. Because I dole out the paint from squeezable bottles, I can always give more yellow if the old yellow has been used to make green.

5.  Use lots of paint brushes, more than one per color.  That way we do not have to wash any brushes until we are totally finished.

6.  Sit down and paint with her.   Putting my energy into creating beside her helps me relax.  It keeps me at arms length in case of a spill or need for more paint.  She seems to enjoy it, and I would like to think it encourages her in a healthy activity.

7.   Before painting, fill an old bottle with clean water to use for cleaning brushes. Here is how we make cleaning up into a quick science add-on.

When everything is dry, the master pieces can go on the refrigerator, and the materials go back in the gallon bag, ready for another day.

This is an area where I would like to continue to grow.  Do you have a hint to add?

Learning with Playdough

Play dough is an amazing substance.  My kids will play with play dough for hours.  

When we lived in Kuwait, making play dough was by far easier than trying to find it.  A good friend asked me to "try out" a recipe for a church group, and I am grateful for the nudge in the right direction.

Homemade play dough recipe

This recipe comes from CEF:  1 part corn starch, 2 parts baking soda, 1.5 parts water.  (i.e. 1 cup cornstarch, 2 cups baking soda, 1.5 cups water)

1.Mix everything in a sauce pan.

2. Cook and stir on medium low heat, until all at once it comes together and forms into a ball.

3. Cool.

4. Knead in a little extra cornstarch as you go.

I have to admit I was scared to try it, but it turned out brilliantly!  Of course, you can always buy the commercial version.

What do we do in those happy hours?

 Make stuff. 

I've noticed that my kids are interested in making stuff longer if I engage in a little parallel play making stuff too.  This took a little effort at first.  After a while, it became a relaxing opportunity to try something new.  The picture above is my attempt to mimic pottery done by the Cherokee.  Not the work of a master, but it was fun.

Use tools.

When I see that just making stuff is getting a little boring, I like to introduce stuff: the random piece of plastic my son is using above, butter knife, rolling pin, tooth picks, slotted spoon. Of course, sometimes my son starts pulling out tools as soon as we pull out the play dough.

Practice math skills.

My kids love asking me to make tiny balls, which could also be called spheres.  Sometimes we make cubes and build structures.  Sometimes I ask for a particular number of pieces of play dough.  My daughter can count to six pretty easily right now, so I ask for four first.  Then I ask for seven, then five and so on.

                                     

Write.

When we were learning the alphabet I made letters and asked for their names.  Then I asked for the sounds that they make.  Now I make simple words and coach my kids to sound them out.  You could do the same with numerals.

Of course, all this time we're strengthening the muscles needed for fine motor skills.  

Using just one activity I cover all my objectives for the day.  Even better, I connect with my children in a way we all enjoy.

Finger Puppets for David McPhail's "The day the Dog Said Cock-a-doodle-doo "

This month my toddler and I are participating in the book club at Toddler Approved!.  The featured author this month is David McPhail.  

Finish reading at Thriving STEM.

Project Paper Clip

Last year I was privileged to cross paths with a truly brilliant "reception" teacher.  Reception is kind of like preschool in the British system.  I casually mentioned that my son was struggling to grasp the pencil correctly.  Her attention focused, and she started asking questions.  I told her that he said it hurt.  She told me that his hand muscles were too weak, then rattled off a list of fine motor skill activities that would help him strengthen his hands.  We weren't able to afford the elite school where she teaches, but that bit of insight was priceless.  Ever since, I've been on the look out for projects that interest my son, and cause him to use  his pincer grasp.   His writing grasp has shown huge improvement, and he'll usually hold the pencil correctly for a while before regressing to clasping it with his whole fist.

 A few weeks ago, we read a book that featured Bert making paper clip chains.  That caught my little nerd-in-training's interest.  I grabbed a box of paper clips at the grocery store.  This afternoon I pulled it out, and sure enough, it was a hit with both my four-year-old son and my two-year old daughter. During the course of about ninety minutes we progressed from randomly hooking paper clips together to making a intentional chains and patterns, to "fishing".   All things lead to fishing these days. . .

Ode to Duplos

With my son's fourth birthday came our household's first set of real Legos.  (Thanks, Grandma!) He plays with them almost every day, as does my daughter.  I'm sure we have many happy hours of building ahead of us.  Stashing the Duplos in the closet made me  nostalgic though.  So, before they disappear into the box marked "toddler toys", let me write a little tribute to the good they've done for us.

Read more at Thriving STEM.

Card board people

This was a fun project because it gave me a glimpse of my children see when they look in the mirror. It's also a great way to sharpen the preschool science skill of observation as they get an early start on some human biology!

How to safely contract leprosy

This morning the 5th grade girls in my class had a great time and so did I. We were learning that God cares about us personally from Matthew 8:1-3. I asked for a brave volunteer… and got lots of eager, waving hands. The rest of the class used stickers to give her leperous spots. Then we talked about how it couldn't be cured and our volunteer said the stickers were a little uncomfortable. So then we dabbed on a variety of lotions, but sadly she still wasn't cured. So she was sent to exile in the back of the room in an out of the way corner. Through the avalanche of giggles we read the verses about how Jesus responded to the leper and invited our leper to rejoin the group and remove her spots.

How to get Goliath to visit your class…

This week our church Bible story material gave me the story of David and Goliath from 1 Samuel 17 to teach to our eager group of 2 year olds. It provided a card-board cut out of David and one of his sheep, but Goliath apparently went missing last year.

Before class, I had some of my favorite 3 and 5 year old helpers help me measure out 8 feet on the cement block wall in our class. Then I used masking tape to make a life-size figure of Goliath on the wall. Next time I'll have to shoot pics, but he was just a little better than a stick figure. He immediately got lots of attention from all ages. My little Davids had a great time hitting him with paper-wad rocks at the end of class. (Hope nobody threw things at their siblings when they got home.)

I got a coloring page from here (but we didn't get to it because we were having too much fun).

Bead Necklaces

This project originated with our creative Aunt Ranae.  When she came to visit us last fall, she arrived with a whole stash of art supplies stowed in her suitcases.  I had been looking for fine motor skill activities to help prepare for writing.  It has since become one of our favorite activities.

Read more at Thriving STEM.