Petite Picasso Preschool Art
I love art and am jealous of friends who are artistic and create such amazing things with their talent. I’m artistic with a
This week, I got to hang out with about 15 preschoolers who were ready to roll up their sleeves and explore art with me! I’ve done similar preschool art programs in the past, but it’s been a while. So this year, I offered up my services to create another program.
I create Petite Picasso Preschool Art by offering kids (and their caregivers) stations to explore for as long as they want to and to navigate the room at their own leisure. This allows children a little autonomy in choosing what they want to explore while allowing caregivers to not worry too much about getting messy – we’re taking care of clean up!
Stations
This time I chose six stations and we ended up using five of the stations after we found out the room we were planning on using had no heat!
Homemade Play Dough
The first station was homemade play dough – nothing special. I made four different colors and didn’t even put out any “tools” – I just wanted kids to use their imagination.
Puffy Paint
The second station was puffy paint – equal parts white glue and shaving cream. What makes this so much fun is that it actually dries puffy! I mixed up the ingredients using popsicle sticks and left them in the bowl. I found the kids using the popsicle sticks rather than their fingers to spread the puffy paint. This was really interesting to me – most weren’t willing to get their fingers into the paint.
Tissue Paper Mosaic
The third station was what I would call a tissue paper mosaic. You can achieve this by cutting a piece of contact paper and taping it sticky side up to a wall, window or table. Kids could then take small squares of tissue paper and stick them to the contact paper. This is a fun art project to display as well and a perfect activity for kids who don’t like messy hands.
Slime
The fourth station was slime, using glue, baking soda and contact solution (with a little food coloring thrown in). Kids absolutely LOVED this station. They loved sticking their fingers in the slime, holding it up and watching gravity at work and squishing it in their hands.
Finger Painting On Aluminum Foil
The fifth station was finger painting on aluminum foil. I found aluminum foil in pre-cut sheets from the dollar store and that was an awesome find! The kids are so fun to watch at this station as each child goes about finger painting differently. Some only use one finger, others use both hands and what I love is there is no wrong way to finger paint!
Sponge Stamps
My sixth station would have been painting with sponge stamps with paint. Because I was already offering finger painting, I felt this was similar so it got cut. But, I might be using this for the toddlers to try something different.
The Best Part
I love watching kids explore art materials in whatever way works for them in Petite Picasso Preschool Art! Whether that means going nowhere near anything that makes you messy or really getting involved to create their fingerprint masterpiece.
