The following is a VPM blog posted by Emily Hicks, a preschool teacher in Henrico, Virginia.
Art is so important for small children. Art gives littles the ability to hone skills they are already working on, like fine motor skills, in a low-stress environment. Art can also change the way a child thinks. There are so many boundaries and expectations put on kids, even the smallest ones, and art gives them the opportunity to break free from those limitations. Art builds confidence, feeds the imagination and, perhaps most importantly, allows children the freedom to make mistakes without negative consequences.
Color Mixing Bags
Fill a ziplock bag with two different colors of paint. Close the back and tape it shut to avoid a mess. Have your child squeeze the bag to mix up the colors and see what new color they make.
Art with Found Objects
There is SO MUCH you can do with natural objects you find in your backyard. You can use sticks as paintbrushes, or roll pinecones in paint and roll them on paper. You can put a thin layer of paint on leaves and do leaf printing. You can paint the objects themselves, or glue objects together to make natural sculptures. Your backyard really has a plethora of possibilities.
Color Sorting
There are a lot of ways you can do color sorting at home. I imagine nearly everyone has colorful kid cups. Collect small toys, cars, pompoms, anything little and colorful you have around the house and let your child sort them into the cups of the same color. Alternatively, you can use a muffin tin. Tape pieces of paper of different colors to the inside of each muffin tip cup and have your child sort objects into the tin.
Painting with Household Objects
You can paint with ANYTHING, and toddlers will love it. Some of my favorites are:
Utensils:
- Potato masher
- Apples
- Cookie cutters
- Toy cars
- Basting brush
- Lids from anything
- String
- Dry or cooked pasta
- Legos
- Sponges
- Loofahs
- Toothbrushes
- Toothpicks
- Q-tips
- Feathers
- Marshmallows
You get the idea. You can seriously use anything to paint. You can also put a piece of paper in a box, dip marbles or small balls in paint, put them in the box and roll them around your paper.
Make your Own Simple Puzzles
If your little one is tired of the puzzles you have at home, make your own! You can use old holiday cards, coloring book pages, pictures, or even print your own images from your computer. Start simply by cutting the image into fourths and have your child put it back together. If that's too easy you could try cutting into more pieces or cutting at different angles.
Michelangelo Coloring
Let your child color like Michelangelo did while painting the Sistine Chapel. Tape a large piece of paper - or several small ones - to the underside of a table. Then give your kiddo crayons or markers and let them lay on their backs and color away!
Color Hunt
Assign your child a color, or each child a different color, and have them see how many things of that color they can find around the house. This is a good opportunity to practice colors and counting!
Scissor practice
Have your littles practice scissor use by cutting playdough or cooked spaghetti.