Thoughts on preschooling and a free preschool planning printable
Introducing a story about using your imagination to create limitless adventures ~ featured in the MaiStoryBook Library Collection: “Grumpy Monkey” by Suzanne Lang, Illustrated by Max Lang *~Click h…
35+ Pre-K and Preschool monthly themes to make learning fun. Engaging themes with hands-on activities your preschool or pre-k kids will love!
Learn about this micronation in Europe with this fun Malta unit study. Make the Maltese sesame bread, and put together notebooking pages in this unit.
Our new Spanish Months of the Year Worksheets will help your students work on practicing handwriting, reading, recognizing and ordering the months of the year, spelling, and so much more!
Preschool Monthly Themes - There are many ways to plan month by month depending on your program. Here are just a few ideas.
Enjoy 14 tot trays for a Montessori inspired transportation unit.
Explore the kente cloth meaning with this mixed media kente cloth art project and free printable resource. Leanr what a kente cloth is and it's importance!
My three DragonWing Arts students just finished 8 weeks of 'global art' projects. In our last class, while paint and glue were drying, I introduced a surprise project for them with only 40 minutes left in our class time, before cleanup! I wasn't sure if it would be a disaster or a success, and I was pleasantly surprised. The project: mini-yarn paintings, Huichol-style. (I'll share about the other projects in a few days.) This past summer, at the International Folk Art Festival, I saw the incredible Huichol yarn paintings of Cilau Valadez and his father Mariano Valadez. I was there participating in the Crizmac travel program and they came to visit our group, gave a demo and Cilau spoke eloquently about being a bridge between cultures. I previously wrote about this experience in a blog post you can ready about by clicking here. Here are a couple of pictures of their work, and also a photo of Cilau and his father demonstrating their process. Click here for a link to some info about the Huichol people and their art. Cilau told us that he teaches some workshops in his travels, and I asked for advice on how to imitate Huichol yarn painting with kids. I had tried the glue/yarn thing, and the yarn stuck to my fingers and it was a disastrous mess. But he had a terrific suggestion: peel and stick vinyl floor tiles! I finally tried it out, when I decided I wanted to squeeze in one last project while paint dried. And it is certainly easier than glue. Knowing we wouldn't have a lot of time, I decided we would work small. I bought the vinyl tiles individually at Lowe's for maybe $1.19 each; I believe they are 12" square. They have one side that is sticky, and is covered with a waxy paper coating that you peel off when you are ready to use the tile. I experimented with yarn, but realized I would have to buy yarn in a large variety of colors, and with just three students it didn't seem practical. So I tried crochet cotton, the kind that kids use to make friendship bracelets. I got a whole selection packaged together at JoAnne's, and with a 50% off coupon, it was a good bargain. And the bonus was, I actually found the thin cotton to be easier to use than the yarn. But I wasn't sure how the kids would feel about it. The photos at the top of this post are of my sample, which I made start-to-finish in 30 minutes. I bought tiny frames at the dollar store. I think the inside dimension is probably 1-1/2"x3". They are intended to be used for place-cards for weddings and other events. I opened them up and cut the vinyl tiles into pieces the size of the backboard. Then, I measured the size of the frame opening, and used an exacto knife to lightly cut that inside dimension on the paper that covers the sticky side of the tile. When the kids were ready to get to work, we simply peeled the paper off of the inner rectangle. Below you can see a couple of the kids working on their pieces. This should make the process easier to understand! It's really quite easy. Cut pieces of the cotton, lay them into place, snip the ends, and tap it down. Tight curves or sharp angles are a little more difficult, so I suggested that the kids cut them at the corner of the angle to make the cotton lay in place more easily. The piece pictured below, is by a 4th grade girl. She was working meticulously, and rushed to fill in the last spot in the last minute we had left. I didn't think she'd get it done. I jammed it into the frame just in the nick of time, because their parents were arriving for their mini-'art show' for the end of the 8 week session. I'm posting two photos because, unfortunately, neither photo is very good. I wish I had photographed the work before it was put into the frames. When her mom asked her what her favorite project was, this was the one she chose! Her mom says she likes to do drawings like this, and she was excited when I said how easy this would be to do at home. I wouldn't be surprised if they buy a tile and some crochet cotton so she can do a bigger piece on her own. This abstract piece is by a 2nd grade boy, who bursts with enthusiasm about everything we do. He was pretty excited about his work! The piece below it is by his 4th grade brother, who tends to rush. I didn't tell them to do landscapes, but I was working on one for a demo. He insists his is also abstract, but it looks like a sunset to me... If the pieces look rushed, well... they were. They really only had 40 minutes of work time after I'd talked about the Huichol artists and shown them images. So I'm pretty proud of how they dug in and went right to work, and this is definitely something I'd try again. As a matter of fact, I still have another unused tile, so maybe I'll make a bigger piece myself. I'm picturing paisleys...
Typical 1 year old milestones are present as your toddler approaches one. There are fine & gross motor skills, language, & social skills.
Wow! These first graders did an amazing job on their farm landscapes. We looked at different paintings of landscapes by Walt Curlee, Andrew Wyeth, Claude Monet, and Vincent Van Gogh. I also talked to students about one-point perspective and how to create the illusion of depth on a flat paper. We first drew our 3-D barns very small on our horizon line on the paper and then created perspective lines reaching from the edge of our paper to the barn. After, we had fun talking about different types of fruits and vegetables that grow on farms and then painted them on our paper. Here are a few images we used for inspiration Farm Landscape by Walt Curlee Christina's World by Andrew Wyeth And the student artwork below!
These Composer Studies have been a huge hit with you all!! I am so glad you’re enjoying them! If you ever think of anyone you would like to see, please feel free to Contact Us and let us know. Many of you have probably never heard of Richard Wagner, but you have likely heard his music. Whether in …
easy toddler counting activities ideas (play based!)
What's better than art and science?! This super stretchy magnetic slime is mixed with iron fillings which allows the slime to magnetize. Keep reading to learn how to make magnetic slime.
Drumming is an art form that requires dedication, skill, and passion. For professional drummers, the path to excellence is a never-ending journey that involves constant learning and refinement. In …
Inside you'll find an easy step-by-step Abstract Art Lesson Tutorial Video with Alma Woodsey Thomas. Stop by and grab yours for free.
Whether as a non-candy Halloween treat, an animal habitat lesson in the classroom, or just for fun, kids will love this Animal Habitat Diorama Craft!
This is a lesson about the artist, Peter Max. I like this lesson for 3rd graders up to 6th graders. This is harder for the littler kids to really get into, but older kids LOVE doing this one. Here is my lesson plan: First, talk to the kids about: Who is Peter Max? He was an artist whose work got popular in the 1960‘s. Ask them, "what comes to mind when you think about the 60's?" You may get "peace signs!", "Hippies!", etc. Then you can talk about his imagery that he used that spoke to this time period. Talk about how Peter Max did things like album covers, posters for concerts and events, and other illustrations. Ask the kids, "What is the difference between an illustrator and other kinds of artists?" Explain: Illustrators create art from other people’s ideas, fine artists create art from their own. Illustrators get paid by other people to make their ideas come alive, visually. Children’s books, magazines, product packaging, etc., all use illustrators to tell a story. Show examples of Peter Max's work in a computer slideshow. Ask kids to hold their comments until the end of the presentation, but to be thinking about what do all of these pictures have in common? What do you notice that keeps showing up in a lot of these pictures? How do we know it’s the same artist? At the end, take comments from kids and talk about Peter Max's style and how it is unique. Hopefully the kids notice these things: He made lots of heavy outlines in black. Stars. sun rays. doves. people. neon. BRIGHT and FLAT colors. Mention: He was interested in astronomy (study of the cosmos) and so thats why he had lots of stars and planets in his art. Explain the procedure for the project: First, do pencil drawings. They must include a sun and/or stars in a composition that is mostly sky. Then, outline everything in black sharpie. Color everything in with markers and highlighters. These are what some of my kids have come up with. They turned out amazing, I think!!! I LOVE doing this project. The kids get SO into this. I think Peter Max's style lends itself perfectly to kids projects. I hope some of you out there can use this lesson plan and enjoy! Stars and sun rays, Corie
12 Months of Monthly Montessori Themed Activities, Montessori Ideas, Set-ups, Trays, Free Printables, Preschool Themed Learning Activities and so much more.
