Art Vs. Craft This guide provides suggestions for both ART and CRAFT experiences. Art experiences are a program requirement and must be offered daily. Crafts are optional and can be offered at your discretion. Whenever you offer a craft, please be sure that (1) the easel is also open and open-ended and (2) the art cart/art center includes a variety of extra materials to encourage creativity. Art options are focused on the skill of creative expression - more open ended, less directed, and offer a variety of tools and materials for children to choose from and create freely. To discover more about process art, click here. Craft options are a little more structured and incorporate the goal of exercising fine motor skills. These are also more project oriented and teacher guided. Unless otherwise noted, all activities are OK and can be adapted for toddlers through SA, with the understanding that adults must provide appropriate supervision and age-appropriate materials. Implementation: The success of Art and Crafts relies heavily on teacher implementation. Your environment and interactions will influence how children interact with art materials. Small groups Art should be facilitated in a group of no more than 4 children! Small groups= higher quality interactions. Center Vs. Activity Setting up an art center where students can participate as they please will provide students with a higher quality experience. Repetition is necessary to gain mastery of a task. Therefore, art and craft experiences are intended to be repeated. Smocks will help contain the mess and are required for the majority of the options. Do NOT remove children s clothing for art/craft Safety: In all classrooms, teachers are responsible for (1) providing active supervision, (2) knowing children s abilities well, and (3) using good judgement about which materials each child can safely use. Shaving cream is no longer permitted in any of our centers! Glitter is not permitted in infant rooms and is not recommended for toddlers due to concerns about children s eyes. To substitute, dye sugar with food coloring for the same effect. Chokables (any item small enough to fit in the choke tube, including wiggle eyes) are not permitted in infant and toddler rooms and should be monitored in all classrooms. Tissue paper can be used in full sheets and large pieces, but small pieces should be discarded. Be responsive and flexible based on your children s interest. Be aware of allergies! Double check allergy cards when preparing materials for arts & Process Vs. Product- How can crafts (flour, cinnamon, etc.) teachers focus on creativity and value process over product? Click here for more information. Please feel free to send your thoughts, concerns, and suggestions to our education team. 1
St Patrick s Day ART Shamrock Garland Provide each child a shamrock cut out (or invite older children to trace/draw and cut out their own) and make a hole punch at the top. Invite children to explore color mixing given paint options of your choice (water color, tempera paint, finger paint, puffy paint, etc.) Combine everyone s shamrocks into a class strand of garland to decorate! CRAFT - Shamrock Necklaces (Ages 3+) Prepare lace-able shamrock cut outs ahead of time or invite friend to do this by providing stencils, scissors, and hole punches. Provide a variety of additional objects in the art cart such as the cool tube beads, yarn, and anything else that will lure their interest. Please provide a fun assortment! CRAFT - Shamrock Wands Toddler teachers will need to cut out hearts ahead of time for children to paint. Older friends can practice cutting an outline themselves and even draw it first if they d like to try! Once pieces are painted and dry, help students use the parts to construct a wand by gluing or hot gluing onto a craft stick. Invite older friends to add glitter and yarn! CRAFT - Rainbow Construction Invite children to draw arcs with crayons to make their own rainbow. Then, engage them in lining up cheerios on top of their lines. Last, paint the cheerios all the colors of the rainbow! Toddler teachers: Consider providing strips of colored paper and asking children to match colored cheerios. Then, glue the cheerios to the strips of paper and arrange in the form of a rainbow! 2
ART- Magnet Painting (Ages 3+) You will need a magnet wand, paper clip, and a paper plate. Help children put a little bit of paint onto their paper plate. Show them how to move the magnet wand around underneath the paper plate to move the paper clip! ART - Cardboard Collage Provide older children with pieces of cardboard. Allow them to cut the cardboard into their desired shapes. Toddler teachers will need to cut the cardboard into pieces ahead of time. Children can paint the cardboard, and then glue into a collage once dry! ART - Watercolor Ice Art Freeze large containers of ice overnight (create a few different shapes if possible bowl, rectangle container, cylinder) Set out liquid watercolors (or diluted paint or water tinted with food coloring,) small containers of salt, and eye droppers or pipettes. Using hands, pour and spread salt all over the ice blocks. *Toddler teachers, please handle the salt. This can be dangerous if toddlers ingest it or get it in their eyes. Then, use eye droppers to drip colors and watch the magic! ART - Sticky Rice Collage Using big paper brushed with glue or contact paper (sticky side out), invite students to create a picture using colorful rice! This is a great way to use rice bin rice that s ready to be changed out. Create an assortment of colors and let them explore! Encourage older friends to recreate a scene from a favorite story. Provide photos and books for inspiration. 3
CRAFT - Cardboard Tube Rocket Ship Beforehand, cut a hole in the top of the paper tubes. Toddler teachers will need to precut the rocket body; older children can practice drawing and cutting the body themselves. Glue the paper tubes onto the body of the rocket. Provide a wide variety of materials from the art cart, and invite children to decorate their rocket ship! ART Gross Motor Art Lay a large sheet of bulletin board paper on the floor. (Secure with a piece of tape to prevent slipping. Immediately remove tape at the end of the experience.) Provide children with paper-towel rolls and paint. Invite them to roll the paper-towel roll in paint and then walk it across the paper by bending over and rolling it with their hands. Extend this activity by inviting children to wrap yarn around the paper-towel tube to create fun designs! CRAFT - Finger Puppet Creature (Ages 3+) Twist one pipe cleaner into a pretzel shape to create two finger holes and two antennae. Cut a 6 length of another to twist it around the top and create two more antennae Attach a small pom pom to the top of each stem and add a googly eye to each. Add feathers to the back of each pom pom. Give your creature a name and even a fun story to describe all his/her unique talents! ART - Spaghetti Brushes Using yarn, tie the spaghetti together into bunches. Cook the bottoms as normal, adding oil to the water to prevent the spaghetti from sticking together. Provide children with paint and large pieces of paper, and invite them to paint and explore! 4
ART - Silly Swirls and Squiggles! Provide children with big paper, and an assortment of options to create: Toddlers crayons, glue, felt shapes, stamps, paint Ages 3+ can add yarn, cool tube beads, craft ties and pipe cleaners to make swirl & squiggle stamps. Talk about all of the fun words to describe the marks children are making on their paper. What would you call this mark? And that one? ART Funnel Painting Provide each child with a piece of poster board paper (cut into a smaller size) and a funnel! Invite them to choose which colors they would like to use on their painting. Show them how to hold the funnel over the paper. Pour paint into the top of the funnel and invite students to move the funnel all around their canvas! ART- Scribble and Tear Engage students in scribbling a design on white paper. Tear the drawing into several pieces Glue each piece, scribble side up, to a colorful piece of construction paper. ART Print Making You will need paint, painters tape, and plastic wrap. Tape the plastic wrap to a table top. Invite children to paint on top of the plastic wrap! Then, they can press a sheet of paper on their painting to make a print. 5
CRAFT Guitar You will need: -a box rubber bands poster board Before assembling the guitar, invite children the opportunity to decorate their box. Stretch the rubber bands around your box. CRAFT- Homemade Bells (3+) Click here for directions on how to make homemade bells! CRAFT- Maracas Have your little ones help fill upcycled water bottles with colored rice. They can help you paint the rice first! Then cut down the long size of a paper towel roll and cut it in half. Use masking or painters tape to fit the paper towel roll to the water bottle to create a handle. CRAFT- Trumpet You will need: - paper towel roll - yellow paper glue buttons(3+) Invite children the opportunity to decorate their yellow piece of paper ahead of time. Then, spread glue all over the base of the trumpet. Then, wrap the paper around the paper towel roll. Ages 3+ can add buttons to the top so that children can pretend they re playing the trumpet! 6
ART- Spin Art Provide children with a paper plate, assorted paint, brushes, and a salad spinner. Invite children to scoop up blobs of paint on a brush or spoon and plop them onto their paper plate inside of a salad spinner. Spin! What happened to the paint? What does it look like to you? Did any of the colors mix together? ART- Gear Painting Use the gear toys in your classroom as a new painting tool! Encourage children to dip the gears in paint and see what kind of mark it will leave on the paper. You can always stack a couple of gears together if your children have trouble gripping a single gear. ART- The endless possibilities of a paper plate Invite children to create anything they d like (thematic or not) starting with a paper plate. Encourage children to work with materials from the art cart and ask each child if there s anything else they would like to create with and try to meet their requests if possible. This is a great opportunity to talk about how artists don t always know what they re going to create before they start working. Sometimes they just start painting or drawing with no plan and that s a great way to start art too! ART- Contact Paper Stickers! http://artfulparent.com/2012/07/make-your-owncontact-paper-stickers-with-kids.html 7
ART Shake it up! You will need a plastic jar a cleaned, empty peanut butter jar works best! Gather rice, heavy paper, and paint. Invite children to decide which color paint they would like to drip inside the jar. Roll up a sheet of paper to place inside the jar and fill the jar with rice. Invite children to shake, shake, shake! ART Paper Plate Twisting Each experience will require two paper plates. Invite children to choose which colors they would like to use, and then help them squirt their choice on the back of a paper plate. Show students how to pick up the paper plates and squish the backs together. CRAFT Tin Foil Easter Eggs Beforehand, cut eggs out of cardboard. Have children help wrap the eggs in tinfoil! Provide children with a variety of materials to decorate the eggs. Invite them to paint the eggs with glue to stick on their materials. CRAFT Easter Bunny Choose a bunny craft based on your children's interests and skills! Cut out a bunny template and print each child s photo for the face (you could also use googly eyes, pipe cleaners, and a pompom). Use their footprints for the feet and ears, and invite the children to cover with cotton balls! Cut out a bunny shape and invite children to paint using cookie cutters. Use a cotton ball for the tail! 8
Week of the Young Child ART Music Monday Maraca Painting Provide children with maracas and paint. Show them how to dip the maraca in the paint and tap it on their paper. Play fun and exciting music to inspire creativity and movement. ART & CRAFT Tasty Tuesday Healthy Food Collage Use cooking magazines or pictures of healthy food. Ages 3+ can cut out their food and glue it to a paper plate. Toddlers will need their pictures pre-cut for them. ART Work Together Wednesday Block Painting Provide children with blocks and paint. Show children how to dip their blocks in the paint and create prints on the paper! Ages 3+ can extend this to a patterning activity. ART & CRAFT- Arsty Thursday- Sculpture (Ages 3+) Give each child a small paper plate containing a ball of playdough that is about the size of a golf ball; have the children flatten the ball out just a bit. Provide the children with a variety of feathers, pipe cleaners and beads. Show the children how to wrap the pipe cleaners around a pencil or around their fingers to make spirals. Show the children how they can thread the beads onto the pipe cleaners. Demonstrate how the feathers and pipe cleaners stay in place when they are pressed into the playdough. Step back & invite the children to create their sculptures! CRAFT - Family Friday In my house Provide children with a house starter and crayons. Invite them to create and draw the people who live in their house! When they are finished ask they about their picture. What did they draw? Who lives in their house? Then dictate their responses on the paper for them. ART/CRAFT Family & Friend Portraits Provide children with photos of their family members, or friends in their classroom! Supply them with open art materials and invite them to create a portrait of the ones they love. *Remember: Keep focus on the process. All products will look different! 9
Art & Craft Guide Unit 5: Let s Explore ART - Marbled Planets Cut paper into large circles to represent a planet. Place the paper into a shallow box, and help the children squirt paint onto the paper. Place a golf ball in the box, and invite children to roll the ball back and forth over the paper! CRAFT - Blow Paint Monsters Beforehand, mix paint with a little water to help it spread easier. Whenever using a straw, poke a small hole towards the top in advance (helps avoid ingesting the paint). Invite children to use a spoon to pour paint onto the paper, and provide them with a straw to blow the paint around! Once dry, provide children with materials to create their own monster (eyes, crayons, feathers, etc.) CRAFT - Vinegar Tissue Paper Imprints (Ages 3+) Invite children to rip/cut tissue paper into shapes, strips, or pieces. (You can even make this a center before hand) Brush construction paper or paper plates with vinegar. Press pieces of tissue paper on top. Children can have a specific animal in mind they are shaping or may just arrange tissue paper randomly. Brush more vinegar on top. Let dry. The tissue paper will fall off, leaving a color imprint on the paper! *We found that crunched up or layered tissue paper tends to have an even more vivid imprint, AND, you ll have some cool tie-dye tissue paper pieces left over to make new art projects! ART - Swipe Painting Have children squeeze drops of paint onto their paper (younger children will need help). Provide them with pieces of cardboard to swipe the paint drops around! ART Gravity Art Tape a large piece of bulletin paper to the floor. Invite your children to dip a pompom in paint, stand over the paper, and drop the pompom! Encourage discussion: Why did the pompom fall? How does the paper look? What will happen if we drop the pompom lower or higher? 10