Creative Art and Science Ideas for young children.

[MomInCalifornia]

I am leading a class for parents on creative art and science activities for young children, and I just finished my hand outs. Much of it is what I do with my 1 and 3 year old children at home every day and the rest is what I used to do in my classroom when I was teaching preschool.

If anyone would like to see it, I would be happy to post it. I thought it might be something interesting for those of us who are working at home with pre school age children.

It is long though, so I wil only post it if someone might benefit from it

[oceanbaby]

Me!

[MomInCalifornia]

I am copying this from my hand out which is in color and set up for a word document, so hopfully it will work some what well here. AT the class I will have examples of all this stuff and hands on oppertunities for the kids and parents to be involved, so it will probably make more sence then...but hopefully this will spark some fresh ideas anyway!

Ideas for ‘Out of the box’ painting!

• Tape a childrens roller brush to a flashlight and paint in a dark room (try the bathroom floor!)

• Use a bath puff or bath gloves to add new texture to your finger painting, or use cars to paint and roll all over the paper.

• Freeze paint in ice cube trays with a popsicle stick for a handle. When frozen you can paint on paper and watch as your paint turns from a solid to a liquid.

• Put you paper in a tray and toss in some golf balls or marbles. Squirt in some paint and roll the balls all over. What happens when you add pointy balls, go faster, slower, or add some glitter?

• Fill old nylons or socks with beans and tie off at the top. Dip in paint and stand over your paper. Drop the sock and check out the design it makes! Watch as the splatter gets bigger when you drop from higher and smaller when you drop closer to the ground.

• Put on your rain cloths and head outside next time it sprinkles. Put a large piece of paper on the ground and paint while it rains. The water drops become like a second paint brush.

• Have an old salad spinner? Cut paper to fit inside and add some paint. Spin fast, spin slow, sing the ABC’s while you spin, and then check out the design when you are done!

• Warm a hot plate or cooking griddle till it is warm enough to melt crayons but not hot enough to burn. Put tinfoil on top and draw with crayons.

• Go outside a lay out a long piece of paper. Take turns painting each other’s feet and walk across the paper. Talk about whose feet are biggest and whose are smallest. End with washing each others feet in a bucket of warm soapy water.

[MomInCalifornia]

Science ideas for kids!

• Ooblick! Mix equal parts of cornstarch and water. Is it a liquid? Is it a solid? Hold it in your hands and watch it melt through your fingers! Be sure to throw this away in the trash can and NOT down your garbage disposal!

• Shaving cream makes for a great texture experience! For very young children and babies, fill a large freezer bag with some shaving cream and zip lock and tape it shut. Let baby pound on it and feel it through the bag. You can even add a drop or two of coloring and watch them mix it. For older children who are past the “in the mouth” stage, fill a few bowls with white shaving cream and give them smaller bowls of liquid water color and an eye dropper. They can drop the colors in the shaving cream and stir with a spoon. Try mixing red and blue, or blue and yellow, or red and yellow! You can do this in the bath tub for easy clean up!

• Make a volcano and watch it erupt! Put some baking soda in a cup. In another cup put some vinegar, dish soap, and even coloring if you want “lava”. Pour the vinegar mixture over the baking soda and watch as it erupts…you just made carbon dioxide! For older kids make a volcano out of newspaper or paper mache. Surround it with sand, some dinosaurs, and erupt it over and over again!

• Boil spaghetti noodles as though you were making dinner, but add some food coloring to the water. After it cools, let them explore the spaghetti with their hands, practice cutting it with child safe scissors, paint with it etc.

• Using small and medium size bowls, freeze colored water with small objects or toys inside. After frozen, put the ice blocks in a larger tub with some warm water. The child can chip away at the ice with a spoon or child’s hammer and retrieve the toy after the ice has melted. You could also put the ice blocks in the bath tub for a younger child.

• Make play do or flubber with your child and have fun pounding, rolling, cutting, and building with it. You can make your play do smell good by adding vanilla, peppermint, or essential oils. Try changing the texture by adding dry beans, glitter, sand, etc.

[MomInCalifornia]

Things to remember:

~ Art is one of the few activities that stimulates both sides of the brain at the same time.

~ The more time a child spends holding crayons and markers, pounding play dough, finger painting, and experiencing new textures, the better prepared he or she will be for kindergarten.

~ Outside time is critical for young children…they must spin, swing, twirl, jump and run! These activities develop the brain stem, which is important for later learning. Art and science can be wonderful inside and outside experiences. If you have a swing in your yard, have your child swing on their tummy while using a paint brush to paint a paper below them. Go on nature walks, collect leaves and twigs, and use them to make a collage. Sort rocks by size and shape, or go puddle jumping when it rains.

~ Remember the golden rule of art with young children…It is the process that is important, NOT the final product! Children’s art does not need to look like anything, and we don’t have to ask them what it is! It is the experience that is important. Don’t draw or paint on a child’s work, and if they insist you help them, use your non dominant hand. Never have a model or an example of what their work should look like!

~ Allow plenty of space and plenty of time. Kids need lots of room to create, so the bigger the paper the better.

~ Involve kids in the clean up in what ever way is age appropriate! They can use a sponge to clean off the easel, or stand on a chair at the sink and wash out their paint cups and brushes. If you paint in the bath tub they can use a wash cloth to wipe down the walls and shower door. Often times clean up is as much fun as the art itself.

~ Above all, follow your child’s lead, have fun, and offer plenty of opportunities to paint, play and get messy ~

[MomInCalifornia]

Recipes and Resources:

Flubber: Mixture 1: ¾ cups warm water
1 cup Elmer’s glue
Food coloring or liquid water color
Mixture 2: 2 tsp Borax
½ cup warm water
Mix mixture number 1 in one bowl, and mixture number 2 in another bowl. Make sure both are mixed well. Pour mixture number 1 into mixture number 2. Work it together with your hand for 2 or 3 minutes and you will have flubber! Store in an air tight container or zip lock bag.

Play dough: Mix 6 cups flour, 3 cups salt, 6 cups water (add food coloring to the water), 10 tablespoons oil, and 4 tablespoons cream of tarter in a bowl. Pour the dough mixture into a pan on the stove. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until a ball forms. Take out of the pan and knead. When cool, store in a Ziploc bag. • Spices can be added to the dry ingredients before you put the mixture on the stove.

Ooblick: Equal parts of cornstarch and water

Clean Mud: Mix 3 bars of grated IVORY soap, 1 roll of toilet paper, and some warm water. Mix it all up till it feels like mud! Store in an airtight container add more warm water as needed.

Homemade Bubble Solution: 6 cups water to 2 cups dish soap. You can blow bubbles with strawberry baskets, PVC pipes, paper towel tubes, your hands, hoola hoops, bubble wands etc!




Discount School Supply: http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/

Lakeshore Learning: www.lakeshorelearning.com/
Insect Lore: http://www.insectlore.com/

[MomInCalifornia]

That's it! I am a horrible speller, so if you see any typos PLEASE tell me...I have a few days before I have to have stuff printed up

[RedWine]

These are fantastic!!! Thank you so much!

[carrots]

Always lookiing for new ideas for stuff to do with my kids!!! thanks

[MomInCalifornia]

I'm glad they helped. I hope you enjoy them!

[taradt]

I am late reading this but what great ideas I plan on doing some of these with DD this weekend

thanks

tara