Preschoolers are a lot of fun and a bundle of energy. While they need plenty of outdoor play and imaginative play, another great idea is to set up some fun art activities. Not only is this a fun way to pass the time, art helps improve fine motor skills and allows children a chance to express their emotions. If you aren't sure what types of art projects to try, here are some fun suggestions.
With very young children, the experience of art is far more important than the quality of the work. Experimenting with collage art is a great way for little artists to explore different colors and textures. You can begin with a fun nature-themed collage. Take a walk at a local park and have your child fill a bag with lots of interesting leaves,pebbles and twigs and any other natural items they find. Then just allow them to paste it down any way they want, but be sure to ask them about the texture of each piece, using words such as smooth, rough, bumpy, etc.
Other types of collages include tear art projects. These are fun ways to celebrate various seasons or holidays, and they help children work on those fine motor skills. For example, a fun autumn or Halloween project would be to create a tear-art pumpkin. Take a large piece of paper and trace the shape of a pumpkin. Give the child pieces of orange paper, perhaps a few different shades, and have them tear the paper and then glue it inside the shape. You can add a stem and have them glue on triangle eyes and a triangle nose. Consider doing the same with a Valentine Heart, a Christmas tree or a star and maybe a big flower to celebrate spring.
One interesting endeavor would be to have your children create a large mural on a long sheet of paper. While this is fun, sometimes you will see that children tend to leave a good deal of the paper blank, unsure how to fill in every bit. A fun option instead would be to head online to ArtProjectsForKids.org and purchase and print one of their downloadable murals. These are better suited to older preschoolers, around 4 or 5 years of age. It's also a fun project if you have several children to keep them occupied as each person can tackle part of the mural.
There are dozens of subject choices for the murals. You might want to consider a mural copying a famous painting, such as Starry Night by Van Gogh or perhaps even the Mona Lisa. Other choices, that small children will adore including large murals of animals such as a butterfly, elephant or a dinosaur. The murals come in several pages and you simply print them out, have your children color them in and then put them back in order. You can even glue them down to a board or canvas and display the mural as a true work of art.
It's also fun to combine an educational theme with art. One option might include learning about the ocean. You can read books about the ocean, visit your local aquarium, participate in an ocean clean-up day and also create works of ocean art, such as a handprint crab painting or a paper plate turtle. Another fun theme might revolve around different types of vehicles. Head to a car museum, visit the local fire station and, again read some books about planes, trains and automobiles. Then create some crafts or drawings of boats, cars, trucks and other vehicles.
With very young children, the experience of art is far more important than the quality of the work. Experimenting with collage art is a great way for little artists to explore different colors and textures. You can begin with a fun nature-themed collage. Take a walk at a local park and have your child fill a bag with lots of interesting leaves,pebbles and twigs and any other natural items they find. Then just allow them to paste it down any way they want, but be sure to ask them about the texture of each piece, using words such as smooth, rough, bumpy, etc.
Other types of collages include tear art projects. These are fun ways to celebrate various seasons or holidays, and they help children work on those fine motor skills. For example, a fun autumn or Halloween project would be to create a tear-art pumpkin. Take a large piece of paper and trace the shape of a pumpkin. Give the child pieces of orange paper, perhaps a few different shades, and have them tear the paper and then glue it inside the shape. You can add a stem and have them glue on triangle eyes and a triangle nose. Consider doing the same with a Valentine Heart, a Christmas tree or a star and maybe a big flower to celebrate spring.
One interesting endeavor would be to have your children create a large mural on a long sheet of paper. While this is fun, sometimes you will see that children tend to leave a good deal of the paper blank, unsure how to fill in every bit. A fun option instead would be to head online to ArtProjectsForKids.org and purchase and print one of their downloadable murals. These are better suited to older preschoolers, around 4 or 5 years of age. It's also a fun project if you have several children to keep them occupied as each person can tackle part of the mural.
There are dozens of subject choices for the murals. You might want to consider a mural copying a famous painting, such as Starry Night by Van Gogh or perhaps even the Mona Lisa. Other choices, that small children will adore including large murals of animals such as a butterfly, elephant or a dinosaur. The murals come in several pages and you simply print them out, have your children color them in and then put them back in order. You can even glue them down to a board or canvas and display the mural as a true work of art.
It's also fun to combine an educational theme with art. One option might include learning about the ocean. You can read books about the ocean, visit your local aquarium, participate in an ocean clean-up day and also create works of ocean art, such as a handprint crab painting or a paper plate turtle. Another fun theme might revolve around different types of vehicles. Head to a car museum, visit the local fire station and, again read some books about planes, trains and automobiles. Then create some crafts or drawings of boats, cars, trucks and other vehicles.
About the Author:
Kate Halfey likes writing about art projects. For additional information about cool art projects or to find art projects like a Kandinsky circle painting, please go to the ArtProjectsForKids.org website now.