It’s Artsy Thursday, and we are on day 4 of NAEYC’s Week of the Young Child™. You know what they say: time flies when you’re having fun.
Today we are getting our hands messy with some colorful finger paint, and look! The children are painting on a new sensory texture surface; foil!
For this activity, give each child a generous piece of foil. Have them squeeze it into a ball, and then ask them to uncrumple it. Add some paint, and let your preschoolers go to town. Once they are finished painting, have them press a piece of construction paper onto the foil. Kids should use their arm/hand strength to smooth out the foil, spreading the paint below. Simply peel off the paper and voila! Behold the artsiness!
MATERIALS USED:
We’ve been having such a good time with our farm unit. We read Mrs. Wishy-Washy’s Farm, by Joy Cowley, on Monday and Tuesday, and the children have asked to read it again every day since. I guess you could say they have a slight obsession with the Mrs. and her silly animals. In this story, the animals flee the farm in order to get out of a good scrubbing.
“No more washing!” they say.
The animals make their way into the city where adventure ensues. My kids really enjoy the part where the animals find themselves in a hardware store and make a mess with the paint. So I am hoping that they will also enjoy thumb printing their own splattered pigs.
Finger painting with shaving cream allows children to explore, experiment, and create – all while strengthening their senses. Let’s finger paint some Easter eggs!
Simply add a few drops of watercolor to the shaving cream, and blend. Give the children a large egg shape (download the free template here) or, depending on their age and ability, encourage them to cut out their own. Allow the kids to work the colors into the construction paper with their fingers.
What’s so great about this activity, is the way the shaving cream adheres to the paper. It goes on so lightly and dries almost instantaneously, yet it remains rich in color. The eggs don’t become soggy, making them prone to tearing or ripping like they normally would with regular paint or straight watercolor.
Preschoolers may then glue (a dab will do ya) their eggs onto a bigger piece of construction paper. Add some Easter grass, and voila! This colorful finger painted egg is the perfect Easter decoration for any bulletin board or refrigerator.
We're Gigi and Zoey. We teach a two-year program (preschool and pre-k), and we're passionate about Early Childhood Education and the philosophy that children learn through play. Our goal is to prepare children for kindergarten while making learning fun.
We hope that our resources inspire you, and that you will share them with your little ones.
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, by Joy Cowley, on Monday and Tuesday, and the children have asked to read it again every day since. I guess you could say they have a slight obsession with the Mrs. and her silly animals. In this story, the animals flee the farm in order to get out of a good scrubbing. 
