Spring Theme!

We had fun talking about spring last week in our preschool class.  Here is what we did for our art activities.

COFFEE FILTER FLOWERS:

Supplies: coffee filters, food coloring, eye droppers, newspaper, pipe cleaners

I filled some old muffin tins with food coloring and water.  The children used eye droppers to suck up the color and then drop it onto the coffee filter. Make sure to have one eye dropper for each color so the colors don't get mixed.  The kids love using the eye droppers, so have lots of coffee filters available for them to decorate! 

Also make sure to have lot of news paper and also a paper towel under the coffee filter. The kids sometimes squeeze out too much color and if you do not have enough layers to soak it up, it may stain your table.  So the more paper the better!  I had to put new papers for each coffee filter made.

Below is what one of the filters will look like when completed. It is pastel in color, if you want brighter colors, just use more food coloring and less water.

When the filter is dry (it doesn't take long) just fold it up together, and twist the bottom.  I cut pipe cleaners in half to use for the stems.  Just twist the top of the pipe cleaner around the bottom of the twisted coffee filter.  It turns into a great flower.  The kids each took home 3 and I am told they look great as a boquet in a vase.

BUTTERFLIES:

Another great spring activity is making butterflies.  We read the story - The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and then we made these easy and beautiful butterflies:

First take a white piece of construction paper and have the kids squirt paint all over one side.  The more paint, the better.

 

Next I folded the paper in half and let the children press, press, press down on the paper which makes the paint smear all around.

Once the kids feel like they have pressed the paint enough, open up the paper and...

 A beautiful symmetrical painting.  Once it dried I folded it back up and cut around the outside in the shape of a butterfly.  The kids were so excited to fly their butterflies around I forgot to take a picture of the finished product!  Oh well, you get the idea.