Easy Dalmatian Dog Art Activity

When we were talking about pets we made a very easy craft that everyone loved.  First I cut strips of heavy white paper (it can be posterboard, but doesn't have to be) and I also cut out long dog ear shapes from the same type of paper.  Each child put their finger in a black stamp pad and put finger prints all over the strip and the ears to look like dalmatian dog spots.  Then I stapled the strip to fit their head, stapled the ears on each side...

...instant dalmatian puppy dog!  

 

Dinosaurs Art Activities

The kids always enjoy when we learn about dinosaurs.  We read some books that told about different dinosaurs, and we also read books that were just cute stories with dinosaurs as the main characters.  Jane Yolen has a fun series of books about how dinosuars go to bed, eat, go to school, etc.  I also have a flannel board story I do with the children.  Each type of dinosaur is cut out in a different color of flannel.  I have a story that tells the main characteristics of each dinosaur and their name.  I pass out the flannel dinosaur pieces ahead of time and the children enjoy bringing up the piece to the board when they hear their dinosaur described.

For art I had the children use blue and green water colors to pain the sky and the grass on a piece of white paper.  Then they cut out a  "volcano" that I had outlined on a piece of brown paper.  I like to give the preschoolers as much practice with scissors as possible.  They glued the volcano piece onto the paper and then took dinosaur foam stickers and pasted them wherever they wanted on the paper.  I love their creativity with their placement!  See how they turned out :

Another art activity that we enjoyed during Dinosaur week was using bubble wrap to make a texture for dinosaur skin.  I cut out a small piece of bubble wrap.  The same piece can be used for more than one child.  And I had a cut out of a dinosaur shape ready for the children.  You can use any color combination for the paint and the dinosaur cutout. I used orange paper for dinosaur cutout and brown paint.

I taped the bubble wrap to the newspaper that was protecting the table.  This way they can paint away on the bubble wrap and it remains in place.  The children love the feel of painting on the bumpy bubbles!  I used a sponge brush for the paint to spread easily.  Let them cover the wrap entirely and take as long as they want.

Then they take the dinosaur cutout and place it face down on the painted bubble wrap.  They press all over the dinosaur to make sure the paint will stick to it.

Pull the dinosaur carefully off the bubble wrap and you will have a fun design for your dinosaur skin!  I can't believe it but I guess I forgot to take a picture of the final product. I do that alot!  The kids are so excited about how they look and we start talking about them and I put them in the sun to dry and go on talking about something else with them or having the next child come over to do theirs.  That is why I'm not very good at this blogging thing!  I'm too involved in the moment with the children and have to remind myself to document it to put on the blog!  I'll get better with that, sorry. So for now just imagine that the dinosaur would have big bumpy circle skin all over, or better yet, go try it and see how it turns out for yourself ! 

We also had a fun dinosaur coloring page that was in the dot painting book, so I copied it and the kids used the dot painters to fill in their dinosaur.

Mother's Day

SONG:

I taught the children an easy song that they memorized and all sang to their mothers when they came to pick them up the last school day before Mother's Day.  It is sung to the tune of "You are my Sunshine":

Mother's Day Song

You are my mommy

my special mommy

you are the best in

every way.

And that is why I

want to wish you

A Happy Mother's Day!

ART:

We made a booklet for the moms, which served as their card and gift.  I used two pieced of thick scrapbooking paper for the book pages. On the front I mounted a paper that they created a bouquet on.  The "flowers" were their hand prints, and they painting the stems with a small brush and green paint.  I wrote Happy Mother's Day on the front.

On the inside of the book I had each child take a survey about their mother that I found at www.

I also used the grandmother survey you can find at the same link for one of the children who has a grandmother living with them.  After they finished the survey I glued it to the hard paper and stapled the booklet together.  We wrapped them in flowered wrapping paper. 

I also had a chance to take a picture of each child holding a bouquet (of fake flowers) in front of real flowers in my yard. I had them printed at the local drugstore with a cute frame around it that said "happy mother's day" at no additional cost.  I put those pictures inside the booklet also.