Paper Castle printable art project for preschool, kindergarden and up

Be sure to check out my other preschool and kinder projects as well as my kids clay ebook!

I printed out these pages on yellow and red card stock and cut out the pieces ahead of time.  I had the students glue the pieces on paper and then add their own details and adventures.  I was blown away when the students started building them in 3D and adding moving parts!  I was so proud.  I found my self singing "it's only a paper moon, sailing over a cardboard sea, but it wouldn't be make believe if you believe in me!"

Fimo Creche/Nativity Scene

One of my students made this little nativity scene.  It's simple, but I think it's beautiful!  Even little ones can do this project.  For another stunning Christmas project take a look at these stained glass manger scenes.

How to Paint Chicks

Here's a fun painting project for your little one.  You'll need almost any brand of acrylic paint and a pad of watercolor paper.  You can buy a decent set of brushes for under $5, but if you get cheap, flimsy brushes, you child will be forever frustrated.  Most catch-all kids art kits come with terrible brushes.

Of course the last thing you want to do is teach kids there's a right way to paint something.  Hopefully this will just give them confidence that they CAN paint.  Chose a favorite animal, and break it down into very simple shapes.  Yesterday we did this with pandas and they turned out great.  It's important to do two layers.  For example, one solid color for a lizard shape, and then spots or stripes over the solid color.  Acrylic paints dry so fast, that you can do this all in one sitting.

Watercolor paper and acrylic paint is my new favorite combo.  Acrylic paint can work like watercolor if you water it down.  If you buy a little thicker brand of acrylic paint, it's fun to paint on colored paper.  Zebras, panda bears, penguins, swans... work better on colored card stock because the white parts of these animals would disappear on a white background.

Preschool Collage Project

I've been posting lots of Fimo projects recently. I'm thinking of making a separate blog for clay projects. I'm finally catching up on some of the other projects.

For this project I read Fish Wish by Bob Barner. We studied the illustrations and talked about how they were created with colorful papers and beads. Then I gave the students a half a piece of poster board, bright paper, tiny shells, and beads. I told them to make an underwater scene. I love using collage with preschool! The process is so full of imagination. That's the important part: the process, not the product. Kids learn so much this way and have tons of fun with all the beautiful colors and shapes.

Art on Parade!

I'm so excited! I'm already implementing some great new ways to foster creativity. I brought plain white flags and "trumpets" to class today for the students to design. I made the flags by taping wooden dowels to strong white paper. I made the "trumpets" by rolling up large white construction paper. Right from the start, I let the students come up with ideas as to what the trumpets were for. They thought of hats and all sorts of costume ideas, telescopes, and funnels to name a few. I gave the students only white and red paint so they could experiment with the way the paint mixed together and they could focus on the design. It was very important that they had the freedom to explore. While we were making the flags, a student glued some of the shapes together to create a snake. If you look closely you'll see a red circle on top of the red square. Samuel told me the circle was an egg that the snake had swallowed. I was amazed at how many creative ideas they came up with when I wasn't looking for a specific outcome. At the end of class we took our flags on parade and displayed them on the fort, or the castle, or the clubhouse, whichever the students decided to call the play structure outside.

How to Make Bead Ornaments

Speaking of snowflakes, look at these sparkling snowflake ornaments. I make them with my students every year. Once year, for my Christmas workshop, I read the picture book Silver Packages by Cynthia Rylant. It's such a lovely story, I hope all of you look it up! After I read the story, we wrapped our ornaments in silver boxes just like in the story. That was two years ago and my students still remember. This year I made these with the preschoolers. You may have to order beads online. I find most craft stores have a very limited selection. I search Westrim crafts, tri beads, or paddlewheel beads. Sparkling chenille stems are great for beaded ornaments. For the snowflakes, I took three stems of equal length and twisted them together in the center so that there are six rays. The students can choose any bead they want as long as the put one on each of the rays. The beads have to be equally spaced from the center. I thought I made up this craft, but I found another great version of it on Kaboose crafts. This blog isn't usually about crafts, but I just love these!
I made these up when I was just a kid. I would spend hours playing around with chenille stems (then called pipe cleaners!) and beads. I love leaving it open ended and giving the students a chance to make up their own projects. Just a package of chenille stems can keep kids busy and stretch their creativity.

How to Draw Intricate Snowflakes

I made the lines as light as possible so that they wouldn't show up as much when you design your snowflake!

I love snowflake patterns! I draw them on cards, paint them on my windows, cut them out of paper, and frost them on my cookies! Do an image search for Wilson Bentley or "Snowflake Bentley" to see some absolutely stunning photographs of real snowflakes. I give each student, even preschoolers, this basic template.

I show them how to make a basic shape, one at a time, on each of the "spokes". This is a great way to talk about patterns, symmetry, and design. This is also a great way to teach a very important concept in the creative process. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you work from simple to complex. One step at a time. If you continue adding one little detail at a time, such as a line, a triangle, an x, all the way around, you eventually have a very intricate snowflake. If the students are patient and keep with it, they won't be able to believe what they can draw. This makes a great challenge. Trying to be creative from a strictly graphic design point of view.

I used this as a warm-up for one of my oil painting class. It's fun to see how the blue and white mixes together and it's a great way to practice painting technique. I also used in on a lesson in pastels. I used pastels to make my Christmas workshop poster.

Peek-a-boo Insects and Bugs Preschool Lesson

I started this lesson with a beautiful Melissa and Doug insect puzzle. After discussing the insects we found in the puzzle, I showed the students how to draw simple insects hiding under fake fall leaves that I had stapled to the paper. This would also make a great small book or class book.

Preschool Lesson on Spirals

Yesterday was all about spirals. The students made FIMO snails and lollipops. To make the stripes on the lollipops, it's not important to separate the stripes of colors. I had the students smoosh, mix and swirl the colors all together. Then they roll the colorful ball of clay into a "snake". When I helped the students roll the ends of the clay in opposite directions, the colors make stripes like on a candy cane. From there the students roll their clay into a spiral.

It's fun to paint with water. Brown butcher paper or boxes turn color when painted with water. Absolutely no mess. After we walked around the spiral path a few times, we practiced painting spirals with water. After that, we drew snails and lollipops with gel sticks using our new knowledge of spirals!

Preschool Mushroom Lesson

This week I started preschool lessons again. I really hope I get a lot of students. For my first lesson I read Mushroom in the Rain by Mirra Ginsburg. I forgot my giant mushroom (a brightly colored blanket), but had I brought it we would have played out the story of the animals hiding under the mushroom by hiding under the blanket. Before class I cut out and colored stems and mushroom "hats" to match. Then I separated them and taped them (with painter's tape) on the walls all over the room. I asked individual students to go find and match the mushrooms. Then we stuck them to a large paper that I had taped to the wall by the story circle. Together we added grass, rocks, rain etc. This served as a mural size example of the project they each worked on. Then I gave them each the parts of a blank mushroom that I had cut from this pattern. The students colored them with gel sticks and then glued them to a piece of paper. We also made fimo mushrooms. Even little ones can do well with this as long as you portion out the amount of clay and help them one step at a time. These mushrooms are special because they glow in the dark!

Oaxacan Painted Lizard Lesson

The best part of this project is the bumpy texture you feel when you pet the lizard! This is thick acrylic paint on card stock, applied with a blunt tooth pick or small dowel. Puff paint works well, especially on mat board, but younger students have a hard time making even dots. Of course, even if the colors get crazy and inconsistent, the lizard still looks cool. To do a good job takes a long time, but encourage your child that it's worth the effort. If you use card stock, you should be able to run it through the copier to save time. If you use mat board, you or the students will have to trace a stencil first. The students can always create their own creatures, but I've found this to be a good intro project. There's plenty of work to do in the decorating. This pattern can be used with very young students. It can be covered with colors using any technique and then cut out. An adult will have to do it, this one's hard to cut! When the colorful lizard is glued to black paper, it really stands out.

Preschool Penguin Project

Check out these clay penguins to go along with this lesson!



Starting June 1st, I'll be teaching Preschool art again at Trinity. It was so much fun last year! Here is the lesson I've been working on this morning. I'll read Playful Little Penguins by Tony Mitton. I'll probably bring in some tool or white sheets for the little ones to imagine snow and ice. It will take quite the imagination in 100 degree weather! I print this sheet off on card stock and cut it out ahead of time. The students glue the pieces and add feet, eyes and a beak. It seems simple, but students have added all kinds of stories and details to their projects. Print out this page and you'll have an instant project. Snow could be made out of many different things. Here I used chalk on blue paper. As a follow up, I may encourage them to draw the penguins from scratch. Moving from step to step like that is good scaffolding.