Squeeze Art

This was another fun art exploration activity.  We cut out Christmas trees and folded them in half.  Then we put small drops of various colors of paint onto one side of the tree.  Then the fun began!  The kids had a great time just squeezing the tree in order to spread the paint around.

 Add some glitter, and...

 Aren't they so fun?!!  I felt bad sending home something covered in glitter (since we all know it just ends up all over the house), so I ended up laminating them before sending them home- which really brought out the colors.  So cute!!

Rag Painting

This was the first step in creating our Christmas Art Project.  We needed to paint the canvas blue and it just seemed like a fun excuse to explore painting with different mediums...like old rags.  Who needs paint brushes?  This was WAY more fun, and gave it a very cool look.  

Christmas Countdown Chain

This was a wonderful activity that not only included object counting (we needed 21 links) and fine motor development (making each paper into a circle)...but it created some serious Christmas Excitement!!  :)

Handprint Roosters

So cute!!  No explanation needed!  :)

Footprint Corn

I am a total sucker for anything that involves a foot or hand print.  So, when I saw a footprint corn- I juts knew it HAD to be part of our Farm Unit.  Just yellow paint, and green paper!  How easy is that?!  It also led to a very fun discussion on all the wonderful corn products we use.  I'm pretty sure the only one the kids came up with on their own was POPCORN.  And who could blame them...popcorn is definitely among the best corn products EVER!!

A Hatching Chick

We started our Farm Unit!  Yay!  The kids ALWAYS love any unit that has to do with Farm Animals...and ends in a field trip.  This is our little chick hatching out of an egg.  We glued down the chicks first and then covered them with the eggs.  I had cut out the center of the egg, making it easier for the kids to rip the paper (giving it that adorable cracked egg look).  Then we used cut pieces of brown paper to make little nests on the bottom.  I think the part the kids loved most, was making little chirping sounds...THE WHOLE TIME!  It was just too cute!!

Candy Pumpkin Necklaces

 Since my preschool kids LOVE making beaded necklaces, I thought that it would be fun to switch things up and make a necklace using CANDY PUMPKINS!  Which is MUCH easier said than done.  I went through many a broken pumpkin before my wonderful husband suggested drilling the holes.  Yep!  Using an electric drill.  We super sanitized the drill bit and crossed our fingers.  Sure enough, it worked like a charm.  We had finally made holes big enough to push the plastic string through.  And the best part was how excited my ten year old son was to get to do the drilling. :)

 It took some concentration, but the kids quickly got the hang of it.  And, of course, there were a few misshapen holes (which were quickly remedied with a large sewing needle).  We added some pre-tied ribbons, just to make it cuter!

And...look how CUTE!!  Such a perfect way to compliment their collections of beaded necklaces!  :)

Candy Corn Feet Prints

To kick off the very fun Halloween season, we did CANDY CORN FEET PRINTS.  The kids always enjoy how it "tickles" to have their feet painted.  I also have done a ghost version of this activity, which also turned out super cute.  Just be sure to have LOTS of wipies on hand!!  :)

An Exploration In Colors...and Cooking

I thought that it would be fun to combine color mixing with the cooking of something delicious.  So I made up a batch of cupcakes, and had each child assigned to one cup of batter.  Then, we added food coloring.  Each of the kids got to decide which combination of RED, YELLOW, and/or BLUE that they wanted to use in their cupcake.  They had so much fun mixing the batter to find out what color it would turn.  And, of course, they had even MORE fun EATING the colorful batter!  Definitely a big hit!

COLORS: Marble Painting

This was such a fun project that we did in order to explore how colors change when mixed together.  We started with yellow, red & blue paint and then let the marbles do the rest!  Who knew marbles could be so fun!!  :)

SEASONS: An Arizona Snowman

Today we talked about WINTER.  And, unfortunately, winter in Arizona isn't quite the same as other places.  It was hilarious to find out that most of the kids have never actually seen REAL SNOW!  So, we made an ARIZONA SNOWMAN...nothing but melted snow (or in this case, dried glue).  

 And embracing the abstract (because really, a melted snowman is just one big mess!)...

I can't wait to see how they look when the glue dries and turns from white to clear!  Such a fun art project!!