Completing basic art activities helps preschoolers work on a variety of skills while having fun- fine motor skills, visual motor skills, hand strengthening and development, provides tactile sensory feedback, and encourages joint attention and task completion.
Some tips before starting:
- Focus on the process, not the outcome
- Offer few supplies- fewer supplies requires less problem solving and limits disorganization
- Prepare for a mess- a plastic shower curtain or table cloth works well to keep spills off of the floor
1. Finger painting/shaving cream/karo syrup: If the stickiness is too much, use a paint brush or popsicle stick
2. Spray bottle painting: mix watercolor or tempera based paint paint with water, hang poster paper up so the bottle is easier to spray. Good activity for hand strengthening.
3. Sponge stamping/potato or apple stamps/plastic cup stamping- half the apple or potato, stab a fork in the potato or apple for an easier way to stamp on paper.
4. Mess Free Painting: Put dots of paint in plastic zip lock bag- tape the bag shut to avoid spills, tape all sides to the table top, mix the colors with fingers. Add marshmallows to the bag for texture and for fingers to manipulate around.
5. Put poster paper on the wall, floor, or table top, or use an easel- have crayons, markers, paint, chalk, spray bottles, etc to use, and let kids be creative
6. Utensil painting- dip forks, a baster, whisk, spatulas, etc in tempera paint and paint with them
7. Sticker art- peel and stick (may have to start the peel)
Lots of preschoolers tend to place the stickers on top of each other- if that’s the case, give them an X on the paper to place them on. Have kids practice drawing lines between 2 stickers, horizontal lines, vertical lines, diagonal lines (circle stickers like those used for pricing garage sale items work well for this)
8. Paper tearing art activities (may have to start the tear)- very good for working on finger strength
9. Paper crumpling with 2 hands/with one hand. Use newspapers, magazine pages, scrap paper, Make it functional by throwing the crumpled up paper balls into a basket, have a “snowball” paper ball fight
10. Stick tissue paper pieces to sticky side of clear contact paper- tape up to a window and have the kids stick the tissue paper pieces on
11. Play dough, putty, glarch, etc. Stamp with stamps in dough, push pegs in, etc.
12. Truck or car painting- drive wheels thru paint and transfer to paper
13. Marble painting-tape a cut out to the bottom of a box, put drops of paint on the cut out, marbles in the box, and gentle shake/move the box
14. Weekly or monthly sensory bin ideas- attach some bin filler ideas. Add items to the box for kids to locate and take out. Little hands need lots of sensory input for development; sensory bins are an easy way to provide that
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| Cut up straws |
15. Freeze tempera paint in ice cube trays- put a popsicle stick in for a handle. Paint on paper when frozen.
16. Salt/sand trays- add sprinkles for the seasons/holidays
Practice making lines and basic shapes, or just scooping and filling containers
17. Fake Snow or other types of home made doughs- play in the snow with trucks, dump trucks, etc.
18. Ice/ice cube and water play- freeze water in bowls and shaped cube trays for different sizes and variations. Throw in some arctic animals to play with. Put ice on a tray as pictured or put water in a sensory bin and add the ice and animals.
19. Letter/Creation station- paper, envelopes, stickers, stapler, tape, scissors, glue sticks, magazines, cardstock, stampers, stencils This is a good life skills hack as well, helps kids explore these items and learn how to use them
