Visual arts, music, and drama are important elements of education for all ages, but in the early childhood years, children are especially eager to engage in these activities and find new methods of self-expression. Exposure to the arts is valuable for children’s development in its own right, as well as beneficial to their language, math, and fine motor skills.

Provide children with a large sheet of butcher paper and small trays or plates with paint to explore dipping and making marks with recycled materials such as toilet paper or paper towel tubes, containers of various shapes and sizes, materials with different textures, etc. This could be an activity that is available over several days that children can experiment with in a variety of ways.

Goal: Children will work collaboratively, use fine motor skills, and explore making marks with paint using a variety of recyclable materials.

We had a morning that was high energy and bordering on craziness and it wasn’t even 8am.  The forecast was calling for rain and the weather change had the kids running around and acting silly.  I was trying to think of something to redirect their energy and opened the art cabinet.  I found some scraps of watercolor paper and pulled out the tray of watercolor paints and some brushes.

As soon as they got started the place calmed right down.  I asked them to think about what they wanted to paint before they got started and then reminded them about dipping the brush in the water first and then rubbing it on the watercolor cake to pick up the color.  One of the kids was unhappy with a color he had put on his paper and we tried wetting it with water and dabbing it with a paper towel and most of the color came right off.

They stayed with the painting for almost 40 minutes and it really changed the tone of the whole day!  It was a great reminder about how soothing and calming watercolor painting can be for children.