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- Art Invitations 15
- Art at Home 16
- Back to School 1
- Creativity in Classrooms 17
- Favorite Art & Play Materials 10
- Learning Through Play 12
- Loose Parts Play 5
- Natural Materials 2
- Open-Ended Art & Play 17
- Organization & Storage 4
- Process Art 18
- Sensory Play 5
- Social Emotional Learning 7
- Using Recycled Materials 13
Driftwood Sculptures
Using chalk pastels on wood is instantly captivating for young children. The feel of the chalk gliding on the wood, the vibrant colors that chalk pastels create, and the 3-dimensional exploration of color and blending make these materials so compatible.
Giant Recycled Cardboard Heart
Transform recycled and repurposed materials into a giant heart shaped, multi-texture, multi-dimensional painting experience.
Two MLK Art Projects
If you are looking for a way to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his vision for a just and equitable society, consider pairing these hands-on art experiences with intentional dialogue around the meaning of his words. Promote critical thinking about topics of racism, social justice, and equity at all ages and stages of development.
Homemade Playdough Recipe
Homemade playdough is so easy to make and lasts for months! You can also change its color and add scented oils or glitter for an even fuller sensory experience.
Skills Children Learn Through an Art and Play Filled Education
A curriculum filled with opportunities for art and creativity boosts a child’s narrative and writing skills, strengthens vocabulary, and engages the brain in higher-level thinking such as questioning, generating ideas, and problem solving. But more importantly, an art-filled education that is child-led brings joy, and develops skills that worksheets and formalized schooling can’t teach.
Setting up Creative Invitations
A creative invitation is a simple set-up with a few appealing or interesting materials that spark your child’s curiosity and invite them over to create and explore.
Make a Cardboard Easel
Children love painting on an easel. Painting in a vertical position is also important for building arm and wrist strength, developing spatial awareness, engaging the core, crossing the midline, and more.
Storing Children’s Art
We cannot save everything our child makes, but they are only four once, and their drawings and paintings at these young ages are a record of their growth. Saving their art inevitably means implementing a sorting and storing system. Here are three tried-and-true storage ideas that we know will work.