Art is one of the best ways to express themselves for preschoolers!
While they may seem like they’re messing around most of the time, they’re actually developing their fine motor skills and learning to see what happens when they make mistakes and let them go. Art activities also teach them how to decide when choosing which materials and colors to use.
In the pre-school period, when they are not yet literate, children listen closely to the steps of the process in order to perform the activities, examples of which will be given below. This improves their listening skills and lengthens their attention span. Art activities enable children to develop many important skills that they will use throughout their lives and offer the opportunity to learn while having fun. Since children learn by trying and experiencing, they generally acquire permanent learning.
Child-centered education and life philosophies such as Montessori, Waldorf, Emilia, and Reggio, which take the world of the child as their basis, have been developing their sphere of influence lately and they find artistic works that enable preschool children to learn while having fun in this period.
For children in the nursery and kindergarten period, the cost of realizing the handicraft ideas we include in this content is low and the fun is great.
2 – 3 Age Activities
Here are a few examples of activities that 2-3 year olds can apply with pleasure and will help them focus and motor skills…
1. Ice Painting
With this activity, which will offer a different painting experience, children will be able to observe the shape change of water with fun. The materials required for this different art of painting are as follows:
- They are
- Watercolors or liquid paints
- ice molds
- Paper
Freeze reconstituted colored dyes in ice trays. After it is completely frozen, take it out of the mold and place it on the paper. Trace the patterns the ice leaves on the paper by moving the paper.
With this painting technique, children are witnessing the melting of ice while making a wonderful design. With the pride of painting their own paintings, they also make a scientific experiment and observation. In addition, the hand-eye coordination and gross motor skills of the children who try not to drop the ice from the paper develop.
2. Sensory Dough
The recipe for this activity, which is similar to homemade play dough, includes the basic ingredients found in every home and consists of completely natural products. The materials of the sensory dough that will enable 2-3 year old children who love to explore by touch to have fun safely are as follows:
- 1 water glass measure of oil
- 8 cups of flour
- Plastic cap
- Food coloring in various colors
Mix all the ingredients in a deep plastic bowl. If you wish, you can have your child do the pouring of the materials into the rough, he will also enjoy it. It’s a good idea to add the food coloring carefully.
This play dough, which children will enjoy shaping, advances their hand muscles and motor skills. Designing brand new objects by combining different colors of dough is a very effective toy in terms of developing creativity and imagination.
3. Snare drum from a tomato paste box
Percussion instruments are among the most suitable and entertaining musical instruments for children aged 2 – 3 years. This recycling project, made with very few materials, also helps children learn the value of recycling. Necessary items for this fun experience:
- An empty tomato paste box
- one balloon
- Two skewer sticks
- Two large wooden beads
- Colored cartons
- Scissors for children
- Glue
Cut off the hard end that allows the balloon to be inflated so that it is close to the round shape. Pass this balloon into the empty and clean tomato paste box. Cover the edges of the tomato paste box with a solid color cardboard. Decorate your snare drum by cutting decorations from colored cardboard in any shape you like. Thread the wooden beads onto the skewer sticks and you’ll get the sticks that will make you play the snare drum.
While making this very easy-to-obtain musical instrument, your child, who cuts and pastes the decorations himself, uses both fine motor and decision-making skills.
4. Making Tambourines from Paper Plates:
Toys that make a sound when shaken with small movements attract the attention of children from infancy. Instruments similar to these toys are among the most suitable instruments for 2-3 year old children. Moreover, if they have a musical instrument of their own design, they devote themselves to music with greater enthusiasm and enthusiasm. With this musical instrument, which they can make using paper plates, they can both play and make music. The following materials are needed to make a tambourine from a paper plate:
- two paper plates
- Ten soda or mineral water bottle caps
- some rope
- Punch
- Hammer
- Nail
Punch five holes in the sides of the plates with a hole punch. Pierce the soda caps with a nail in the middle and place them with their backs facing each other and tie them with a rope you will pass through the middle. Tie the insides of the dishes you drilled with a rope through the holes you drilled by matching them to each other. Pass the lids with a rope in the middle through these holes and fix them on the edge of the plate. Do not tighten completely so that when you shake it, you will hear a sound. Here is another musical instrument ready!
While making this musical instrument, the child, who undertakes the tasks of using hole punch and threading through the holes, develops fine motor skills while doing the tying. They focus and learn to be patient while threading the holes.
5. Blown Marbling Art
This activity, which may be suitable for the little ones who like to bubble with the help of a straw while drinking water, also allows them to see the effect of blowing concretely. Materials:
- Watercolor
- They are
- White paper
- Pipet
- A container with high sides to hold water
Fill a container that you think is the size of your paper with water (a high-sided tray is also fine). Feed the watercolor brush with different colors of paints, touch the water in the tray and pull it out and froth your water by blowing it with a straw. Tilt and pull your paper so that it touches the colored bubbles and your marbling print is ready!
Children aged 2 to 3, who love to run the brush over watercolor, are particularly interested in games played with water. In addition, the foaming stage of the water is a very interesting and fun step for them.
4 – 5 Years Events
Activities for the ages of 4-5, which are applied during the kindergarten periods, are the steps in which children begin to become aware of art. Engaging in art at this age lays the foundation for creative thinking, exploration and problem-solving skills that they will use for a lifetime. Here are examples of art activities for 4-5 year olds…
1. Filling Limited Space with Quilling Art
All kids learning to use scissors love seeing the shapes this tool makes. In addition to being able to use scissors to the fullest, this activity, where they will roll the papers they cut and make them tiny, is a true paper art. Required materials for this event that triggers several skills at once:
- Colored craft papers
- Scissors
- Glue
- Canvas or thick cardboard
First, draw a large and simple picture or pattern on your canvas (e.g. a cat, a flower). Cut your colored craft paper into long strips of 2 cm each. You will get colorful and many tiny rolls. The next step is much more fun! Apply glue to the pattern you have drawn and stick the folded craft papers with the flat parts on the floor. Keep gluing until you fill the entire drawn picture.
Children, who develop their fine motor skills while cutting their craft papers, enjoy creating their own works of art with the attention and effort they put into gluing. It is also possible for them to learn the concept of border in this activity, which requires filling a certain area with the same color without overflowing.
2. Handmade Maracas
Maracas are one of the most suitable musical instruments for preschool children. The maracas, which only allows to make music by shaking it left and right and up and down, gives the feeling of playing with a toy thanks to its ease of use. Here are the materials that you can easily make maracas at home:
- smallest pet bottle
- Any granular object (seed, seed, bead, etc.)
- Colored tapes to decorate, scissors
Put enough granular material in your pet bottle to fill a quarter of it. Depending on what the grains are, their size and quantity, the sound will also change. If you wish, you can design different maracas from several different materials. After closing the lid, let your child decorate his maracas with colored bands as he wishes.
The rhythm sense of the children who accompany the songs develops with the pride of having produced their own musical instrument. Thanks to the small muscles used while cutting and pasting the tapes, the fine motor skills of the children are strengthened, and their attention and focus time is positively affected while trying to match the rhythm of the music.
3. Sağ El – Sun El
This activity, which can be applied to grasp the right and left, is also useful for developing the sense of rhythm and making the notes perceptible. The game, which includes lots of movement, dance and fun, can be played at home as a family. Ingredients of this game:
- A table suitable for the child’s height,
- craft papers
- Scissors
- According to the size of the table, right and left hand shapes, round shapes, cut from colored paper
Draw right hand and left hand shapes on paper and cut them out. For a fist shape, simply cut round. Distribute these shapes on the table in a mixed way. Turn on the music you want and the child will like, and dance with your child around the table to the tune. At the same time, you will keep the tempo in accordance with the rhythm of the music. You will do this tempo keeping by tapping the corresponding hand on the hand shape closest to you on the table. Try to match your right hand to the right hand shape, your left hand to the left hand shape, and your hand made into a round fist.
This activity provides gains in many areas such as attention, rhythm keeping and concentration. The game, which can also be played in teams, can also be preferred in terms of strengthening communication and increasing sharing.
4. Caterpillars Coloring When Entering Water Through Napkin
Observing that matter changes color and shape is very interesting for children. This activity also entertains children watching the caterpillars taking shape. The following materials are sufficient to make the caterpillars that curl and color when they enter the water:
- Paper towel or napkin
- Pipet
- Felt paints
- They are
- A plate or tray with the edges to hold the water
Paint the napkins in the colors and patterns you want. Take one white unpainted napkin and one from the ones you dyed. Wrap it tightly around the straw so that the painted inside remains, squeezing from the sides to the middle. Pull the straw out and attach a dot on one end of the formed caterpillar shape with a black felt-tip pen. Drop your tiny caterpillars into the water-filled plate. Wet napkins expand and stretch and your caterpillar moves. The colors inside also color the white one outside and create a visual feast.
Developing their decision-making skills when choosing which color to use for dyeing, the children observe how the water affects some substances while watching the wet napkin want to be flat and the dispersion of the dyes.
5. Melted Crayons
All kids love to color wherever they are. The materials required for this event where they can make their own designs by combining colors are as follows:
- Crayons
- Canvas or painting paper
- Hair dryer
- Scissors
Place the crayons on the top of the canvas, either whole or in pieces that you cut with scissors. Heat it with a hair dryer so the paints melt and flow on the canvas. If you wish, you can create patterns by moving them left and right.
With such a simple process, your child can make the paintings that will decorate the walls of his room. This art project, which they choose their favorite colors and place on paper, allows them to decide. The artistic aspects and visual tastes of children who catch the harmony of their own colors also develop.
There are some points to be considered in every study that is considered to be applied to pre-school children. Especially,
- When choosing art projects for preschool children, it is necessary to choose activities that offer many exploration opportunities and encourage the love of play and production.
- It is more beneficial to choose simple but thought-provoking processes rather than activities with complex steps.
- Not being afraid of clutter allows children to apply their ideas freely without being nervous.
- Adults should prepare the activities, but it is useful to remember that children should be active in the implementation. When necessary, their work can be facilitated by guiding the children, but the main responsibility is on them.
- The fact that the duration of the activity is not too long allows them to complete their projects without getting bored.