February 2-5

Snowy Scenes

We are embracing the snowy weather in preschool! We began by reading about a child's snowy day and then discussing what our snowy days were like last week. We described what we did, what we saw and how everything felt. Then we began our first canvas art project with a "snowy experience" theme, and created our own snowy scenes with art materials. 

Step 1: Painting the Sky

Our first step was to use paint and differently-sized brushes to paint our sky. The children were given the colors from the book and were able to use them alone or mix them with each other to create their own unique background. They were given thin and thick brushes, and used them to pat, swipe and swirl the paint all over the canvas. The only direction for this task was to cover the entire canvas...the rest was up to them! As they painting we discussed the colors they were using and the colors they were creating, how the paint looked as it was applied in different ways, and what textures formed as they painted. It was exciting to see the skies evolve and to listen to the children compare and contrast their work. 

Step 2: Adding Snowflakes

Our second step incorporated  fine motor work and creativity. The children were given a variety of foam snowflake stickers to apply to their snowy scene. Some of the stickers were very small while others were very large - each one required the children to use their pincer grasp to peel each part of the snowflake backing off, and hand-eye coordination to peel and place each sticker. The children also had to figure out how to apply the snowflakes on and around the snow they had already applied. There was a great deal of concentration and focus during the stage of the art experience! 

Step 3: Exploring Real Ice and Snow

Before adding the final material to our snowy scenes, we went outside to explore real ice and snow. We needed to see what it looked like and felt like before adding something like it to our canvases. Luckily we had a great deal of ice and snow right outside our classroom. In order to have a discussion about the cold outside versus the warm inside and what happens to the snow, we had the children very quickly run outside, grab a chunk of snow and then come back in. Right away they noticed that their hands warmed up once we were back in and the snow was melting into pellets and then water in their hands. We observed the different consistencies and feelings of the snow/ice pieces and the children compared them to icicles and crystals. We then moved to add a material much like the snow and ice to our canvases.

Step 4: Adding a Layer of Snow

Our final step was to add sea salt mixed with white and silver glitter to the scene to represent one kind of snow. The children spread clear glue with a paintbrush onto the canvas and then sprinkled the salt mixture on top. Finally, they used their hands to spread it around and then shook the excess from the canvas. The salt mixture changed the texture of the art piece and the differences in the amount and thickness of the salt made each one even more unique!

Our Snowy Scenes!