Theme Thursday: Art

After two straight weeks of lackluster themes (shapes and opposites), me loosing my set list (what I like to call the story time script. It makes me feel more like a rock star) and failing to take pictures of the craft, we are back, baby, with last week's story time all about ART.

Song: Good Morning Dear Earth

Flannel: Little Mouse

Finger Play: I Had a Little Turtle

Song: Open, Shut Them

Flannel: Alphabet Soup- ART

Book: The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle

(A particularly big hit with the Brown Bear, Brown Bear fans)

Finger Play: 2 Little Blackbirds

Flannel: I Had a Rooster

Song: Shake Your Sillies Out

Song: Grand Old Duke of York

Book/Flannel: The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds

Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Song: Turn Around from Hap Palmer's Getting to Know Myself

Make and Take Craft: Puffy Paint

At our last children's meeting we had a whole section devoted to process oriented art or art for the sake of making art. With process oriented art, it doesn't matter what the end result it is, it's all focused on making art in new and interesting ways and really focusing on what you're doing, not what you expect. It's pretty easy to see how this ties into early literacy skills- help the kids build narrative skills by explaining to you what they're doing, using the new means to make familiar symbols etc...) and I got really freaking excited about it.

My personal favorite way we experimented with making art in the children's meeting was by using shaving cream and white glue to make puffy paint and I could not wait to try it with my story time crowd.

I think the kids like it as much as I did. Except for the few who do not like getting messy. But I never understood them anyway.

Supplies:

-Barbosol (or any type of puffy shaving cream. I.E. not gel)

-white glue

-tempera paint or food coloring

-forks

-paper

Process: There was zero prep for this sucker since I mixed the paint in front of the kids. In a paper bowl or plate combine a good size pour of white glue (I'd say about 1/4 a cup) with a squirt of paint or food coloring.

Time: Zero prep and the craft took 40 minutes