Painting
Hearts Using Various Sized Brushes Paint Options:
*Focus
on red + white = pink on one day and black + white = gray on another day
*Provide
all three paints (red, white, black) at the same time
*Place
pink and gray paints at the easel, or in addition to the others
*Provide
thick versus thin paints
*This is really the "meat" of the activity -- allowing the children to compare the various brushes. Provide all kinds of brushes (fat ones, skinny ones, brushes with long handles, brushes with short stubby handles, easel brushes, water color brushes, house painting brushes, roller brushes, sponge on-a-stick brushes, etc). Place them all in a container next to the easel with the brush ends up. (If the brush ends are down, the children only see handles.)
*Talk about the various types of brushes ("opposites" concept): Big/little, long/short, fat/skinny, thin/thick, etc)
*In order for each child to have a pleasant and creative experience in a clean work area, with fresh paint and clean brushes, you may want to allow only 2-4 children a day to paint -- depending on how much time it takes to clean up between children. It's almost impossible to allow more children than this to do it in one day if you don't have an assistant. (If you are alone, how about inviting a parent to help for the day?)
*Give each child just a small amount of each color paint since you know they are going to get mixed and muddied. Place the paints in rectangular containers rather than round ones (a wide brush won't fit into a yogurt container).
*Children can paint on large paper hearts. Or, you can go from abstract to concrete by providing large sheets of paper at the easel for them to paint, then when the paintings are dry, cut them into the shape of large hearts.
Alternative:
Another option, and frankly, this is my favorite when I've been the only
adult in the room:
Cover a long table with a large sheet of butcher paper
and tape it down so it won't move around. Allow the children to stand around
the edges of the table and paint this giant mural to their hearts' desire.
You could have paints lined up in the center of the table, with brushes to choose
from nearby.
Do you have a favorite February easel project to share?
Simply e-mail it to me.
Reminder: If you
would like to begin collecting ALL my current classroom ideas (each on a 4 x 6"
index card), as well as new ones that I create, you can do so by ordering my "Activity
Cards." Click here to check them out.
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