I LOVE this tape and canvas art project for kids. And it turns out SO COOL! Click here for the tutorial.
Tape and Canvas Art Project for Kids
8
Category Archives: Art/Crafts
Recycling Craft
Kids love to create things. Especially when they have a lot of random stuff to work with. One teacher brought in a bunch of recyclables (some parents had been collecting stuff for a week) and let the kids create whatever they wanted using things to be recycled. She also let the kids use googly eyes, markers, glue, etc. and limited each kid to making something that would fit in their backpack (so students could take it home). This art project was preceded by a discussion of what recycling was and how it benefited the environment. Fun fun fun!
Click here for printable word strips to help in your discussion of recycling.
Supplies for Today’s Project (UPDATED)
I recently was this in a kindergarten classroom and was blown away by this simple, but genius idea! The teacher had clip art of commonly used classroom supplies attached to the board with a magnet. When it was time for a project, she’d move the magnets of the necessary supplies to the center of the board for her students to get out. This way, she visually reinforces what she says and doesn’t have to repeat herself!
I made some for you, so just print out my Supplies for Today’s Project PRINTABLE, cut out and laminate each piece and add a magnet. Then you’ll be genius too!
25 Hand Print Art Projects for Kids
I know hand print art can be messy at times, but kids love getting their hand painted and the projects turn out pretty cute. So here are my favorite projects (click on image to see original post):
On My First Day of Kindergarten (or First Grade)…
I saw this idea and LOVED it! It’s a free worksheet to help you preserve how students draw, write and color. Such a fun idea for the first day of school! Click here for the free printable collection: First Day – coloring & drawing pages
Hand Print Apple Tree Craft
This idea randomly came to me when I was working with some kindergartners a while back. Some of them turned out better than others, but the kids had fun getting to finger paint! It seems like it would be a fun summer craft too!
Here’s what you do: Paint the child’s hand brown from fingertips to a few inches below the wrist (paint their non-dominant hand).
Have the child press their hand against plain paper (construction paper works best). Then let the child use their dominant hand to finger paint leaves, apples, grass, etc. on the rest of the paper. Ta-da! You’re all done!
Inspiration in A Box (Creative Project Display)
I was at a charter school recently and saw this really cool display of projects. Each student’s project was on one side of a box. Rope was strung through each box (with knots and washers to secure the box in a specific place on the rope) and handing on bars attached to the wall. This set up could be easily modified to accommodate a classroom or school lobby. I just thought this was an “out of the box” idea for displaying projects!
Like what you see on this blog? Tell your friends about my blog and check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store! Thanks!
Funky Monkey Painting Project
I recently wrote about painting with Q-tips instead of brushes. The following is one of the many Q-tip painting projects I’ve done with lower grade kids. This one we called “funky monkey” because the kids were encouraged to create all aspects of a very unusual monkey. Each kid first got a funky monkey printable (click here: Funky Monkey – printable).
On the back of the page, they wrote their name and the date. Then they wrote key words describing their funky monkey. These key words would be helpful when starting to write about the monkey. Here are some of the questions I asked to help them start thinking about their new character.
- What’s the monkey’s name?
- What’s the monkey’s favorite food?
- What does the monkey do during the day?
- What does the monkey want to be when it’s all grown up?
- What’s the silliest thing about the monkey?
After describing the character, the kids got to paint their monkey using Q-tips. In the white space, the kids could paint anything they wanted about the monkey (paint its favorite food, etc.).
We set the project aside for a few days to let the paint dry. Then chose a writing project from the following options:
- Write a character sketch for the monkey.
- Write a story about the monkey (from the monkey’s childhood, the monkey as a superhero, etc.).
- Write what you and your monkey would do if you could spend a day together.
For the kids who finished painting quickly or wanted a friend for their funky monkey (in their story), they repeated the above steps again with this tiger printable (click here: Tiger – printable).
Finally, the kids got to share their painting along with their writing. We wanted to mount both onto an 11″ x 17″ sheet of construction paper to display them, but we ran out.
Overall, it was a fun and the kids liked using their imagination. You could add variety to this project by giving students more animal options to choose from. To find other printables like these, search “animal coloring pages for kids” (or something similar) on an internet search engine. Choose a coloring page that doesn’t have too much detail (since it’s hard for the kids to paint in).
Squarehead Teachers 