Books

“I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More” by Karen Beaumont
“Maybe Something Beautiful” by F. Isabel Campoy
“I’m the Best Artist in the Ocean” by Kevin Sherry

This is the Way

This is the way we stir the paint, stir the paint, stir the paint
(mixing motion)
This is the way we stir the paint when we are painting
This is the way we dip our brush, dip our brush, dip our brush
(pretend to dip paint brush)
This is the way we dip our brush when we are painting
This is the way we paint the picture, paint the picture, paint the picture
(make up and down motion with hand)
This is the way we paint the picture when we are painting

Five Little Paintbrushes

Five little paintbrushes went out to paint
One painted white than ran away
The second painted red and jumped on the bed
The third painted green and fled the scene
The fourth painted black than ran around the back
The fifth painted yellow and felt so mellow
Then he invited everyone back

Rainbow Colors

Rainbow purple
Rainbow blue
Rainbow green and yellow too
Rainbow orange
Rainbow red
Rainbow shining over head
Come and count the colors with me
How many colors do you see?

Craft: String Art

I was looking for something a little messy and unstructured for today’s craft. I came across string art and it sounded perfect. I tweaked things a little bit to make it work with what supplies I had. First I tied string around a craft stick. Each child got 3 craft sticks/strings and I used different colors for each string. Each child also got 3 small cups and a canvas. The children picked their own paint colors. The kids then dipped the yarn into the paint, pulled it out and put it on the canvas. I asked parents to let the children experiment for themselves. Some children used their fingers to push the yarn into the paint, others used the end of the craft stick. Children pulled, bounced and twirled the string onto their canvas. I warned parents ahead of time that some kids might just start finger painting which definitely happened. The craft was a huge hit. There is one boy who is automatically done with the craft the second he sees any toys. This week he wanted nothing to do with the toys and kept painting away.

How it Went: This is the first time that I read “Maybe Something Beautiful” aloud to a group. I wasn’t sure how it would go over but it’s a book that I really enjoy. I had nothing to worry about because the kids were intrigued by it and several parents made comments afterwards about how much they enjoyed it. It’s nice to go outside of my normal books and choose ones that adults may not be familiar with. I also gave each child a clean paint brush to use while I read “I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More,” they painted themselves while I read the story.