Pre-K Art Explorations: Perfect Square Collage, Cut and Paste Abstractions, Pizzas and Leaves!

I have been doing some fun explorations with my youngest students over the past few months - we have been working really hard at becoming experts with all the art making tools inside the art room. Next semester, we will explore making art based on the ol' masters and (a personal favorite of mine), children's literature.

This could potentially be a pretty long post, so I'll keep things as concise as possible. Please feel free to make a comment below if you have any specific questions and I will get back to you!

PERFECT SQUARE COLLAGE -
Day One:
We read the book, Perfect Square by Michael Hall and then set to work exploring the different ways that paper can be manipulated (just like the illustrations in the book). Each student received a 6"x 6" red paper square that they tore up and glued down using glue sticks. Then I gave each student a few 3"x 3" colored copy paper squares that they crumpled up and collaged on top.

Day Two:

Students added about ten 1"x 1" patterned paper squares into the mix and then I introduced "fancy scissors." They cut up a colored paper square (I allowed them to choose a favorite color from a pile) however they wished using those very fancy scissors :)

CUT AND PASTE ABSTRACTIONS -
Day One:
Students used their art muscles and regular scissors to cut apart  "cut on the line" papers (I found a set on Pinterest). This was great practice since scissors can be pretty tricky - all that hand and eye coordination! I kept all their snipped papers in a box knowing we could use them for something cool. At the end of class, to relax our hands and muscles, kids got to work with Play-Doh.

Day Two:

We talked about cutting a single line on a chunk of paper to get two pieces. I pulled out all the chunks from the "cut on the line" practice day and asked the kids to pick about 4 pieces. They used scissors to transform each piece into two pieces by making a cut across in any direction. Then they used glue sticks to stick the pieces down and we got to use paint sticks to add paths, patterns and solid areas of color to the compositions. Do you know about Playcolor paint sticks? They are so, so cool!! Highly recommend this brand!

Mmmmmm.......PIZZAS: 

This is a great one day lesson to go with the book, Pete's a Pizza by William Steig. Each child received a red triangle that they glued onto a piece of 9x12 black paper. A tan rectangle crust was added to the top. Then they glued on cheese rectangles, circle pepperonis, crescent green peppers and mushroom shapes as they wished. We used glue sticks again for this assignment. 

LEAVES:

Each child received a piece of card stock with a pre-traced leaf shape. I introduced Sharpie markers and we talked about how to use them properly. The kids traced the leaf shape, added a spine and several ribs to each half using the marker. They added color using construction paper crayons - we talked about coloring completely using our art muscles. For a final touch, the kids rubbed texture in the background using unwrapped crayons.