Toddler Art: Hearts

It was easy to keep this hearts theme for Toddler Art since I was able to save some supplies from Preschool Picasso and use them for this class. 

I try to read a shorter story in Toddler Art than Preschool Picasso since this group is younger, and after perusing through some options, I thought My Heart Is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall was pretty perfect, especially with the animal illustrations made out of hearts. A few of my families arrived after the story so I offered to read the story again afterwards. Some parents seem to prefer to miss the story part of the program, but I'm just glad they are enjoying the crafts and time together as a family.

Once I read through the story and pointed out the heart shapes, I explained our crafts. 

We made a ladybug out of heart shapes and used black paint and q-tips to make her dots. The ladybug's red pipe cleaner antennas were a bit stubborn to glue on, but we used tape to keep it in place while it was drying in the glue.

For our second craft, we made a heart shape using cotton balls and pink, purple, and red washable paint. Different colored paint was dabbed on with a cotton ball around a die-cut heart that was attached with a piece of tape. Once the kids were done painting, making sure to paint around the heart outline, the heart was removed to reveal a pretty heart shape outlined in their artwork. I also handed eye stickers to the group instead of the pink dot eyes since I thought it would be more appropriate for toddler-aged children.

Both crafts helped the kiddos work on their fine motor skills with the q-tips and cotton balls. I think this was the most important factor that made both crafts a success, just getting that practice in. I think the group also liked having the choice of different paint colors and heart colors for their crafts.

I was a tad disappointed that I only had a few families on time for the story, but it was still a good program turnout and a fun time and way to celebrate Valentine's Day.