Preschool Picasso: Nature

Instead of doing a spring theme, I decided to go along with a nature theme for both this month's Preschool Picasso and Toddler Art. There were quite a number of excellent books to use for this theme, but The Weaver by Qian Shi was the best fit for nature and our crafts. The Weaver tells the story about a spider named Stanley and how he collects all these things in nature for his web.

Our first craft tied in perfectly with the story since we made nature sun catchers out of contact paper, paper plates, and dandelions and leaves from nature. This craft was a bit much prep wise, but it was well worth it to have a unique craft that everyone enjoyed.

For our second craft, I used card stock, die-cut flowers, and paint. The group used their fingertips to add paint to their flower petals and painted grass, leaves, and stems. I originally had the idea to use dandelions to paint with, but they wilted too quickly for my liking.

I think the most difficult part of this program was gathering the leaves and dandelions and pre-sticking the contact paper onto the paper plates so the parents only had to add the second layer of contact paper when their child was finished decorating. It was a little stressful worrying about if the leaves looked wilty and if we had enough, but everyone enjoyed the craft and I had enough supplies.

Other books:

Finding Wild Megan Wagner Lloyd

A Web Isabelle Simler

Tiny, Perfect Things M.H. Clark

A Funny Little Bird Jennifer Yerkes