Preschool Picasso: Curious George

I had an extra big group for Preschool Picasso: Curious George since we had a mom's group attend, as well as my regulars. It was so nice to see everybody and they got to see me as "The Man in the Yellow Hat."

We started off with the story, Curious George: Librarian for a Day by Julie Tibbott. This was a shorter Curious George story to read that was just the right length, was about the library, and taught about how we arrange the books in the library.

After talking a little bit about the book and how we put books back in the library, it was time to introduce our Curious George crafts.

Our first craft was a painting craft using their handprints to make Curious George's body, green paint for the vines he was hanging off of, and to glue on Curious George's face to their handprint. They used brown and green paint, watercolor paint brushes for their leaves and vines, and had practice gluing.

Our next craft was to make a Man in the Yellow Hat tie. They had a fun time using stickers and markers to decorate their tie and wear it around the library.

The kids really do love Curious George!

Preschool Picasso: Andy Warhol

This was a great Preschool Picasso turnout for the unique theme of Andy Warhol. I'm finding that the parents are excited for the specific artist themes I've been incorporating into this program. As long as I can find age-appropriate crafts and books for both preschoolers and toddlers, the artist-related theme is something I would like to stick to in the future.

We started off Preschool Picasso with our story, Uncle Andy's Cats by James Warhola that explained a little bit about Andy Warhol's life and included a fun story on his cats that inspired his artwork.

Once we finished our story, I explained the two crafts we would have for the day. Our first craft involved paint and green bell peppers. A unique artist requires a unique craft. The kids used cut green pepper and black paint to stamp on a flower-like outline that was inspired by Warhol's flower artwork. Once the outlines were stamped on their colorful neon card stock, they could paint inside with different color paint.

Their next craft was making a Warhol inspired block pop art using different colorful squares and colorful cat die-cuts, inspired by the story. The kids glued on their squares to their paper and added their cats on top to give it that pop art look.

Other Books:

ABC Pop! Rachel Isadora

Uncle Andy's James Warhola

Preschool Picasso: Numbers

It was great to see everyone back after holiday break and a few new families. This month's theme was numbers and it turned into a numbers/ocean theme because I found two craft ideas that I thought were perfect for the program and a rhyming ocean and numbers book to go with the whole theme.

We read One Nighttime Sea by Deborah Lee Rose and counted sea animals along the way. The group enjoyed the pictures and helped count the creatures with me.

For our first craft, we did a paint-by-number fish using cardstock and six types of colored paint. Some children freestyled their painting, but the majority did try to follow the colors for each number.

Our next craft was making an adorable jellyfish with eight tentacles. The kids added eight colorful pipe cleaners onto their pre-cut and pre-hole punched jellyfish body. Then, they added beads to each tentacle depending on how many beads were needed. Some of the group even color matched their pipe cleaners to their beads.

The group loved these crafts and I had compliments on the jellyfish, as well as parents saying they would buy their kids some color-by-number books.

I liked that I was able to incorporate a painting craft using numbers and how the jellyfish craft helped them work on their fine motor skills and offered a different craft approach.

Optional Book: Swallow the Leader: A Counting Book by Danna Smith

Preschool Picasso: Merry Grinchmas!

I was really excited to put on my first Grinch program and am happy that it went so well and was a part of the Preschool Picasso program. There were so many cute Grinch crafts and ideas, but I knew I wanted to keep the reoccurring theme of one craft using paint and the other being somewhat unique to the other. We read a Grinch book and did our two crafts.

For our book, I read I'm the Grinch by Dennis Shealy. This is one of the newer Grinch books that are out and was a perfect length for a quick story for preschoolers. We talked a little bit about the Grinch and Dr. Seuss and of our favorite characters. This book told us about the Grinch and how he doesn't like Christmas, but of course it ends cute.

Our first Grinch craft was making a happy Grinch using a pre-cut paper plate and shapes. They enjoyed painting his face and I added some white paint to the green so they could color blend and get a lighter green color for our favorite holiday character.

Our second craft was making a grumpy Grinch mask. We colored our masks and added a Popsicle stick so we could pretend to be him. I was pleased to see parents taking pictures of the kids holding up their masks and other project.

Merry Grinchmas!

Preschool Picasso: Yarn

I was excited to do this yarn-themed program because I've seen so many good yarn craft ideas for kids online. I based my crafts on the books I've read and we ended up reading two books, one at the beginning of the program and one after our crafts, because we had a smaller group than usual.

For my first book, we read "Little Owl's Orange Scarf" by Tatyana Feeney. This is one of my go-to books for owls and is about an owl who doesn't like his orange scarf his mommy made him. At the end of the book, Little Owl gets a new scarf that he likes much better.

The other book I ended up reading was "Edmund Unravels" by Andrew Kolb. This story was truly a picture book about yarn. Edmund is a ball of yarn who is looking for adventure, but realizes he misses the familiar.

Our first craft of the program was doing some process art using paint and yarn. The group each had their own cups of paint and yarn dipped inside. Once they stirred up the yarn to get it covered in paint, they put that on their cardstock. They could drag the yarn, dab the yarn, try to make designs with the yarn, but the goal was to try a new way of painting that was creative and unique to each child. These turned out fun!

Our next craft was making an owl just like in our first story, but with yarn weaving. Each preschooler was given a card stock owl body that had small slits cut all around it so that they could weave their yarn around the owl body easily and make patterns any way they like. I kept my craft simple by just weaving the yarn back and forth across, but a few of the kids made awesome checkered patterns.

Other Books:

Extra Yarn Mac Barnett

A Bedtime Yarn Nicola Winstanley

A Friendship Yarn Olga Demidova

The Red Wolf Margaret Shannon

Preschool Picasso: Apples

This was a great Preschool Picasso turnout with some new families to the group!

I gave everyone a brief introduction on Preschool Picasso and announced our apple theme. 

We read Apples for Little Fox by Ekaterina Trukhan. This is the cutest story about a fox who loves the library and enjoys reading detective books. He can't wait to solve a real life mystery, but can't seem to see one…until all the apples disappeared on his favorite apple tree. Of course this story has a sweet ending. The group really enjoyed this book and I would definitely use this one again for any apple-related program.

Once we talked a little bit more about the book, I explained our two crafts for the day. Our first craft is usually always our paint craft, so for this one we were going to be using real apples from the library's apple tree to stamp apple shapes onto our cardstock using red, yellow, and green paint. They added on an apple basket by cutting brown construction paper into strips while giving them some cutting practice.

The group's other craft was making a tie-dye apple. I put out red, yellow, and green washable markers on the tables for the kids to doodle on their apple-shaped coffee liner. Once finished, they were to use the spray bottles to spray their apple and make the tie-dye design. Once a little dry, they could glue it onto a construction paper red apple. The kids always enjoy using the water bottle sprays.

Fall is here!

     

Preschool Picasso: Monet

This was the first program in Youth for the Fall 2019 newsletter without any registration and it went well. I pretty much had around the same numbers as before, but I did see three new families. I didn't need to use tickets and I made extra crafts just in case.

I read the group Philippe in Monet's Garden by Lisa Jobe Carmack. This was a cute, rhyming story about a frog named Philippe and how he came to be in Monet's garden in France where he was painted instead of eaten as French cuisine. The group seemed to have enjoyed the book and were engaged throughout.

For our first craft, we made an inspired Monet craft using paint, construction paper, and coffee liners. The kids used blue paint to paint the background for the pond, added their pre-cut lily pads, and bunched up their coffee filters to make the lily pad flowers. Pink paint was added to their coffee filters to make their flowers more colorful like Monet's.

For our second craft, we made another lily craft using construction paper and coffee filters. We used a different technique of ripping paper to make the impressionist look Monet has in his works. The kids ripped their light blue and dark blue paper in strips and glued them onto card stock to make their pond. They ripped green construction paper to make their lily pads and added the coffee filter and pink circle dot to make their flowers.

The kids liked using paint and being able to rip paper.

Preschool Picasso: Building Blocks

For Preschool Picasso: Building Blocks, I started by reading Rex Wrecks It! by Ben Clanton. The group was enthralled and absolutely loved the book about a dinosaur who keeps wrecking and knocking down others' blocks. The group was very responsive and liked making the roar sound throughout the book that Rex makes. We talked about how he shouldn't be knocking down his friends' blocks and why the characters were all happy in the end.

For our first craft, I had 3D squares, triangles, and cylinders made out of paper and using die-cuts for the kids to dip into primary color paint and create their art. They could make designs, patterns, or any other ideas onto their paper. The younger kids practiced stamping and the older kids had fun coming up with their own creative ideas.

For our second craft, we made block robots out of printouts and card stock. The kids loved this craft and were excited to show me how they colored their robots. I think they liked having the options of painting and the options of coloring with markers and crayons for both crafts and it was a good mix. Both crafts went perfectly with the story since one of Rex's friends is a robot and because some of the kids built castles out of their block stamping.

Preschool Picasso: Noodle Art

The theme of noodles was a nice, unique change for this Preschool Picasso program. 

We read Dragons Eat Noodles on Tuesdays by Jon Stahl, which the group really enjoyed and thought was funny.

For our first craft, we made flowers using noodles and construction paper. The group had construction paper stems they glued on and dot die-cuts to use as the center of their flowers. A variety of dyed noodles were put out for them to use as their flower petals. I dyed the pasta a day before using rubbing alcohol and food coloring. 

There is also another option of using vinegar and food coloring that I would probably try next time.

For our second craft, the group made fish using dyed macaroni noodles. They really enjoyed this craft and liked adding the googly eye to their fish.

This program definitely took more prep time because of dying the noodles, but it was really worth it to try something new and to see the kids enjoy making their crafts.

Other Books:

The Super Hungry Dinosaur Martin Waddell

The Great Pasta Escape Miranda Paul

Spaghetti-Slurping Sewer Serpent Laura Ripes

Oodles of Noodles Diana Hendry

Preschool Picasso: Vincent van Gogh

This program usually has a great turnout, but today's was even better. We read a short story on Vincent van Gogh called Vincent's Colors that had his paintings and his words and then we did two painting crafts inspired by his art.

Our first craft was painting a sunflower portrait. I printed out a sunflower coloring page that looked like van Gogh's "Sunflowers" and they had green, yellow, orange, and brown paint to paint their sunflower portrait. This gave them practice for painting inside the lines, but the kids could paint anyway they liked and blend colors.

Our second craft was making our own Starry Night painting. They were given a blank cardstock paper and blue, yellow, and black paint colors. They painted and blended with their colors and then I showed them how to use a fork to make van Gogh's swirls like in his painting. The kids liked the idea of using the fork.

I really enjoyed this one and announcements were made about the Lunch in the Library program.

Other books:

In the Garden with Van Gogh Julie Merberg

Katie and the Starry Night James Mayhew

Vincent Can't Sleep Barb Rosenstock

Van Gogh and the Sunflowers Laurence Anholt

The Artist and Me Shane Peacock

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

Preschool Picasso: Watercolors

This was Preschool Picasso's first time introducing watercolors to the group and I think it ended up being a fun change for the kids. We read Blue Chicken, about an artist painting a barnyard scene only to have one of it's chickens come to life and spill blue paint everywhere.

I wanted to using droppers for one craft activity and then have the group use the color pallets for another. For the first craft, I mixed blue watercolor paint with water and had the kids use eye droppers to drop paint all over their paper with chicken on it, just like in the book. The kids had fun using the droppers and everytime I've used these, they've always been well-liked.

For the second craft, they painted their own sunset for their barn. I put out the watercolor pallets and they had fun coming up with all sorts of techniques for making their sunset. Afterwards, they glued on the silhouette of a barn. I was glad this gave them an opportunity to create their art any way they liked with the watercolors.

Though there are tons of picture books using watercolors in illustrations, this one best fit what I was looking for-a short and sweet book that could easily tie-in with crafts.

Preschool Picasso: Paint Like Picasso!

I had a great turnout for this program and it was a fun, unique theme. It was a little bit more of challenge to come up with ideas for Picasso that weren't too hard and books that weren't too long, but there was enough to make it work and a success.

I read Picasso's Trousers by Nicholas Allan. I paper clipped some pages together to make the book even shorter and avoid some of the pictures of Picasso's famous art since it might be too "adult" for the kids.

For our first Picasso inspired craft, we made Picasso faces using paint primary colors and cutouts of different eyes, mouths, noses, and ears. In the book, it is explained that Picasso painted portraits from both the side and the front of faces at the same time, so we did that with our paintings with the help of what I cut out.

For our second craft, we did a Picasso inspired guitar art project using patterned paper squares, a cut out guitar, some string, and a circle. This was a simple cubism art project to focus on Picasso's cubism technique.

A few of the group stuck around to paint some more and I reminded everyone of our time change for next month.

Preschool Picasso: Feathers

This was a fun Preschool Picasso and it was the first time we used feathers. The kids were more than eager to paint and had fun using the feathers and playing with them. They were a bit antsy during the book, but still were able to listen to most of it. We read Bamboo and Friends: The Feathers by Felicia Law. 

For our first craft, we painted a parrot on cardstock just like the parrots in the book. I put out four different colors of paint and then they glued different colored feathers onto the tail.

For our second craft, we made headdresses just like the animals wore in the story. We decorated them with crayons, markers, and stickers. I purposely avoided paint with this craft so no one would get paint in their hair.

Other Books:

Feathers for Lunch by Lois Ehlert

The Perfect Purple Feather by Hanoch Piven

Hooray for Birds! by Lucy Cousins

Chicken Chuck by Bill Martin Jr.

Cuckoo by Lois Ehlert

A Bird Is a Bird by Lizzy Rockwell

Honk, Honk! Hold Tight! by Jessica Souhami

Plume by Isabelle Simler

Silly Dilly Duckling by Claire Freedman

Finn's Feather by Rachel Noble

Hamsters to the Rescue by Ellen Stoll Walsh

The Crow's Tale by Naomi Howarth

A Funny Little Bird by Jennifer Yerkes

Feathers for Peacock by Jacqueline Jules

Borka by John Burningham

Preschool Picasso: ABC's

This was a good start for Preschool Picasso for the year and we had a couple of new kids attend. I read the classic, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom for our alphabet theme. The kids enjoyed hearing this one and paid good attention to the story.

For our crafts, we made a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom coconut tree using construction paper, paint, and foam letters. This was a perfect craft for the group to be able to use paint and it still go along with the theme.

For our second craft, we wrote out our names on a cardstock worksheet and then decorated the first letter of our name with different small die-cut pieces. This allowed the kids to practice their name and letters.

I think both of these crafts tied in well and were well-received. We even had time to read a Curious George story at the end for those who were done with their craft.

Preschool Picasso: Story Characters

This was such a fun, sweet group and I was surprised on how many of the kids knew the story. I wanted to use a story character the kids knew, so I was happy to hear this. 

We read The Gruffalo, which was so fun to read out loud, and then I explained our two crafts. First, the group made Gruffalo using brown paint on a paper plate and adding his features after the paint was dry.

The second craft was making Mouse using different sized circle shapes. 

Both these crafts worked out great because they went along with the story, incorporated paint, and weren't too hard. The group took their time with their crafts and I promoted some holiday programs that were coming up.

 

Preschool Picasso: Food

For this month's theme for Preschool Picasso, we read a story and completed two crafts around food. This theme could have been using food as craft tools or based around a book about food. I decided to go with the latter. 

We read Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin and made a dragon and a taco craft. 

The group was so enthralled into the book that I knew this was a good pick! How can you go wrong with this silly book? 

After reading the story, we made our dragon craft and then our taco craft. For our dragon craft, we used bubble wrap and red paint to make scales on each of our dragons and for our taco craft, we had different textures of paper to make our delicious taco, along with some yellow paint using sponges to make our taco shell. 

The group really enjoyed this theme, but I think my next goal will be to try to incorporate the food theme even more by somehow using actual food as crafting tools.  

 

Preschool Picasso: Animals

I originally made animals the theme for this program because I wanted to make sure I had enough ideas to choose from when it was time to plan the program. I had too many good animal craft choices that I decided to narrow it down to forest/fall animals. I found a book to match that theme and made sure I found good bear and squirrel crafts to use.

 I think the book, Bear and Squirrel are Friends by Deb Pilutti, really helped tie-in this program well. The group enjoyed the book and their crafts.

Their first craft was mixing their blue and white paint on their paper plate to make Blue Bear and adding sticker eyes and die-cut pieces to complete his face. The kids had fun mixing their paint to get light blue and their bears all turned out so cute!

The second craft was making Squirrel. We used die-cut leaves to make Squirrel's tail and I had cut out Squirrel's body to glue onto their construction paper. The parents seemed to have really liked this craft with a few of the moms commenting on how cute it is.

The group wasn't as big as it has been in the past, but I think it was very comfortable for the group because sometimes space can be limited when the group is full. 

 

Preschool Picasso: Transportation

Transportation was a really good theme with lots of book and craft options. This would be a good theme for storytime, but great for Preschool Picasso/Toddler Art because there's more sensory activity options with this one.

I had some new faces join the group. We read Number One Sam, a cute picture book about Sam the Dog being in a car race. He's used to being number one and isn't sure how to feel when he doesn't win the race. His friends all love him in the end. I think the group really enjoyed this book and they were eager to start their crafts.

They really enjoyed working with sponges and paint for their airplane sky background and loved the foam car stickers, which we had leftover from a previous program. I'm always happy when I can reuse something we already have.

Everyone's projects turned out cute and it was nice to see the kids interact with each other. 

Other Possible Books:
Cars Rushing! Honking! Zooming! by Patricia Hubbell
Mighty Truck by Chris Barton
Hot Rod Hamster by Cynthia Lord
Moon Plane by Peter McCarty
Toot Toot Beep Beep by Emma Garcia
Moo! by David LaRochelle
Steam Train Dream Train by Sherri Rinker
If I Had a Car by Chris Van Dusen