Painted Snowman

On one of our snow days I thought we would just have fun painting to refresh us.  (Granted, snow days are pretty much behind us, but I still thought I'd share.)

M began painting the snowman with near-perfect circles of white paint on the blue construction paper.  I loved it!  It wasn't long until she started painting the entire scene, covering the entire paper with snowy white paint.  

Honestly, I was a bit disappointed.  There was no longer any distinction between the snowman and the rest of the paper-not even the circular brush strokes.  

To help M make a snowman in her snow scene, I tinted some of the white paint with purple.  She made a lavender snowman.  I wanted to make it sparkle, so I added salt to the picture's snowman.  Then M used a permanent marker to add the hat, face, buttons, and arms.  

She certainly had fun with this, and liked the added salt sparkle.  If I were to do it again, I would have her add the details before the salt.  Even Sharpies didn't want to write well on the salt.

(Glitter is just about forbidden in our home, and I don't mind avoiding it all together.)

Realizing that M just needed to explore in her own way was good for me.  Coming up with a solution to enable her to create the snowman that she did actually want to make was good for both of us, too.  She was extra excited to make a purple snowman!  Flexibility...not my strong suit, but good to be.

E painted snow, too.

I shared about the snow scene made with paper reinforcement stickers last week.

Let It Snow Preschool Craft

Age 4 on left - Age 2 on right

(This snow-filled post was actually written about a  month ago!  I had forgotten to post it!  I know many are out there looking for spring crafts, but for many snow is still a reality.  So I'm sharing.)

We have had way too many snow days with M home from preschool.  The good news is that snow days motivate me to craft with the kids.  Unfortunately, snow seems to be my main (only?) inspiration.  

We made these snowy pictures using paper reinforcements to show the snow falling.  We used basic shapes to make houses and trees and ripped paper to make snow drifts.  My 4 year old, M, cut most of her own shapes after I drew the outlines.

My younger child's house looks more like a house because my 4 year old wanted her roof in the air.  She was  aware that the roof belonged on the house because she asked me if she could put it where she did instead of on the purple square.  I helped my 2 year old son, E, by assigning a name (roof, window, door) and asking him where the pieces should go.

We may pull out the paper reinforcements later this year for bubble pictures since my snow was convinced they were bubbles, and not snow. 

See our coffee filter snowflakes and name snowmen, too!

Coffee Filter Snowflakes

This week we had a bit of fun with snow.  Snow books and snow art and snowflakes.  (Some snow art will be posted later next week, too.)

I like coffee filter snowflakes for lots of reasons.  Coffee filter snowflakes are easy.  Both my 2 and 4 year old children could participate.  Circular snowflakes.  Snowflakes that make coffee filters useful.  (With my small package of coffee filters, they will likely last a lifetime.  Yep.  My husband and I do not drink coffee, but we do have a tiny coffee maker for guests who need it.)

First color the coffee filters with markers.

  Place the coffee filters on a paper towel on a plate.

Then spray it.  The kids love this!

 Let the coffee filters dry.  (If you spray lightly it doesn't take long.)

Fold in half three times

Draw some markings on it if your child is not able to understand how to cut the snowflakes yet.

 Let the child cut!!  

It takes a long time at our house.

Open it.

Be totally amazed at your child's beautiful creation!

 Honestly, I had a blast with this project, too.  (Can you tell?)

I cut the snowflakes that my two year old son or I colored.  I had lots of fun.  

We hung them in our kitchen window and the windows by our front door.  

E (2) had fun coloring and spraying.  M (4) had fun coloring, spraying, and cutting.  

Initially, I only wanted to make white snow flakes.  M had great fun with that.  Then on another day, I decided it would be fun for both children to get involved in the project and so we all made colorful snowflakes.  M's favorites are the colored ones, of course.

I loved that the the coffee filters were already round since I dislike square flakes.  More importantly, they were easy to fold and cut for my little girl's introduction to snowflakes!

After our little project we read the very short chapter book Henry and Mudge and the Snowman Plan.  Though it is a chapter book, we read it in one sitting.  I love that M is starting to enjoy lengthy books!  E's (and M's) favorite snow book is probably Snowmen at Night or Frosty the Snowman!  

I have seen these easy snowflakes around blogland quite a bit, but the first place I saw them was at Cheerios Underfoot.   Thanks for the inspiration!

I am linking this to some great crafty resources!
 

Name Snowman

See our name snowman!  It's a great preschool and early elementary craft!