Art

Tear-ific Artwork to Write About

One of my favorite art projects to do with kids, to develop the little muscles in their hands, is to have them tear apart little pieces of colorful construction paper and glue them onto a template to make a beautiful work of art that I usually help little ones write a sentence about.  One example is a fall picture that all you need in order to make it is crayons and construction paper:

You can have little ones tear apart little pieces of their favorite color construction paper (or seasonal colors) until the shreds fill a paper plate.

Then, have your little one help you come up with a template; mine was simply made up of a tree trunk and a circle for the pumpkin.

On top of this template apply a thin layer of glue…..I use rubber cement (or spread regular glue with a small paintbrush).

Before the glue dries, let your little one assemble the paper pieces onto their picture.

Finally, ask your little one to help you write a sentence about your picture.  For example, “I like the Fall” or “The leaves are falling.”

If you and your little one make your own Tear-Art please share on The Mommy Teacher Facebook Page:

Handprint and Footprint ABCs

My sister came over yesterday with purple t-shirts and yellow-gold puff paint so that we could gear up for the Fall – cheering on our LSU Tigers.  We wanted to incorporate our kid’s handprints or footprints so we came up with this:

I will definitely be wearing this to the LSU games 🙂

So, this gave me the idea to make a book of the alphabet making each letter formation out of footprints, handprints, fingerprints, or a combination of all three.  This would be up to you and your little one to brainstorm ways to make each letter because that way it forces your little one to concentrate on the letter and problem solve in order to allow for better memory storing of the letter and letter recall.

If your little one is concentrating on letter sounds and words that begin with the letter sounds then you could make a handprint/footprint art book of pictures that start with A (angel) B (bear) and so on and so on…..if you choose to do the activity this way, I recommend this site: http://funhandprintart.blogspot.com/

If you do either one of these books, PLEASE  share pictures on the Mommy Teacher Facebook Page….I would love to see them 🙂

Journal Every Day

Today is a simple challenge to encourage you to be intentional about the writing process.   One of the first things I do for children to teach writing skills is to make a journal.  I have made writing templates for you so that all you have to do is print them and 3-whole punch them: click HERE to get them.

Every day date the top right of the page and brainstorm a topic to draw and write about.  I usually pick something that applies to our plans for the day or a reflection of what we did the night before.  Otherwise, I come up with something writing about a favorite candy or food, etc.

Then let your little one draw a picture free of any critiques or suggestions.  You can always give ideas if your little one is stumped but you dont want to squash their creative juices.  Then, guide your little one (dont dictate!) about how he/she will write: start all the way on the left side so you have room to write, write until you reach the end of the line and then start at the beginning of the next line.  Talk about spacing, height of the letters, and other print concepts, but DONT overwhelm or overteach.  Just give them tips and guidance (maybe just one new tip a day.  You will be surprised at their understandings over time.  Help them sound out words, but when you start dont focus on proper spelling, focus on the sounds they are actually hearing in the words.

If your little one asks: “So it that right?” Answer “Those are all the sounds you can hear in the word”

Later on you can show them the way that the word “looks in a book” by writing it out, but encourage them to sound out and write JUST the sounds they hear at first.

 

Drawing and Writing Printable

I got to be with my nieces for a little while yesterday, and my sweet niece Kaylee, at 5 years old asked me “Aunt Jessie, can you do some Kindergarten things with me?”  We were literally walking out the door when she asked me this and I thought, how can I say no to that? But knowing I would see her again today I said “I will bring something for us to do tomorrow when I come, okay?” She smiled and took the promise to heart.  So, the first thing I did when I got up this morning was to brainstorm some things I might bring to her.

One thing that I decided to bring was a homemade drawing and writing template because she is now at the stage where she wants to know how to spell everything.  Some children are at the point where they are only writing one word to label a picture they have drawn so I made one template with only one line under the space for the drawing.  However, some children are ready to write out one or two sentences describing their picture.  So I made a template with two lines for one sentence and three lines for another.

Writing Template with space for a few words

Writing Template with space for one sentence

Writing Template with space for two sentences

I plan to ask Kaylee to draw a picture for me and then
explain to her that the space at the bottom of the page is for her to write
about the picture.  Then, I am going to ask her to sound out the words and allow her to use inventive spelling.  Inventive spelling is when children simply write all the sounds they hear in the word.  But if they want to know how is actually spelled then I will show them the way that the word “looks in a book.”

But no matter how you use this template….as always, make it
FUN!

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