Through stimulating art activities, educators and parents can harness children’s natural inquisitiveness. Encourage children to engage with open-ended sensory experiences (like Squish and Squeeze) which strengthen problem solving skills as children learn to make sense of their world. Browse our art activities for infants, toddlers and preschoolers created by experts in early childhood care and education.
During winter, or any other time where there is inclement weather that keeps children indoors, it can be difficult to find ways to keep children entertained, learning, and focusing their energy in positive ways. Not to fear! Banish Boredom is here! Check out these three activities from the book that you can save for a day with inclement weather to create some excitement indoors!
Movement and Play Art Lesson Planning Science Seasonal Learning: WinterDuring the winter holiday season, it's nice for children to slow down, reflect on the holidays, and express their creativity through arts and crafts. In this activity, children will do just that as they make "holiday lights" with colored cellophane through holes punched in trees. Get plenty of activities written by teachers for teachers like this one in The GIANT Encyclopedia of Art & Craft Activities for Children 3 to 6!
printable Art Seasonal Learning: Winter Individual ChildIn this activity, children will learn more about Kwanza and make their own symbolic corn out of paper. The name for the holiday of Kwanzaa is derived from the Swahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza” which means “first fruits." Munhundi means corn. The corn represents the children of a family (one ear of corn for each child). The corn symbolizes the parents' wish for the child to grow up strong and happy!
printable Art Seasonal Learning: Winter Large GroupIn this holiday art activity, children will create their own bright and fun garland decoration to drape over a window or mantel, hang on a Christmas tree, or drape around an entire clasroom! Like all the activities featured in MaryAnn's Khol's book, Art with Anything: 52 Weeks of Fun Using Everyday Stuff, this activity stresses the "process of art" rather than the end product.
Art Seasonal Learning: WinterArt with toddlers and two-year-olds is about the process, not the product! The art process allows toddlers and twos to explore, discover, and manipulate their worlds. Sometimes the process can be sensory, such as feeling slippery cool paint on bare fingers. Other times it is a mysterious surprise as colors blend unexpectedly or a blob of playdough takes form. Art process can be a way to “get the wiggles out” or to smash a ball of clay instead of another child. The adult’s job is simply to allow this process to happen! Check out the process art activities below from the book First Art for Toddlers and Twos: Open-Ended Art Experiences by MaryAnn Khol. In these activities, the adult simply provides interesting materials, and then sits back to watch closely but unobtrusively as children explore the endless possibilities of creating art.
ArtWith colder weather taking over, it's only a matter of time before snowflakes begin falling from the sky! In this activity from Everything for Winter: A Complete Activity Book for Teachers of Young Children, children will use fine-motor skills to cut patterns in paper to create their own unique snowflakes. Take the learning experience even further by talking about how snowflakes form from tiny ice crystals in the clouds or by discussing how each snowflake is completely unique & special, just like people. Allow the children to tape their snowflake creations to the windows to enjoy the beauty of their own work throughout the winter season!
Art Seasonal Learning: WinterThanksgiving is fast approaching, which means it’s time for food, family, and fall fun! What better way to kick off this holiday than with some exciting craft activities that encourage children to express creativity while having some festive fun? From cornucopias to everyone’s favorite foods, Thanksgiving is full of symbols that children can create using simple art materials while they also reflect on the people and things they are grateful for.
Here are some craft ideas from The GIANT Encyclopedia of Monthly Activities for Children Ages 3 to 6 that young children ages 3 to 6 are sure to gobble up!
Art Seasonal Learning: FallInspire young children's creativity by allowing them to use natural elements in their art pieces with this multi-media fall placemats activity featured in The GIANT Encyclopedia of Monthly Activities For Children 3 to 6. Once the placemats are laminated, allow the children to use them at snack time or take them home for Thanksgiving. Children will enjoy seeing that their art can also be practical and functional!
printable Art Seasonal Learning: Fall Large GroupThe arts help develop a loose-parts mindset in many ways, such as developing imagination, creativity, and collaboration. Adding the arts helps develop more divergent thinking, with no one correct answer but many possibilities. Including the arts in STEM moves beyond decoration to embracing a wide variety of artistic applications in the learning process. The arts encourage cognitive growth, engage the brain, enhance long-term memory, advance creativity, and minimize stress. Young learners will be excited and fascinated by this light "painting" loose-parts activity that combines both art and technology. Get the book—Loose Parts Learning in K-3 Classrooms—for more on implementing the loose-parts mindset as well as loose-parts activities in each of the STREAM disciplines.
Art TechnologyResearch indicates that when we engage younger children in the STEAM fields, we are promoting inquiry-based thinking and a discovery mentality. Teaching young children STEAM play is a way of teaching them how to research, think, and create as open-ended play becomes part of their early experiences. In addition to these benefits, introducing STEAM concepts using a multisensory approach and in a playful way gives young children a competitive advantage and sets a strong foundation for future study habits.
The good news is that you don’t have to be an expert, a researcher, or a scientist to get your child excited about STEAM careers and STEAM thinking. Remember, most STEAM learning is about exploring and learning from your exploration—so why not explore together? Check out these two exciting STEAM activities below from Simple Steam: 50+ Science Technology Engineering Art Math Activities for ages 3 to 6, and get the book for many more explorations and activities that will inspire your child’s fundamental learning in each of the STEAM experiments.
Math Art Science TechnologyIf you’re looking for infant, preschooler and toddler art projects, Gryphon House’s free activities supplement your current curricula with fun and exciting activities. Through hands-on creative art experiences, children hone skills that help them learn math, science, and literature.
Uncover children’s enthusiasm for creative thinking with art activities for infants and preschoolers. Parents and teachers can encourage healthy early childhood language development by talking throughout the process of each activity. Because children learn language best from slow repetition, parents can use the same activity multiple times to sharpen children’s vocabulary.
Improve toddler and preschoolers’ social skills among their peers with collaborative and engaging art activities that encourage social interaction. Gryphon House art activities challenge children to adapt, interact, and explore by using teacher-inspired art resources.
Watch children explore and experience the world with our art activities from our award-winning early childhood education authors. To stay up-to-date on new activities and best practices for early childhood care and education, follow us on Facebook or Pinterest. We always update our followers with the best games, craft ideas, and more for children in infancy to early elementary school.
Browse through lists, author interviews, excerpts, and articles that connect theory and best practice in early childhood education.
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