Normally art around here is basically free play. We get out the paints, play dough or crayons with little to no direction. But today I decided we were going to make more of lesson out it. So with aprons on, paper in front of them, I read the story “Mouse Paint” by Ellen Walsh. I then placed out red, blue and yellow paint. We each painted “mice” in the primary colors… and then mixed the paints to produce the secondary colored ‘puddles’ from the book.
I think all the kids enjoyed having a more structured art assignment and I am going to try and incorporate more lessons in art (or maybe more to the point… more art in lessons). Not all the time though. I still think they need plenty of free time with art, but maybe once a week I will have a destination in mind when we start.
I think it is fun to see the difference in the art produced from the kids at very different stages (spread over 3.5 years). My example is the one on top, then ‘A’, ‘L’ and ‘B’s.
