Preschool Sticker Stories

A month ago, I purchased a bunch of sticker books at A.C. Moore. I wasn't really sure what my plan for them was, but they were cute and cheap.

One afternoon I needed to get a rambunctious group of boys to settle down and called them to the table. I grabbed my set of "Big Rig" truck stickers. I told them I was going to give them each a truck sticker, but first they had to draw a road to put their truck on. As the boys added to their pictures, I gave them more stickers: traffic cones, signs, and more trucks. They were all working so hard on their pictures, but I quickly realized that more importantly they were storytelling.  I also asked them what the weather was for their trucks. Some added suns and some added storms. Several of them had elaborate stories about their trucks having to go through the cones and the storm and more.

I was pretty proud to see the rich language that came from that impromptu activity.

Several weeks later I decided to try it again, but this time I wanted to record their stories. I chose pirate stickers this time. What I love the most about these stickers is that they had both girl and boy pirates (as it should be).  I worked with them in a similar way. As they added to their picture I would hand them another sticker. Here's a monkey, so now you might need to draw a tree.  Here's a whale can you draw some waves for him. 

This was a younger group (ages 2.5 to 3.5) and their "maps" didn't look like much, 

but they had quite the stories to tell. 

In January, we are working on building language and storytelling and 

I am excited to see what other stories they come up with during this month.

The monkey is heading to the water and the ship is steering. The captain is driving the ship.
The whale is doing a backflip and a fo-fish and diving.
The pirate is a diver. And the telescope is looking for the treasure.
The monkey is heading to the jungle.  

The pirate is going to the treasure. And the pirate is going in the boat.
The pirate is going to the jungle. 

He is supposed to go to the ship and he's going to the deep deep dark in the woods.
In the jungle. He's going to the boat with his steering wheel.

The pirate can't find the treasure. That stops the pirate from danger. These things are water that gets the fire.
The fire is getting closer to the pirate. But it's not getting closer to the parrot.
So the parrot is following the way to the treasure. 

The monkey was driving the boat and then he sinked in the boat. Then he realized
the pirate came and saved him. And then a crocodile ate them. The monkey found
the treasure and the man came looking for him but the alligator ate him too quick.
And then he went to bed and had a dream about it.

The pirate is looking for treasure and a parrot. And the whale is looking for an elephant seal.
She misses her little pet seal. She's looking for that trap so she can
recognize it. 

Masking Tape Art

Every year I volunteer to set up a table at a local children's festival put on by the Children's Task Force. This festival is over two decades old and I remember attending as a child. 

Local organizations and businesses set up tables with hands on activities for children. The first few years I did paper bag puppets, pasta necklaces and things like that. I found there were often duplicates of my activities around the room. 

Several years ago I started bringing colored masking tape and black cardstock. This is such a hit every year now. 

 I am always amazed by the different ages that participate and the amazing creativity that I see.  The last couple years I have also added stickers for the smaller toddlers.

Some children sit and stick two pieces of tape and are ready to move on (there is a lot of things to do).

Some children stay at the table for A LONG time working on one picture or sometimes making several (if their parents allow them the time).

Some children come back later in the day to make a new picture (or to add details to their original).

The children use this open ended material in so many different ways that reflect their age and creative styles. For the first time this year a child (4 years old) cut up his paper and taped it back together into an animal. "Naturally" if you have tape, you must need something to tape together. 

Other creative styles I see:

Concrete images

Abstract Designs

Initials and Names

Rainbows

Patterns

Frames

Smoothed out tape

Crumpled table (intentional and not)

Kids love tape. The End.

** I purchase the tape from Discount School Supply. I prefer the 3/4" size. 

Circles, Spots and Polka Dots 2014: The Process

The Artists

These "mini me" artists were all holding on to real balloons hanging around the art show. One child had suggested "our parents can try and find us."

Printing Circles with Paint

Each day we used a smaller container and a new color of paint to add circles to this collaborative painting. The only direction they were given was not to overlap the lines. Some of the preschoolers enjoyed putting circles inside other circles and others looked for the empty spaces in between. Printing the circles encouraged the children to move slowly and using planning in their artwork.

Redesigning the Wheel

The children were each given a section of the "pie" or "wheel" to paint however they wanted. The pieces were all put back together to create a group piece of art. 

Individual Quilt Squares

For this project the children were pulled aside and asked "How do you want to decorate your square?" They got to choose what type of medium and materials they wanted to use to create circles on their square of paper. After they chose from paintbrushes, glue, printing, markers or whatever they could think up, they were asked for "their plan." The artists did not see each other's artwork until they were all finished. Lots of different methods were used and they were all displayed together.

Bright Dots on Black Paper

The children were given neon circle stickers, white reinforcement stickers and a half sheet of black cardstock. The different approaches were very fun to see. Some children did intentional patterns or rows and others just loaded as many stickers as they could. 

Circle Stacks

The children were presented with multiple sizes of circles and glue. They were encouraged to start with a big circle on bottom and get smaller towards the top. Names were not written on these and they were all added to a mobile that I helped the children hot glue together in no particular order. 

Paper Chains 

The children were given strips of colorful construction paper, markers, stickers and glue sticks. They created one or many circle links and added them to a couple group chains.  These were used to decorate the ceiling for the art show. 

Mandalas

Many of the preschoolers were very interested in creating mandalas with loose parts and also on paper with markers. They were provided with space in the classroom to create and recreate them throughout the month. A few children created some prior to the art show to leave on display.

I believe in process art. I also believe that children should have the experience of being introduced to different methods that are used for creating art.  The simplicity of using circles helps the children gain confidence as artists. We studied several famous artists that focus on circles in their artwork. Simply put, the children walked away with the message: 

If you know what a circle is 

then you can be an artist! 

Also check out our posts about the Finished Products and The Art Show 2014.

This is our post from Circles, Spots and Polka Dots 2013 and Process.

Happy Valentines Day!

Valentine's Day is a tricky holiday for many people. Some people truly embrace it as a time to show everyone around them just how much they love them. Others (myself generally included) feel that it is a overly marketed holiday. I do however LOVE making homemade cards with the kids to make for their families (and my own too). This was our fourth year celebrating Valentines Day in this fashion. We have built up quite a collection of unique materials and precut hearts, which makes it even more fun! A big THANK YOU for all of the parents who donated supplies!
The kids were so involved with the stickers this year that we never even had time to break out the glitter. I do love the way the glitter looks on the cards, but they are never dry enough for the kids to take home that day.  I did miss it a little, but what I did not miss is cleaning up glitter off everything for the next week. :)

First choose a card and paper hearts to glue on.

Next... Stickers!!!

Decorated bags for delivering

Peeling those stickers really works those finger muscles!

Some of the finished products.

Baby food jars for glue with paintbrushes.

One of my favorite preschool days of the year!