As part of my job, I am a preschool art teacher. I have 5 classes of three year old students and 5 classes of four year old students. I have a purple and red plastic tool box that I requisitioned from some cast off school supplies. It is now my preschool box and it goes with me when I am the traveling art teacher. The little ones are too small to come to my art room, so I go to them. I have through trial and error stocked my box with things that I find helpful.
1. Glue and Colored Glue
Good ole Elmer's Glue is in my box. I have 5 or more bottles. I do not need that much very often but glue bottles can become dysfunctional quickly and the smallkins are not very patient. A preschool art lesson needs to keep moving or the little natives will quickly degenerate into painting one another or sticking stray legos up their noses.
I have bottles of blue, pink and black glue in my box. I make the glue by adding liquid water colors to regular Elmer's glue. The black glue can be used for a quick eye ball, seeds on a sunflower, or stripes on a tiger etc. Blue can make stars, clouds, or raindrops for a textured outcome. Pink makes flowers and bunny noses, etc.
2. Glue Sticks When I am particularly brave I let the little ones use glue sticks, but I always take the lids off and prep the glue to the just the right level. I let them get up and return glue or crayons or paint brushes to a designated container when they are finished. It encourages finishing the task and gives them a real sense of pleasure and accomplishment. They love to put something away. It is also an appropriate opportunity for movement. The younger ones really desperately need that.
3. Bingo Paints or Dot Paints These are cheap and easy to carry and to use. They can be used to draw in quick leaves and stems, the center of flowers or for any thing that might need a little touch of paint.
4. Scissors It doesn't matter how much I plan and prepare, it seems that I am always needing to cut a few more dinosaur heads or flowers.
5. Googly Eyes I use hundreds of googly eyes every year. Googly eyes can make the difference between a blah project and one with just a little whimsy.
6. Small and Large Cheap Paper Plates Plates are great for paint palates that can be easily folded and thrown away. A half a paper plate can be the back of a dinosaur or a boat. Whole paper plates can be almost any animal, a flower or even a tambourine.
7. Big Paint Brushes A hundred times I have needed a paint brush or two to complete a project. Many times I bring a brush for each student depending on the project.
8. A Smiley Face stamp It could be stickers or any kind of stamp. At the end of a project I ask the students to tell me one thing about today's project. I am working on language and engagement. When they answer, they get a smiley stamp on their hand.
9. A Puppet I bring Quackers the Duck and he talks with the students at the end of a lesson. He uses up the last minutes that I have with a class. I have 30 minutes and some projects are shorter depending on how many students are there that day.
10. Baby Wipes Giving one baby wipe to each student keeps things a lot neater. Smallkins are often upset by a dot of glue or paint on their hands. At the end of class we take our projects into the hallway to dry. I send them back inside to wipe hands first and then their spot at the table. This is sometimes their favorite thing.
I prep my lessons and have the things that I need for each individual project, but these ten things have been very helpful to me.
Good ole Elmer's Glue is in my box. I have 5 or more bottles. I do not need that much very often but glue bottles can become dysfunctional quickly and the smallkins are not very patient. A preschool art lesson needs to keep moving or the little natives will quickly degenerate into painting one another or sticking stray legos up their noses.
I have bottles of blue, pink and black glue in my box. I make the glue by adding liquid water colors to regular Elmer's glue. The black glue can be used for a quick eye ball, seeds on a sunflower, or stripes on a tiger etc. Blue can make stars, clouds, or raindrops for a textured outcome. Pink makes flowers and bunny noses, etc.
2. Glue Sticks When I am particularly brave I let the little ones use glue sticks, but I always take the lids off and prep the glue to the just the right level. I let them get up and return glue or crayons or paint brushes to a designated container when they are finished. It encourages finishing the task and gives them a real sense of pleasure and accomplishment. They love to put something away. It is also an appropriate opportunity for movement. The younger ones really desperately need that.
3. Bingo Paints or Dot Paints These are cheap and easy to carry and to use. They can be used to draw in quick leaves and stems, the center of flowers or for any thing that might need a little touch of paint.4. Scissors It doesn't matter how much I plan and prepare, it seems that I am always needing to cut a few more dinosaur heads or flowers.
5. Googly Eyes I use hundreds of googly eyes every year. Googly eyes can make the difference between a blah project and one with just a little whimsy.
6. Small and Large Cheap Paper Plates Plates are great for paint palates that can be easily folded and thrown away. A half a paper plate can be the back of a dinosaur or a boat. Whole paper plates can be almost any animal, a flower or even a tambourine.
7. Big Paint Brushes A hundred times I have needed a paint brush or two to complete a project. Many times I bring a brush for each student depending on the project.
8. A Smiley Face stamp It could be stickers or any kind of stamp. At the end of a project I ask the students to tell me one thing about today's project. I am working on language and engagement. When they answer, they get a smiley stamp on their hand.
9. A Puppet I bring Quackers the Duck and he talks with the students at the end of a lesson. He uses up the last minutes that I have with a class. I have 30 minutes and some projects are shorter depending on how many students are there that day.
10. Baby Wipes Giving one baby wipe to each student keeps things a lot neater. Smallkins are often upset by a dot of glue or paint on their hands. At the end of class we take our projects into the hallway to dry. I send them back inside to wipe hands first and then their spot at the table. This is sometimes their favorite thing.
I prep my lessons and have the things that I need for each individual project, but these ten things have been very helpful to me.
