Art activities for older preschool and kindergartners (4 to 6 years)
Creative Experiences for Children 2(1+1)
Lesson 13 : Developmental Levels in Art in Children
Art activities for older preschool and kindergartners (4 to 6 years)
Older children are very interested in life beyond home and school, art activities including outside events (T.V characters or film actors) can be stimulating. Youngsters of this age paint and draw with more purpose. Designs and pictures are within their abilities. These will probably be somewhat simple, but nonetheless fun and exciting for children to do.
Painting, music and literature: Normally older preschoolers and kindergartners are very interested in music. They enjoy dancing and performing to musical accompaniments. This is a good age group for art activities with musical stimulation.
“Accidental water color” is an example of such an activity. Each child is given a large sheet of paper and instructed to apply water to the entire sheet with a brush. Then the teacher announces that the children may try water color expects that fit their mood or fantasies. Music can be used to create or influence the children’s moods.
The 1st mood might be a happy one. Children are asked to decide which colors are ‘happy’ and to moisten each of them in their water colors. When the chosen colors are wet, the children are asked to pick one with their brushes and to put it on their paper any way they want. They then choose another color and apply it, being very careful not to cover one color with another. They continue in this way until the entire paper is covered with colors that should combine in unusual ways to create a variety of brilliant “accidents”. This same method can be used with tempera or acrylic paints. They are very rich and even better for over painting. When water colors and tempera paint are both available, they may be used together. This provides variety and another form of expression. Generally, in families activities such as drawing, painting and pasting with a wide variety of resources can be encouraged.
Participants