Textures: 18 months to 2 years

Here are some paintings and collages from my class on textures. My students are between 2 and 3 years. I really like how they captured the various textures with the paint. Their marks are so free and spontaneous. Why can't I create like this anymore?

Green 18 months- 2 years

Here are some sample paintings from my students. We were learning about green, and I gave them some different painting materials. After we spread out and mixed the paint I asked them if they wanted to try drawing with forks. The class was very excited to give it a try, and I think their results show how much fun they were having. Their marks are so loose. They love to draw circles, and that also comes out in the paintings.

Words of Inspriation

When students are dependent on the teacher, they are not committed to their work, and initiative is lost...The artist profits from the possibility of failure in perhaps having to redirect work. The student has no such option. The typical art lesson is designed so that by simply completing it, students will succeed-succeed, at least, in expressing the purposes of the teacher.
~Encouraging Creativity in Art Lessons by George Szekely

Fall Collage: Pre K

It's Fall, and so many natural materials are at our finger tips. Here are some collages I made with my 3-4 year old students. I love the freedom in the compositions.

Inspirational Quotes

By avoiding paintbrushes and letting children experiment with applying painting to surfaces in other ways, we can make them aware of the many different ways of making paint move and how their own movements affect the color patterns they make... They can apply it with brushes not intended for paint- hairbrushes, toothbrushes, vacuum cleaner brushes, scrub brushes, shoe brushes...A wide variety of types of paint should be available, from house paints and stains to nail polishes and Jel-O, and a variety of surfaces on which to paint.
~George Szekely

Encouraging Creativity in Art Lessons

The show-and-tell occasions at the beginning of a period, in which students present their finds and discuss their ides for using them, provide a ready-made opportunity for displaying and examining materials...Any classroom surface can be used for displays.