What's a simple but fun art activity for 3 year olds?

Question

I'm on teaching practice and have someone coming in to view my teaching skills tomorrow. I have to have an activity planned and I am doing art tomorrow. I know all the basic stuff like painting, print-making etc etc, but would like something simple yet a little outside of the box. Everything I think of seems a little too complicated for 3 year olds and I want something open ended not cut out and colour in type stuff. Anyone got any ideas? I did think of a large mural but don't quite konw how to go about it and it could be a bit messy inside (i have to be inside).

Answer 1

macaroni art! always a fave! or finger painting.  

Answer 2

One of the things I am going to be having on a table for my threes in a couple of weeks when school starts is give each child a piece of construction paper, there color choice. Then have the children tear other types of paper to glue to the bigger paper. It is good for small motor skill and prepares them for cutting later on. The torn papers can be put on the other paper any way they want to put it. You could also add tape to the table for older children or tape that is easy to tear.

One other small motor skill activity that I will be doing although it isn't art is jars and lids. Find different sizes of containers that have lids. Have the children match the lids to the bottoms of the jars. See if they can s***w them on or put them on correctly. Great for small motor development

Answer 3

My favorite game to play with kids is "Who can hold their breath the longest"  Everybody enjoys it.

Answer 4

you could make observation bottles. get pom poms, sequen, liquid paint to change the water colors, small shells, .... have the children place whatever they want in their bottle. then they can choose to add water or not. or even paint the bottle.

however...since it is for tomorrow, you may not be able to come up with enough plastic bottles unless you find a recycling bin somewhere. so you could also try...

-watercolors

-painting with wheels (use different cars to make different prints)

-draw a self portrait

-fold paper in half...open it...let kids put paint on the page and fold the page back together...then open it up...let the kids decide what it is...

**this is easy and open and the kids enjoy**

-collage...have a lot of various materials for them to choose from

there are a lot of art projects to do...it will depend on your specific class as well as if you have a theme or not

i hope some of these ideas help

good luck! :)

Answer 5

Have you tried playing with playdough? lay down a sheet and play in the floor .this works for me.

Answer 6

Um, I'm not a teacher or anything, but what about a giant colour-by number?

You could prepare by drawing up a simple picture (maybe a dog sitting next to a ball) on a large sheet of paper, and choosing six simple colours, labelling the sections individually 1 through to 6.

eg 1=blue

2=green

3=yellow

4=orange

5=black

6=pink

Get the kids to roll the dice, they can colour a section each with crayon

I guess this would incorporate

1. colour recognition

2. number recognition

3. cause and effect

4. hands-on group participation

5. problem soving

I dont know what you could do to keep the ones not colouring yet occupied, however... maybe a tally of how many of each number on the di comes up....???

Or you could cut out a heap of features....

eyes

ears

glasses

freckles

hair

noses

mouths

moustaches etc

and get the kids to glue them onto 'faces - two each. (paper plates). to represent how they view themselves now, and also how they imagine they will look like in twenty years time as an adult



I guess you could use wool for hair... pipecleaners for glasses... sticky dots for eyes.... etc if you dont want to pre-draw and cut out a hundered and one different features!!!!

good luck!!

Answer 7

Giant sheets of paper and any objects you can come up with and tempera paint.  (use butcher paper or plank news print). Side walk chalk, plain water on any surface. Blank paper and paint with large paint brushes is my favorite. Try the water table :)

Answer 8

Have them Imagine any thing they like, then give them crayons or water color paints and have them draw/paint it.