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This weeks playful preschool theme is life cycles.
My kids love the book hungry caterpillar so my first thought was to do something along these lines.
Remember you can follow along on social media by using the hashtag #playfulpreschool and check the bottom of this post for more ideas from the team!
I tried various art methods with the kids on this one. First up I made 4 circles and we read the the hungry caterpillar to refresh our story (like we needed to!) Next we drew the 4 stages. This would be great if your preschooler is good at making pictures. Mine got frustrated and handed me the pencil. So those are mommy drawings. haha (these are A2 papers, 2x the size of a letter)
The next step is to color in the creations bringing them to life. My kids don’t seem to like the coloring in thing so I got the water paints out.
My 5 year old deemed that butterfly too small so I drew a bigger one for him.
But before we had fun with the drawing and painting we had tried a sticking collage type activity. We got as far as sticking the leaf with the egg and the caterpillar with an apple before the kids got bored of this sticking business and ran off.
Maybe your kids would enjoy this idea? (those bits are crepe paper)
The resultant art was not too bad looking, you can still tell its an apple! 🙂
See sometimes teaching the kids about things goes a bit wonky but that is ok, do what you can and take into consideration alternatives based on your childs preferences. Like mine are not keen to color in so i gave water paints. Most of all, have fun!
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More Activities for Explore Life Cycles with Kids from the #PLAYfulPreschool Education Team
Butterfly Life Cycle Activities for Kids
Butterfly Life Cycle Story Board by Growing Book by Book
Life Cycle of the Butterfly in Art by Powerful Mothering
Playdough Butterfly Life Cycle by Learning 2 Walk
Butterfly Life Cycle Craft Necklace by Fun-A-Day
Ladybug Life Cycle Activities for Kids
Ladybug Life Cycle Song by Capri +3
Ladybug Life Cycle Activities and Sensory Play by Natural Beach Living
Frog Life Cycle Activities for Kids
Life Cycle of a Frog Sensory Bin by Mom Inspired Life
Fine-Motor Frog Life Cycle Craft by Live Over C’s
Frog Life Cycle Hopscotch by Tiny Tots Adventures
Frog Life Cycle Craft by Still Playing School
Mealworms Life Cycle Activities for Kids
Studying Mealworms with Kids by Raising Lifelong Learners
Sea Turtle Life Cycle Activities for Kids
Sea Turtle Life Cycle – Ordering by Rainy Day Mum
Praying Mantis Life Cycle Activities for Kids
Raise a Praying Mantis | Activities for Kids to Explore Life Cycles by The Educators’ Spin On It
Still Playing School says
The crepe paper looks like fun!
Jodie @ Growing Book by Book says
I love the idea of turning the life cycle into an art project. It allows the kids to focus longer on the learning!
Danielle says
These are great! I love that you shared how the whole process went. I often have to change things midway through an activity because it’s not going the way I hoped. Sometimes the best learning happens on the fly!
Theresa says
Those are great art projects. I loved reading about how your kids reacted to each one. : 0 )
Kim says
It’s always great to be reminded that other people have kids who don’t love every single project with think of! Thanks for sharing!
Cerys says
Fantastic different art media for kids – and I love your drawings as well
Natasha says
Love art projects! Their great for quite time and I will be doing this one for some quite time activity.
Amanda says
I love the use of different mediums. This activity could be spread out a little bit each day for the whole learning week.