Tricks and Treats Blog Hop: Painting in PreK!

I'm participating in a fun blog hop to welcome in October, thanks to Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten!  Check it out this weekend for great teacher "tricks" that will make your life easier and a "treat" from each blog!  I'm sharing a trick I just recently starting using in my class...and I'm not sure why I haven't been doing this all along!  This is a simple idea, but I often forget about it every time we begin a new theme.

My kids love to paint during our center time, I normally supply them with large paper, paintbrushes, a few jars of paint, and let the creativity fly.  Lately I've been reading lots of posts on directed drawings...an interesting idea but not age appropriate for all of my students (yet).  I decided to start simple, with directed painting!

Let's paint an apple! Sitting down with the kids and painting this apple step-by-step made a huge difference, compared with just displaying  a picture of an apple in my painting center.  I'll definitely allow the kids to paint freely from time to time, but they have such a sense of pride in their pictures when I give them a little direction. Check out these apples...

This little guy was having some fun!  

I'm loving these paintings, not bad for pre-kindergarteners in September! I guessing that the "Art Center" will be probably popular this year!  I hope that you're able to use this trick in your classroom, and here's a little treat for you, too!

Check out this FREE Apple ABC Pocket Chart Game in my TpT store.  My students love to "hide the worm" behind the letters, then take turns identifying the letters to find the worm!  We play this game together as a group, and then add it to our literacy center for independent and partner play. I hope that you can use this game in your classroom.  Enjoy hopping through for more tricks and treats!

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