Monday, May 10, 2010

Texture Tots

This class for toddlers ages 15-36 months was all about texture. To begin we gathered in a circle and read a book filled with objects to touch. Then I had several objects out for the children to hold (cotton balls, satin, foil, marbles, rocks, sponges, etc). We talked about how these objects felt and used descriptive words to label them.

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We visited the gallery and returned to the classroom to create paintings with lots of lumps and bumps. I mixed tempera paints with sand and a little bit of cornstarch to thicken it up. What fun we had! This is a great sensory building technique that is a bit different than plain old finger paints.

We used craft sticks, combs, and forks to drag through our paint to give us extra texture! Fingers work great too!

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For this hands on fun you will need:
-canvas paper to stand up to the weight of paint
-paint
-sand or cornstarch
-craft sticks and/or other objects to apply paint

Here are some of our works.

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7 comments:

Scott said...

Such great texture! Those paintings are great. A wonderful idea to create a different type of painting experience.

Lindsay said...

oooohhhh! so excited to have found your blog. i'm currently leading a toddler art group in a rural town in eastern oregon, and i record our activities in my blog, as well. you have sooo many great ideas. i'll be sure to add you to my list of inspiring links and reference you if i use an idea! :-)

Lindsay said...

oops...meant to include a link: makebelieve-lindsay.blogspot.com

thanks!

Unknown said...

Love the texture! How did it hold up after it dries? I would like to do this for our Van Gogh paintings!

Erin Laughpaintcreate said...

Scott- Thank you! I love visiting your blog for preschool excitement!

Lindsay- Thanks so much! :) I hope you will find some useful ideas to share! Love your blog too-so fun!

Erica- It holds up fine. I would really use it on canvas paper or little canvas boards might be fun too. Another thing I like to do in a 2 part process is mixing gesso with sand and creating the texture. When it dries you can go over it with watercolors. That is fun too.

Thanks for the comments guys!

Lauren C. said...

I love this idea! I have a project in mind that this technique would be perfect for. A couple of questions if you don’t mind:
1) Did you add the cornstarch directly into the paint, or did you mix with water first?
2) Do you think the paint would hold up on canvas if rolled for transport once dry?

Jennifer Walsh said...

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