Art Activities Archives

Sculpture Project Ideas for Preschool and Kindergarten Kids

While a lot of kids gravitate to building and sculpting in 3-D, finding an engaging sculpture project for young children can be a real challenge. We gathered sixteen winning sculpture activities from five of our favorite art bloggers.

If you don’t have fancy art supplies handy, many of these ideas will be your friend, asking you to just source the recycling bin, kitchen pantry, or garden.

These sculpture ideas will encourage your child or students to think in three dimensions as they build, imagine, and invent. In short, they foster 21st century skills of innovation and creative thinking.

Beaded Wire Sculpture with Ribbon and a Hanger, Meri Cherry

Wire Sculpture with Styrofoam Beads and Feathers, The Artful Parent

Painted Wooden Tower Sculptures, ArtBarBlog

Alexander Calder Study with Wire and a Hanger, ArtBarBlog

Gumdrop Sculpture with Toothpicks, TinkerLab

Magnet Sculpture, Babble Dabble Do

Recycled Sculpture with a Glue Gun, TinkerLab

Sugar Cube Sculpture with Cardboard, TinkerLab

Colorful Ice Sculptures, The Artful Parent

Art Assemblage with Pinecones and Pasta, ArtBarBlog

Clay Sea Turtles, Buddy and Buggy

Plaster Balloon Sculpture, The Artful Parent

Edible Art Grape and Toothpick Sculpture, The Artful Parent

Foam Strip Sculpture, Buddy and Buggy

Crayon Art Sculpture, Meri Cherry

Wood Sculpture with Paint, Meri Cherry

What is Process Art for kids?

By Rachelle 1 Comment

The greatest sign of success for a teacher…is to be able to say, “The children are now working as if I did not exist.” -Maria Montessori

What is Process Art?

Process Art is art that is child-directed, choice-driven, and celebrates the experience of discovery. In process art, the final product is always unique and the focus lies in the creation of the work, not the outcome.

What are the benefits of process art?

There are so many benefits to process art! Process art is developmentally appropriate for young children because meets them where they are as sensory explorers.

Through process art, children…

will think creatively, independently, and imaginatively
will learn about the physical limitations and possibilities of materials.
are encouraged to use creative and critical thinking skills.
will gain confidence to realize their own ideas.
are motivated to ask questions and experiment.
will embrace experimentation and mistakes as part of the learning process.

Why adults love process art

As much as process art is age appropriate and engaging for young makers, parents and educators generally find that process art is easier to facilitate than product-focussed art lessons.

Here are a few reasons why:

Adults facilitate projects and act as co-learners, so they don’t have to hold all the answers. In fact, not knowing the answers can be a huge benefit because it gives adults room to play and experiment themselves.
Process-focussed projects don’t require a lot of fancy set up or unique materials that are hard to come by. This saves both time and money.
Because the goal of process art is to explore and discover, rather than achieve perfection, adults are also emotionally free to support whatever the child dreams up as an ideal solution or end result. No fighting, tears, or half-completed projects.

How to facilitate a process art experience

Offer self-serve supplies that the child can easily use independently
Allow children to come and go as they please
Provide interesting art materials
Allow the child to follow his or her interests
Be playful and joyful in the art-making process
Ask open-ended questions and make objective comments about the child’s artwork

Process Art vs. Product Art

Sometimes I’ll hear people talk about process art versus product art as if they’re opposing ideas. In some sense they are, and I’ll explain what that’s about in a moment. First, however, I’d like to dispel a myth that process and product can’t work together, when in fact they can!

When people pit process against product, they’re generally referring to how children make art. Process art’s goals relate to what happens during the art sessions, while product art’s goals relate to the final outcome.

Something I’d like you to keep in mind with all of this is that we shouldn’t think about process and product as polar opposites because product is almost always embedded in process. When a child goes through the process of making a work of art, it’s likely that he or she has an idea, question, curiosity, or even product in his or her mind. It may not be evident to us as viewers, but there’s always an intention behind the process, and sometimes that intention connects to a final product.

This isn’t really what people are getting at, however, when they talk about process versus product. The debate is actually about the intention behind the art experience itself. Let’s take a look at the breakdown in terms of how a process project and a product project might look…

Process Art…

is Child directed
celebrates the experience of discovery
has unique outcomes with no two pieces looking alike

Product Art…

is adult driven
offers the child clear steps that have to be followed
has a specific outcome in mind
expects the final product to look like a sample
has expectations around a right and wrong way to do it

Five of our favorite process art activities

Watercolor Paint on Doilies: Process Art with a Beautiful Outcome – ages 3 and up

Collage with Leaves, Glue, and Cardboard – ages 3 and up

Sticking Tape to Paper Bags – ages 2 and up

Office Stickers inside a Drawn Frame – ages 2 and up

Cookie Sheet Monoprints with Tempera Paint – ages 2 and up

May Art Challenge from TinkerLab

By Rachelle 3 Comments

May Art Challenge

It’s time for the May Art Challenge! 🎨🗓Each month, we follow a set of art prompts that are open to interpretation. Our goal is to build an art practice that helps us explore new ideas and experience joy through self expression. Sometimes we need a little boost to remind us to create!

All ages and skill levels are welcome. I’m trying something new this month with a calendar format. Do you prefer this or the previous list style? LMK!

If you have children or if you’re a teacher, these prompts are made for you. 👩‍👧Share the daily prompt with your child and see what they come up with! 💫We’re also fans of setting up side-by-side collaborative sketchbook time, and even pure “me time” if you need your own little art break. 🤫📝

Don’t worry if you miss days…just join us when you can. Inspire your imagination to fly and leave perfection at the door. This is all about process, play, and experimentation.

Grab the May Art Challenge image and save to your phone or desktop. Print it out and glue into your art journal. Re-share on your Instagram wall. Post to Facebook. Art challenges are more fun with friends, so be sure to ask a buddy to join you.

No experience necessary. Kids and adults welcome.

💃🏼HOW TO PLAY >>
1. Find a sketchbook or stack of paper. Beyond that, use any materials you like. Paint, pencil, collage papers, dirt. It’s up to you. You could even go paper-free and make this a photo challenge.

2. If you’re on Instagram, you can follow and join the challenge there, too. Tag me @tinkerlab so I can reshare your posts in my stories. Upload your photos with the hashtags #tinkerlabartchallenge and #tinkersketch > May Art Challenge on Instagram

3. Invite friends to join you because, well, it’s more fun with friends. Plus, an accountability partner will keep you going. 💫👯‍♀️

4. Have fun!

Starts May 1.

Cut and Paste Prompt List for the May Art Challenge

If you’d rather cut and paste the list into a document or something else, here’s the full list for the May Art Challenge:

Giant
Bump
Water
Window
Sparkle
Old
Straight
Time
Mask
Multiple
Cloud
Boundary
Sand
Sweet
Drop
Moon
Angle
Square
Road
Arrow
Wrong
Salty
Curves
Puzzle
Shadow
Active
Secret
Monochrome
North
Welcome
Doodle

FAQ

What is the TinkerSketch Art Challenge?

TinkerSketch is a daily sketchbook practice that invites you to experiment and play with ideas and materials in a low-stress, fun, and mind-stretching way.

Who is this Art Challenge for?

Anyone who wants a creative art boost. The stakes are low and it’s super easy to do, even if you have no experience or low confidence with making.

How much time will it take?

While you can spend as much time at this as you like, just set aside 5-10 minutes each day and you’re in business.

I need some tips for carving out 5-10 minutes

Carry a sketchbook in your bag and pull it out when you’re waiting in line
Designate “creative time” where you and your child draw in sketchbooks side-by-side
Wake up a little earlier than usual. You can make this more pleasant by lighting a candle, brewing tea, and sitting with your sketchbook for a few minutes before the rest of your home wakes up

What’s the goal?

Improve your drawing, painting, mark-making skills
Try and explore new ways of art-making
Land on new ideas that wouldn’t have emerged otherwise
Have fun
Model creative thinking for your child (if you’re a parent or teacher)
Celebrate the imperfection of your ideas
Think creatively

What Tools Will I Need?

A sketchbook or a ream of paper. Even post-its or old receipts will work.
Mark-making tools like pens and pencils
Paint and brush
“Attaching” materials such as glue and tape will come in handy
Collage materials such as scrap paper, newspaper, old homework, or magazines.
Anything else that strikes your fancy. We’ve used hole punchers, chalk markers, tea, and okra (they make beautiful stamps).

See our Resources Page for a full list of recommended supplies for tinkering, art journal keeping, and art making with kids.

Can I see Examples of How this Works?

To see images from TinkerSketch past, click over here or search Instagram for #tinkersketch. You’ll see so many inspiring entries.

How do I interpret the prompts?

You can interpret the daily prompts however you want. “Drips” to one person may mean flicking watercolors off a toothbrush and to another person it might mean covering a page in marker and then leaving the page outside on a drizzly morning. You can take the prompts literally or not — this is completely up to you.

Creative Picks – No.3

By Rachelle Leave a Comment

Dogs and people — two of my favorite things. I like to kick off our Picks with creative inspo and this one cracks me up. Want to know more? Read on in pick number 7 below 😉

Photo: Stephen McMennemy (Instagram)

I have a fun collection of design inspiration, open-ended art projects (my favorite), science news, and creativity prompts for you today. I’ll start with a few from TinkerLab…

Do you have a young child who likes to paint? New on the TinkerLab blog is a roundup of ten open-ended painting provocations that encourage creative thinking.
Now that it’s officially spring (!), it’s making me think about Earth Day (April 22). Check out this massive list of 50 Earth Day Activities for something that’s sure to inspire your family or students.
Related, spring is a great time to start thinking about how to utilize a garden or outdoor area for creativity. This three-part article shows you how to set up a mud kitchen, mud kitchen accessory ideas, and creative ways to shop for your mud kitchen.
This will blow your mind: an underwater restaurant, Under, five and a half meters below the ocean’s surface opened this week in Norway. If nothing else, look at the photo on the home page. No surprise it’s fully booked for the next six months!
Have you ever wanted to sleep in a shipping container? Flophouze in Round Top, Texas offers an opportunity to stay in their uber-stylish, super modern shipping container hotel. They even have a shipping container pool. Feeling DIY? They’ll show you how you can build your own container home.
Caslon, Bodoni, Garamond, Cooper Black, and Baskerville. What’s behind these popular typeface names? Fast Company shares a new book, The Designer’s Dictionary of Type, and divulges the history of these 5 typefaces for us to enjoy. I didn’t realize that Garamond has been around since 1532!
Stephen McMennamy’s collage photo combinations (see above) are not only hilarious and sometimes profound, they can inspire your kids to come up with their own clever combinations. Take a look at his Instagram feed and you’ll be hooked. The videos are captivating, especially the girl with the dog-wagging ponytail.
Misophonia: have you heard of it? I remember my mom, who was hyper sensitive to sounds, getting upset when my brother and I chewed (loudly, maybe) gum in the car. Turns out that some people get enraged when other’s make sounds, and NPR tells us more about it in this article.
Let me preface this one by saying that I had no idea pocket projectors (a tiny projector that attaches to a phone and shines on the image on a wall) are a thing. Just the idea of it is amazing, and now I’m caught up with the 21st century. So, you have to check out this really cool idea for using a pocket projector as a tool for a light provocation for young children. (Fairy Dust Teaching)
This is a clever idea for creating Mondrian-style circle art from old maps. You just need some maps (or other black and white images) and markers to pull this off. Scroll down a few images to see the maps, although the other ideas are intriguing as well. (Imagination Box)

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this, be sure to sign up for our newsletter.

p.s. Have you been inspired by anything this week? Tell us about it in the comments and we may share it next week.

Engaging Painting Provocations for Kids

By Rachelle 2 Comments

What is an Art Provocation?

An Art Provocation, also called an Invitation to Create, is a thoughtfully set up prompt that provokes children to create, ask questions, test ideas, and think independently, all while exploring with art materials.

The adult’s role in the art provocation to create is to set the materials up, ask provocative questions such as “I wonder what we can create with these supplies?” or challenges such as “How can we use these materials to paint something that flies?” Once the materials are set and the question/s posed, the child is free to explore and manipulate the materials however he or she desires.

Provocations cross disciplines and come in multiple forms. For example, if a child demonstrated an interest in owls, you could set up a book about owls alongside drawing paper and colored pencils. Or, you could set up Owl Pellets on a tray with tweezers, gloves, and a diagrams of what could be found inside the pellets. Our favorite painting provocations are easy to set up and don’t require a lot of elaborate supplies.

10 Painting Provocations for Kids

Here are ten engaging Painting Provocations that you can try today. Look over these projects with your child or students in mind. What are they interested in and asking questions about? If the weather is warm and you’re talking about temperature, you might enjoy Frozen Chalk Paint. If leaves are falling in your area, you might like to try ArtStart with Paint, Tape, and Leaves.

The idea is simple: set up the materials, ask a few questions to get your child interested and engaged, and then invite him or her to create. Kids always appreciate making alongside their adults and mentors, so you can play too if the spirit moves you.

Frozen Chalk Paint

Invitation to Create with CD’s and Paint Pens

Doily Painting Process Art Project

Bubble Painting Process Art

ArtStart with Paint, Tape, and Leaves

Creative Invitation with Paint and Looping Lines

Blown Straw Painting in Preschool

Rolling Rock Painting

Pipette Squeezed Tissue Wrapping Paper

Mixed Media painting on Wood Panel

April Art Challenge

By Rachelle 4 Comments

Join me for a month of open-ended art making in the April TinkerSketch Art Challenge.

I have some exciting news to share!

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may remember the TinkerSketch art challenge. This month-long challenge invited makers of all ages to show up for a daily dose of art making. The open-ended prompts could be interpreted in numerous ways and sketches only needed to take 5 minutes. The best part was seeing all of the experiments, iterations, and while it wasn’t the goal, works of real beauty.

In the process of writing my second book and creating a preschool art class, this fun project had to take a little rest. But I missed it so. The paint, sketchbooks, splotches, rips, creative thinking. All of it.

And now, sweet friends, I’m bringing the TinkerSketch Art Challenge back! I can’t promise it will stick around for ages, but my hope is that it will. Next month brings the beginning of my next book project, but I already have May’s prompts in the hopper, so stick around and join me for what promises to be an enriching month of making.