Every month at our center we learn & explore different famous artists from around the world. Since art is a fundamental component of early childhood, more exposure to various forms of art lets children see the beauty around them & in others. Art can be rooted in history & a catalyst for change in culture, which is why it is so important to introduce children to all different forms of art. This month we have been learning about the artist Frida Kahlo. We have been looking at her famous self portraits, still life, paintings, & reading many stories about her. We read the book Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos which inspired us to let the children create her unique blue house "Casa Azul." Frida Kahlo spent most of her life here, and after she passed it became a museum for everyone to see her personal objects, paintings, sculptures, photos, documents, books, & furnishings that was a huge part of what inspired her to create. While children’s books open children’s eyes to differences, actual experiences have the most profound influence on what children think & believe. The integration of literacy, arts, & an experience such as this strengthens literacy skills, provides a deeper connection to the context, & fosters creative thinking. We used recycled cardboard boxes to create "Casa de Azul," & invited the children to paint it blue just like Frida's house. Cardboard is such a versatile material that provides a great surface to paint on. Since it comes in so many different sizes, textures, & shapes it allows the children to explore art in a different medium, use their imagination to think of a range of ways to paint cardboard boxes, & promotes collaboration as the children can work together to paint and talk about what they are creating. Experiences such as this will empower them to be creative, develop a sense of culture, and become aware of the beauty in the world around them. Here are other ways to explore Frida Kahlo: Invitation to Create Frida Kahlo Nature Portraits with Loose Parts Frida Goes to Preschool

To continue our insect exploration this month, we invited the children to get hands on with bugs, natural materials (dirt, wood rounds, flowers, leaves, pinecones), and more on our tuff trays. Typically in our centers these invitations are set both indoors and outdoors to simply ignite their curiosity and wonder about the world. Every child is welcomed to engage in whatever area they desire. These invitations are merely intentional provocations and extensions of what we read during circle/story or what they are currently interested in. Since we have been reading so many insect books we set out this Insect small world play accompanied with sensory materials as a way for extending literacy, language, imaginary play, & tactile play. Through this play they can reenact what they see in stories, shows, experiences, & environments around them to deepen their understanding of the world. This type of play can be defined as where children accept & assign roles, then act them out. When children engage in small world play they break through the walls of reality, use their imagination, pretend to be someone or something different from themselves, explore different worlds, & have actions to go along with the roles they have chosen to play. Play is an integral part of the developmental learning process by allowing children to develop skills in such areas as abstract thinking, literacy, math, & social studies, in a timely natural manner. They are able to play and manipulate a variety of materials and textures that stimulate their mind & body while deepening their connection & understanding of the world.

We read the story "Ramen for Everyone" by Patricia Tanumihardja (Author), Shiho Pate (Illustrator) that we got from Books Inc. The story is about a boy Hiro who loves to make his dads ramen recipe with his own creativity and uniqueness. Did you know ramen was born when the Chinese noodle dish came to Japan and fused with Japanese cuisine? Since May is American Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage month this book is great to expose a child to food from asian cultures. Food plays an integral role in our lives. Food is one of the ways we connect to other cultures as well as our own. The food we eat is intertwined with culture/traditions and many of our favorite memories are associated with gathering during special celebrations to enjoy food. By exploring and learning about different foods from around the world children can learn a lot about a particular culture. The more we are inclusive about celebrating and exposing cultures in classrooms or our homes from a young age, the more understanding, respect, acceptance we provide for everyone within our communities. After reading the story we invited the children to use chopsticks and yarn to paint with "ramen noodles" on paper. We provided butcher paper, paint, chopsticks + yarn & invited the children to pick up the "ramen noodles" with their chopsticks, dip it in the paint, & create it uniquely just like Hiro did in the story. Using chopsticks can be tricky for children to master, but they often come up with their own creative ways of using them. Chopsticks can help children to work on hand-dominance, pre-handwriting skills, & improve their grasp in a fun & exciting manner. It is always interesting to see the way each child thinks creatively as they explore the paint & with the tools. They are able to enhance their hand-eye coordination, fine motor development, experimenting & exploring with a new paint tool, sense of achievement and pride, color recognition, sensory experience, & best of all expressing themselves. Part of exploring any art activity is getting a bit messy. Children use their whole body & all their senses to explore new materials, it is how they learn about their world.

To continue learning and exploring about all things bugs we invited the children to learn about the life cycle of a butterfly. We read the pop-up Butterfly book that we got from Books Inc. The story shows the different stages of a butterfly’s life cycle: eggs on a leaf, caterpillars hatching, a chrysalis, a butterfly emerging, and eggs being laid all over again. This book is great for the introduction to the topic of life cycles, the different stages of a butterfly’s life, vocabulary about habitats and animal life. After reading the story we drew out the outlines of the life cycle of the butterfly on butcher paper and provided loose parts (wood bits, wood rounds, wood circles, translucent pebbles, grappats, translucent shapes, butterflies, foraged leaves/twigs/flowers) for the children to freely create on all the lines. Providing loose parts to decorate and create on butcher paper inspires the children to think more creatively while providing endless opportunities to continuously stimulate their curiosity and wonder about the world. Since loose parts are dynamic in nature, it brings about the authenticity of formulating ideas and you can see a child's creativity shine in their creations. As they created the different parts of the life cycle, more discussion opened up in detail about the butterflies, the children created patterns, compared the different materials they were using, counted and sorted the loose parts, collaborated together to create, all while learning more about the insects.

American Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage month has so many great opportunities to expose a child to the vast array of cultures. Food plays an integral role in our lives. Food is one of the ways we connect to other cultures as well as our own. The food we eat is intertwined with culture/traditions and many of our favorite memories are associated with gathering during special celebrations to enjoy food. By exploring and learning about different foods from around the world children can learn a lot about a particular culture. The story Tomatoes for Neela by Padma Lakshmi, illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal that we got from Books Inc. is about Neela who loves cooking Indian food with her Amma (Mother) in memory of her paati (Grandmother). In the story she learns about all the different kinds of tomatoes they can pick from to make her paati's favorite tomato chutney sauce. After reading the story we invited the children to explore all kinds of different tomatoes just like Neela in the book. We used our five senses smell, sight, touch, feel, and taste to examine all the different sizes, colors, textures, and tastes. The more we are inclusive about celebrating and exposing cultures in classrooms or our homes from a young age, the more understanding, respect, acceptance we provide for everyone within our communities. There is so much beauty in the traditions of cultures from around the world and children deserve to experience it. Here are other invitations to explore American Asian and Pacific Island Heritage Month: Invitation to Create Sweet Treats Dim Sum for Everyone Collaborative and Animal Yayoi Kusama I Am Golden, Lunar New Year Mix Media Collage Taste of Lunar New Year Invitation to Create Lunar New Year Dragons Invitation to Create Lunar New Year Lanterns and Firecrackers Lunar New Year Cuisine Sensory Bin Exploration Lucky Animals PlayTray Ten Little Dumplings Invitation to Create Lunar New Year Lanterns Invitation to Create Cherry Blossoms Lunar New Year Mandarin Orange Sensory Soup A Big Mooncake for Little Star Invitation to Play Bee-bim Bop! Diwali Rangoli Art Invitation to Create Just Like Ruth Asawa STEM Hanami

It is that time of year again where we go to Encinal Nursery and get ladybugs to learn more about insects during the spring season. The whole month of May we are reading and learning about a whole bunch of different insects, today was all about ladybugs! To set this invitation we used our Excellerations magnifying from Discount School Supply, foraged some leaves + flowers from our garden, and placed everything in a sensory bin. For this invitation we simply let the child observe and explore the ladybugs with their magnifying glass on the different natural materials. With children in the early years the idea of science is to explore, observe, investigate, test their own theories, learn about the world, and nurture wonder and curiosity in anything they do. Our job as adults is to scaffold, answer questions, and intentionally provide developmentally appropriate knowledge when needed in order to support their process. Children are born scientists, they have a powerful capability of figuring out the world, therefore to continue to support their love for learning, providing experiences such as this continues to ignite a child's curiosity and wonder about the fascinating world around them.

Our annual Pre-K Class of 2023 Art Walk Silent Auction was magical! We are so proud of the beautiful art work all the children created and more importantly to be able to showcase that #everychildisanartist! Each child from every age group in our centers made their own individual canvases along with collaborative pieces. They explored and created with so many techniques, mediums, processes, textures, and inspirations from famous artists, books, and the wonders of the world. All of the supplies we used were pretty much from Discount School Supply, recyclable materials, and thrifted items that were repurposed! Here is what we did a couple years ago.

Painting is a way for children to explore and accomplish many important milestones. They convey ideas, express emotions, use their senses, enhance their awareness of color, explore processes & outcomes, provide fine motor skill refinement, and it lets children create in any way they desire. This process art invitation was a two part series. We first invited the children to freely paint with the watercolors on construction paper. After their water color painting dried, we created a collaborative collage. Out of Colorations clear glue and black liquid water colors that we mixed into a condiment container, that created black glue which we let the children create abstract designs on top of the collage to create more texture. Water colors are an interesting medium since it is a painting material that can form many connections and ideas of how the painting process works for them. Water color has a clarity of color that is transparent which makes it versatile and gives the children countless different shades of the same color. They can build richness into the colors, mix the colors, layer the colors, lighten the colors, which lets the child truly experiment and create on their own. Opportunities for creative thinking with a material such as water colors promotes inquiry, reflection, critical thinking skills, ability to interpret and respond in insightful ways in whatever they put their mind to. Glue is a secret staple in art, and there is more to using glue than attaching or adhering. Since it comes in a variety of forms (liquid, hot, sticks, glitter, colored) and types for a variety of circumstances, it is a material that sometimes can go unnoticed as an exciting element. We used the glue to add more texture and abstract designs to our collaborative watercolor collage.

There is no denying that children love to use their imagination especially during pretend play! A fun way to enhance your dramatic play area, is by changing it up with a creative theme. Since Spring is here setting up a flower filled + coffee shop dramatic play space which is a great way to explore the season through role playing . Discount School Supply #gifted the Environments® Washer/Dryer + Sink with the Bioplastic Coffee Set and we enhanced the area with spring items such as fake flowers, vases, a basket, coffee set, sweets/treats, window decor, and more. After providing these items to ignite their imagination even more we invited the children to PLAY! Dramatic play is a crucial part of early childhood. Since possibilities are truly limitless in pretend play it encourages a child to use their imagination in its truest form by doing. The child will build social and emotional skills, language skills, problem-solving skills, take risks, and become who ever they want to be. If there is one thing we need to encourage children to do more is imagine , and through dramatic play they will! After all play is the work of a child.

The beauty of process art is that anything and everything can be used as a canvas. This invitation is stacked recycled cardboard boxes wrapped with recycled packing materials (bubble wrap+ butcher paper) and some (aluminum foil). For paint we used Colorations Tempera Paint & #gifted Paint Tool Kit. Colorations® Paint Tool Kit contains 27 different paint applicators. All different designs for awesome, fun effects that create textures and patterns. From stripes, hearts, stars to wavy lines and textures. Wands, tools, stampers, scrapers so much to chose from. The combination of the 3-D and textured surfaces along with the different designs of painting tools makes for a great pairing for the whole process & exploration of the textures. Painting in any form provides children with an avenue to express their feelings in a visual way, which further helps their social emotional development. The more a child is exposed to different types of art it leads to seeing the world in different ways, becoming more observant, feeling creative and appreciating the different forms of art.

Flowers are blooming everywhere! At one of our centers we have an amazing wisteria plant that inspired this invitation. Essentially you can do this with any plant or flower, but we thought it would be fun to do it with something that is within their surrounding environment everyday. To set this invitation we foraged some of the wisteria and tied it to easels in order to have it float over the butcher paper to create shadows. We also placed some in vases to be at their level. We provided an array of different shades purples, whites, and greens, Colorations Tempera Paint that was similar to the wisteria. Next we invited the children to trace the outline of the wisteria followed by letting them paint their tracings. The beauty of exploring light, shadow, & color is that the children engage in this process in a myriad of creative ways. From infancy these three components always fascinate any child & it carries throughout their childhood. They are always enamored with the wondrous world of light, shadow, & color as it is something that they are naturally drawn to. It always provides limitless opportunities, & ignites their curiosity/creativity. Through exploring with light, shadow, & color children are exploring & engaging in a whole range of theories, textures, & materials. The beauty of process art is that anything & everything can inspire art, such as the wisteria. Painting in any form provides children with an avenue to express their feelings in a visual way, which further helps their social emotional development. The more a child is exposed to different types of art it leads to seeing the world in different ways, becoming more observant, feeling creative & appreciating the different forms of art.

Our Art Walk Auction is next week! We have been putting the finishing touches on everything and getting more and more excited! With recycled cardboard we cut out various abstract designs with our Makedo cutters. After hot gluing the pieces together we provided Colorations® fluorescent neon tempera paint , BioColor Metallic Paint , paint brushes #gifted from Discount School Supply and we invited the children to paint on this 3-D sculpture. Assemblage is the art of assembling materials together from objects, in this case recycled materials. The materials are used to make 3-dimensional art and often involves building, collaging, exploring, and creating sculptures. As they combine various materials together to explore the concept of assemblage art they are: comparing items (shapes, textures, lines, height/width, size), negative space, spatial awareness, cognitive thinking, communication/collaboration, gravity + viscosity, fine + gross motor skills, hand eye coordination, all while empowering their creativity throughout the whole process. Invitations such as this opens a child's mind to the many ways of creating art. When children learn about diverse types of art the more well rounded and creative they become. Art is a fundamental component of early childhood education therefore continuous exposure leads to seeing the world in different ways and learning about all the beautiful forms of art. Here are other ways to do 3-D Assemblage Art: Heart Sculpture , Sculpture Art , Recycled Sculpture .