Painted Coffee Can Spring Flowers!

Today's fun spring themed art project was designing a flower using recycled coffee cans, a few marbles and some paint.

I first gathered my recycled coffee cans, tempura paints and a handful of marbles.

I then cut the flower template down to size, and allowed each child to choose 3 paint colors they'd like to use.

I dropped a dime-sized amount of paint on different spots of the flower.

I then told the children, "Tell your flower bye bye...when you see it next, it'll be full of color!"

We loosely folded the paper to fit in the can, tossed in 3 marbles, placed the lid over top...

...and shook our little hearts out!

After about a minute or two of pure, earth shaking rattling, we carefully pulled our flowers out of the can and laid them flat over newspaper.

We allowed them to dry over lunch and rest period.

Upon waking everyone was excited to finish his/her project!

Next, I instructed the children to take their "blue" paper and lay it in front of them so it looks like a standing "rectangle".

I then asked them to place their flower at the top of the page.

I asked questions such as,

"What does the flower need to grow?"

The children told me, "The sun!"

I asked, "What's attached to the flower, but is also stuck in the ground?"

I gave hints until they answered the "stem".

We then talked about grass and what color it was and that the sun helps the grass grow as well.

Once all the pieces were cut and glued into place, the children added their sunshine.

Pussy Willows!

A sure sign of spring is the blossom of pussy willows.

Today's art project and story was all about pussy willows.

I first looked up an easy to follow story I could read to the children along with some facts about the tree.

After answering questions about the story, I asked questions such as,

"What woke the pussy willow up?"

To begin our art project we gathered a variety of twigs from the front yard. After washing and allowing them to dry, I hot glued them to blue construction paper.





Once that was complete, I cut the ends off Q-tips and handed the children glue sticks.

We studied the original pussy willow image I printed and discussed where are blossoms would go.














This project is fun for all ages!

Our finished pussy willow "trees".