Easel paper presents

We are now officially into our holiday season here at Teach Preschool Children’s Studio and one of our favorite parts of the holiday season is giving and receiving presents. Today, we started off the season of giving by making easel paper presents…

I have written about easel starters before but for those of you who might have missed it, an easel starter is simply a blank sheet of paper with something glued onto the paper that invites the child to “finish the picture”  or to try a new technique. All easel starters are intended to get children to give some thought into what they want to paint or draw and how they want to go about it…

For today’s easel starter, I glued a bow on a blank sheet of large drawing paper for each child and set out the papers and crayons for the children to “complete the present.”  Before the children began their drawings, I demonstrated the idea for them and then invited the children to stop by the easel throughout the morning and make their own present….

Each child interpreted the process in their own way. Remember, there shouldn’t be an expectation to draw or paint a certain way or to make something specific but but rather this is an invitation to think about what they would like to do before or as they participate in the process…

My older students seemed to get the idea of integrating the bow into their present picture a little bit more clearly…

We only have one easel in the classroom right now, so when a few of my students requested to draw their present picture at the same time, I just set them up at the nearest open  table.  After all, when the interest is there, then it is a good idea to find a way to work things out…

And some of my students just shared space at the easel. Notice that even when sharing the easel, each child made their own decision how to complete their easel paper present…

Once the children completed their easel paper presents, we rolled the paper up into a tube with the drawing and bow side facing out. This let the bow sit on the outside of the tube and then we added a piece of tape to keep the paper present closed until the children got home and gave them to their mommies or daddies…

Super simple to prepare and I just love each of the children’s drawings – I wanted to keep them for myself!…

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Here are the type of crayons we used for these drawings..

 

Deborah J Stewart

Deborah J Stewart

Every time I think I know everything I need to know about teaching young children, God says, "Hold on a minute!" and gives me a new challenge.

Let me tell ya...

With each new challenge that you overcome, you will find yourself better equipped and more passionate about teaching young children.

God didn't call wimps to lead, teach, or care for His children. Nope, he has high expectations, so get ready. You will have to give your very best but after teaching for over 30 years, I can tell you that it is a wonderful and rewarding journey.

Whenever your calling feels hard, just remember, 'He who began a good work in you (and in the children you serve) will be faithful to complete it.'

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