Hearts at the easel

How to set up a fun invitation to create with hearts!

Of all the painting experiences I share with my students, the one they most enjoy is anything that has to do with painting at the easel.  If I change the easel up in any small way, almost every student will stop by and want to give the easel painting a try.  As you may have noticed by my most recent posts, we have been exploring hearts so I decided to invite the children to easel paint with hearts at the easel…

Hearts at the easel by Teach Preschool

There is nothing all that unique about putting shapes on the easel but for whatever reason, my students were super intrigued by the idea of painting inside or around the heart shape….

Hearts at the easel by Teach Preschool

Preparing the Easel

To set up the hearts at the easel, I simply cut large heart shapes out of the center of construction paper and taped the heart shaped frame to easel paper using a strip of clear tape at the top and bottom of the frame.. In advance, I had prepared enough heart shaped frames for each child to have one of their own if they wanted to heart paint. I saved the hearts that were cut out for a musical heart game….

Hearts at the Easel by Teach Preschool

Exploring Colors

I also mixed up “Valentine” colors for the children to paint with including purple, red, light blue, and pink…

Hearts at the easel by Teach Preschool

Enjoying the Process

I didn’t give any instructions to this process. I just set things up and left it as an open center for the children to explore (much like we always approach most of our daily easel painting experiences)…

Hearts at the easel by Teach Preschool

Most of the children painted inside the heart frame. Some of the children painted all the way around and on the edges of the frame. And others painted faces or just mixed colors in the center of the heart…

Hearts at the easel by Teach Preschool

Every Creation is Unique

Every painting was simply beautiful. The children took their time to use all the colors. Some blended and swirled while others painted long strokes around the edges of the heart…

Hearts at the easel by Teach Preschool

We set each of our completed paintings out to dry with the frame still on the painting.  We will give the choice the children as to whether they want the frame removed or left on their easel paper…

Hearts at the easel by Teach Preschool

A super fun process for our class and perhaps we will introduce the process again using other shapes, but I think this was particularly interesting because we had not tried any shapes before on the easel and the paint colors were new as well…

Hearts at the easel by Teach Preschool

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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.'

Listening at the easel

Continuing with our interest in listening, I set up the easel for my students to enjoy a little listening time as they painted as the easel.

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