This document provides guidance for using visual arts in early childhood programming. It discusses the benefits of art for young children, including developing motor skills, cognitive abilities, and social-emotional skills. Four art projects are described in detail with supply lists, instructions, video demonstrations, and book connections. The projects allow for open-ended creative expression and include silly face paintings, crumpled flower collages, twirling sculptures, and action painting. Resources for further planning arts activities for toddlers and preschoolers are also provided.

1. Using Visual
Arts in Early
Childhood
Programming
Heather White &
Katherine Hickey

2. Heather White Katherine Hickey
heatherelizabethwhite@gmail.com katherineannhickey@gmail.com
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Play Free
and Create:
Play Free and Create
is a collection of open
ended art projects
designed for toddlers
and preschoolers,
ages 18 months
through 5 years.

3. Youtube videos
Go to -> http://bit.ly/playfreecreate
Channel: Play Free Create
1. Silly Face Paintings for Ages 0-5
2. Crumpled Flower Collages for Ages 0-5
3. Dancing Twirler for Ages 0-5
4. Action Painting for Ages 0-5

4. Using Visual Arts In Early Childhood Programming
● Guiding Principles
and Philosophies
● 4 Art Projects
○ Supply Lists
○ Instructions
○ Video
Demonstrations
○ Book Connections
● Resources
● Q&A

5. Learning Outcomes
1. Emerging art education concepts and
early education philosophies
2. Early literacy principles
3. Justification for offering early
childhood art making programs at your
library
4. Four unique, open-ended, and
process-oriented art projects to lead
with young children
5. Using art-making materials
creatively when leading art making for
children 18 months to 5 years

6. Why Art With Littles?
● Underserved age group.
● Art making workshops are
attractive to caregivers:
○ Cuts to art programs in the school
system.
○ No one wants to make a big mess at
home.
○ Art is something they want to do with
this age group but don’t know how.
● Inspire caregivers by providing
project ideas and material
suggestions, and explaining why
it’s beneficial for littles.
● Open-ended aesthetically pleasing
pieces versus cookie cutter
crafts.

7. Emerging concepts in Early Childhood Art Education
● Process (not product)
● Open-ended
● Material exploration
● Sensory engagement
● Coordination and dexterity
● Children make choices
● Children take risks
● Flexible thinking
● Anticipation and reveal
(element of surprise)

8. Early literacy learning possibilities
- Talk
- Sing
- Read
- Write
- Play
A Multi-Arts Approach to Early Literacy and Learning
Mariana Souto-Manning & Nancy James
Pages 82-95

9. Grapho-motor skills
Gripping a tool, hand
eye coordination,
dexterity, hand
strength (grapho-motor
skills)
Reading

10. Cognitive development
Sources:
●Mariana Souto-Manning & Nancy James (2009) A Multi-Arts Approach
to Early Literacy and Learning,Journal of Research in Childhood
Education, 23:1, 82-95, DOI: 10.1080/02568540809594647
●Bolwek, A. (2014) How Art Changes Your Brain: Differential Effects of
Visual Art Production and Cognitive Art Evaluation on Functional Brain
Connectivity. PLOS ONE 9(12): e116548.
Use of critical thinking,
deduction, application
of new techniques
Learning and cognition

11. Social and emotional learning
Group work, group learning,
cooperation, interaction, parent-
child bonding,
Pro social skills:
sharing, caring,
empathizing
Source:
● The Arts in Early Childhood: Social and Emotional Benefits of
Arts Participation (National Endowment for the Arts)

12. logistics
● Start and end with a story
● Demonstration
● Caregivers lead art making
● Materials on separate table
● Collaborative table set up
● Clean-up station
● Instructions and
inspiration for parents
● Look up your state’s visual
art standards

13. Paper
● Card-stock
● Construction Paper
Mark Making Materials
● Colored Pencils
● Markers
● Crayons
● Paint Sticks (also
called Kwiksticks)
● Dotters
Paint
● Tempera Paint
● Liquid Watercolors
● Paint Brushes
Other Necessities
● Gallon of Glue
● Glue Sticks
● Scissors
● SIngle Hole Punch
● Craft Sticks
● Wet wipes
Extra Fun
● Wiggle Eyes
● Glitter Glue
● Watercolor Pencils and
Watercolor Crayons
● Colorful Feathers and
Pompoms
● Stamps and Ink Pads
● Yarn, Sting, and Ribbons
Things You Didn’t Realize
Belong in Your Art Supply Closet
● Tissue Paper and Crate Paper
● Dish Sponges
● Masking Tape
● Cotton Balls
● Straws
● Plastic Utensils
● Styrofoam or Paper Plates
● Balloons
● Ice-cube Trays
Things to Hoard
● Spray Bottles
● Bubble-wrap
● Plastic Lids
● Plastic Baggies
● Egg Cartons
● Magazines
● Jars
ARTSupplies

14. First Round of Questions

15. Project #1
SillY Face Paintings
Supplies:
❏ Pages from magazines - Look for full page
advertisements and photos that include
children, families, and animals. The less
text on the page the better.
❏ Cardstock
❏ Wiggle Eyes
❏ Gluesticks
❏ Tempera paint in a variety of bright colors
❏ Paintbrushes or cotton balls (optional)
❏ Paper plates

16. Project #1
SillY Face Paintings
Instructions:
1. Gather your magazine pages. Run an exacto knife down the inside edge of the page to remove it from the
magazine or simply tear it out. Glue each magazine page to a sheet of cardstock, or other heavy paper. This
will create a cleaner painting that dries with less wrinkles.
2. Provide each family with a paper plate and 2-3 colors of paint. (Limit the number of colors to avoid muddy
color blending.) Provide cotton balls, paint brushes, or you can even make this a finger painting project.
Children can paint dots, blend colors, or simply add colorful dabs of paint. Encourage participants to avoid
painting over faces. There is no right or wrong way to paint the page; wild, crazy, and random brushstrokes
are perfect!
3. After little artists have finished painting, it is time to add the wiggle eyes. Encourage children choose where to
place the eyes. Can they make a “monster” by adding 5 or 6 wiggle eyes to the face, instead of just two?

17. Video demonstration

18. reading list
● Can You Make a Scary Face? (Jan Thomas)
● Find a Face
● Here a Face, There a Face (Arlene Ada)
● Fiona’s Feelings (John Hutton)

19. Application of concepts
● Choices: magazine image, how to use paint, wiggle eyes
● Risk: no knowledge of how the final product will turn out
● Surprise: silliness ensues when wiggle eyes are added
● Sensory: exploration of materials
● Art Education: color blending, mixed-media
● Open-ended: each painting is different, no right or wrong
way to paint on the page
● Language Development:feelings, expressions, and emotions
● Narrative skills: character and story

20. Project #2
Crumpled Flower Collage
Supplies:
● Card stock in lime green (or other bright colors)
● Lots of tissue paper in many colors and sizes
● Jug of classroom glue, such as Elmer’s
● Shallow bowls
● Markers (optional)

21. Project #2
Crumpled Flower Collage
Instructions:
1. Provide each family with cardstock, a bowl of glue, and an assortment of tissue paper.
2. Encourage families to rip, tear and crumble the tissue paper into different sized balls and shapes.
3. After little artists have created a pile of ripped and crumbled tissue paper, they can then dip the pieces
into the bowl of glue and place them on their paper. There is no right or wrong way to add paper to the
page, little artists can spread the pieces out across the page or layer them one on top of another.
4. Optional: When the glue has dried, families can use markers to add stems and leaves to the “flowers,”
caregivers will need to draw the stems and leaves for the smallest artists, more mature early learners
may want to draw their own.

22. Video demonstration

23. reading list
● What Does Bunny See? (Linda Sue Park
and Maggie Smith)
● Lenny in the Garden (Ken Wilson-Max)
● Planting a Rainbow (Lois Ehlert)
● Flower Garden

24. Application of concepts
● Choices: placement of crumpled and torn paper
● Risk: no knowledge of how the final product will turn out
● Surprise: a garden emerges when stems and leaves are added
● Sensory: exploration of materials, tactile, auditory
● Art Education: color choice, collage method
● Open-ended: each collage is different

25. Project #3
Twirlers
Supplies:
● Paper plates in white or in solid colors
● Variety of mark making tools:
○ Paint Sticks
○ Liquid Watercolor
○ Markers
○ Crayons
○ Colored Pencils
○ Dotters
○ Glitter Glue (optional)
● Ribbon/yarn
● Scissors
● Single Hole Punch

26. Project #3
Twirlers
Instructions:
1. Lay out all the mark making tools and the paper plates.
2. Encourage little artists to fill the entire plate, front and
back, with colors, lines, shapes, and sparkles.
3. After families have deemed their work complete, show
caregivers how to cut the plate into a spiral shape.
Holding the plate in one hand, cut a one inch band,
moving into the center.
4. Hold the center of the plate and let the “twirler” unravel!
Punch a hole at the top of the twirler, tie a ribbon loop,
and hang on display. Add extra hole punches and ribbons
along the length of the twirler for extra flair.

27. Video demonstration

28. reading list
● The Wind Blew (Pat Hutchins)
● Like a Windy Day (Frank and Devin
Asch)
● Windblown (Edouard Manceau)
● Swirl by Swirl (Joyce Sidman and
Beth Krommes)

29. Application of concepts
● Choices: choice of materials and colors
● Risk: no knowledge of how the final product will turn out
● Surprise: the final reveal of the twirler after being cut
● Sensory: exploration of materials, visual effect of the
twirling
● Art Education: depth, movement, gravity
● Open-ended: each twirler is different, and will “fall”
differently depending on how it is cut
● Language Development: movement vocabulary (twirl, swirl,
fall, rotate, etc.)
● Narrative skills: cause and effect (i.e. “cutting the
plate in a swirl makes it fall down”)

30. Project #4
Action Painting
Supplies:
● Individual: Poster board or Card stock
● Collaborative: Giant canvas (drop cloth from the
hardware store)
● Tempera Paint
● Liquid Watercolors
● Paint Brushes
● Bowls
● Smocks

31. Project #4
Action Painting
Instructions:
1. We highly recommend doing this project outdoors! Pour tempera paint into bowls and place paper or canvas
on the ground in an area where little artists will have plenty of room to move around. Provide paint brushes.
2. Show families how to dip the paintbrushes into the bowls of paint and then sling it onto the canvas/paper.
Remind families to get plenty of paint on their brushes. The more paint on the brush the better the splatters.
3. Encourage little artists to try ‘throwing” paint at different speeds and from different angles creates splatters of
many shapes and sizes. Walk around the paper or canvas and throw paint from all sides.
4. Prepare to get messy. You may want to have smocks or old t-shirts onsite. Plan for water play after finishing
your project for more outdoor fun that also allows little artists to wash off paint splatters.
5. If you are also using liquid watercolor, let families squirt the watercolor directly out of the bottle, dilute with
more water to double this versatile supply.

32. Video demonstration

34. reading list
● Lines that Wiggle (Candace
Whitman and Steve Wilson)
● Art (Patrick McDonnell)
● Color Dance (Ann Jonas)

35. Application of concepts
● Choices: color, direction of throwing
● Risk: no knowledge of how the paint will look splattered
● Surprise: seeing the paint fall
● Sensory: big body movement
● Art Education: gravity, trajectory, movement as art
● Open-ended: no right or wrong way to throw paint

36. More picture books about art and creativity
● Lots of Dots (Craig Frazier)
● What If (Samantha Berger)
● Sky Color (Peter Reynolds)
● I Don’t Draw, I Color! (Adam Lehrhaupt)
● Colors (Jon Reiss)
● Mix it Up! (Herve Tullet)
● My Color is Rainbow (Agnes Hsu)
● Little Blue and Little Yellow (Leo Lionni)
● Harold and the Purple Crayon (Crockett Johnson)
● Bear Sees Colors (Karma Wilson)
● The Book of Mistakes (Corinna Luyken)

37. Resources
PBS’ Creativity and Play: Fostering Creativity
IMLS "Growing Young Minds"
NAEYC "Nurturing Creativity"
Early Childhood Art Educators "Art: Essential
for Early Learning"
National Endowment for the Arts Report “Arts
in Early Childhood”

38. Art books

39. To follow on Instagram
● Art Bar @artbarblog
● Art Camp LA @artcampla
● Hatch Art Studio @hatchgal
● Michelle Mullin Means @mullinsmeans
● Purple Twig @purpletwig

40. Conclusion
1. Arts education is important for our
youngest visitors and their families.
2. Renders art-making accessible to
parents
2. You can justify hosting early
childhood art making workshops.
3. You have instructions and supply lists
for 4 projects and you know where to look
for more ideas.

41. QUestions
& ANswers
Heather White
heatherelizabethwhite@gmail.com
Katherine Hickey
katherineannhickey@gmail.com

42. Using Visual Arts in Early
Childhood Programming
Heather White & Katherine Hickey