“Painting is a way for children to do many important things: convey ideas, express emotion, use their senses, explore colour, explore process and outcomes and create aesthetically pleasing works and experiences.” ~ Penn State University
We are thankful that you have signed up for our take-home activity package. This time, we will learn a little about Remembrance Day (Friday, November 11th), and we are going to talk about it through art, remember that this holiday is more about thoughtful, thankful reflection and not celebration so try to keep the crafts and arts in that same mindset.
What we need:
Red, black and green paint
Cotton balls, Q Tip and sponge.
Scissors
Glue
Paper
Word Mat (Remembrance Day themed)
Let’s Remember:
This Remembrance Day-themed kit offers a time for quiet reflection, but also offers different learning opportunities for both you and your preschooler!
First, find a quiet place to sit and chat with your child about Remembrance Day, this will help in setting up an atmosphere of calmness so one can be reflective. You can start sharing and asking about daily things that make you and your child feel thankful, (Food, shelter, family, toys, warm days, anything!).
Then explore together the word mat, which increases their vocabulary and helps them to learn about this day for the first time.
Here are some ideas:
What is a poppy?
What does it mean to be a veteran? And how can we show respect for veterans?
What are some of the characteristics of a hero?
Try to work around the meaning of being thankful for feeling safe and being free to do things that we enjoy and explain that you can do that because brave veterans fought against people who wanted thing differently.
How to make your poppy field:
A nice thing about this project is that your children can work at their own level of development making their poppies as basic or as detailed as they like.
1. Dip one of your cotton balls into the red paint and stamp it onto your paper to make the petals of the poppy.
2. Use another cotton ball dipped into the black paint to create the centre of the poppy.
3. Use a Q tip to give your flowers their stems and then use the sponge (which is lightly dipped into the green paint) to create the grass. Once it’s done, count the poppies together!
How to make our soldier craft:
1. Place the brown construction paper and with the green paint have your child make the soldier’s camouflage; finger painting? cotton balls? or a different technique? The “Process” approach to painting allows an open-ended way for children to discover while creating their masterpieces. The focus is on the “journey” and not necessarily the “destination”.
2. Once the paint is dry, turn over the paper and let your child begin cutting along the lines, you will have one large rectangle for the body, four small rectangles for arms and legs, one trapezoid for the soldier’s helmet, and two small triangles that can be recycled.
3. You will also need to cut out one large circle for the head, two small ovals for the hands, and two small ovals for the boots. Don’t miss the opportunity to work on shape recognition and body parts!
4. Finally, glue the pieces together and add facial features to finish up our veteran!
