Connecting Color to Family : Art Lesson for Pre K
In this post, we’re going to look at how to use your family as an inspiration for an art lesson. In the video (below), I read the story Last Stop on Market Street and will share how to use it to create a connecting color to family art lesson for your preschoolers.
Benefits of Reading Stories for Art Lessons
There are many reasons why I promote incorporating storytime with art lessons. For starters, it adds an additional activity that helps make better use of the lesson time. Next, books add the opportunity to merge another subject in with art. In this case, preschoolers can enhance their vocabulary and language arts by listening to a story being read.
Also, adding storytime gives you an opportunity to talk about author and illustrator inspiration and spark conversations about their writing and drawing styles. There are lots of lessons that can be pulled from simply talking about what students see in the pictures from the shapes and colors used to paying attention to any common themes.
Using Last Stop on Market Street for an Art Lesson
After you have read the story, ask your preschoolers to think of their families and share any colors that come to mind. Perhaps they’ll talk about their mom’s favorite color or color they see a sibling coloring with the most. For the art lesson, they can use any random colors they want. You’ll also need something to make a mark with (that can be used with paint).
Use the following prompts to lead your preschoolers in the art lesson:
Choose a color that represents someone in your family or something about your family. (For example, my family makes me feel really joyful. And when I think about joy, it makes me think about the sun shining and things that are bright.
Using your color of choice, begin to make marks on the paper. Try to make your paint even and not clumpy. To prevent clumps, use just a little bit of paint. (Note: if you use too much paint, that’s okay because this is an experimental process.)
Now think of another color that reminds you of how your family makes you feel. For me, the next color was red. This is my mom’s favorite color and when I was a little girl, she used to always dress me in red. Using your color of choice, make some more dots or marks on your paper.
Repeating the process, choose another color to add to your picture. The last color I chose was blue because it reminded me of my Dad and his love for the Dallas Cowboys.
Tip: don’t worry about washing out your brush between the colors. It’s okay (and recommended) to let the colors mix. The important thing is to help your preschoolers make connections with colors, their families, and memories.
Making Connections
By the end of this art project, your preschoolers should be able to make the connections between the colors they chose and why. They do not have to go into a great deal of detail; however, they should be able to say something like, “I chose pink because it’s my mom’s favorite color.”
This type of art lesson not only helps with creative expression but your students will also have an introduction to storytelling. These are important skills to learn and will be used all throughout their time in school.
I’d love to hear from you!
Did you do this art lesson with your preschoolers? Let me know how it turned out!!
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