This project was one of those that kind of morphs and changes as you teach it to each class. It was very much inspired by the little artists themselves!

We began by reading the book Mix It Up. I read it on the doc cam and invited students to come up to the board to “mix” the colors, press the spots, and push the pages. It was super interactive and fun!

Kinders were then given a piece of 9×12 paper and a palette with the primary colors. They folded the paper in half like a book and used their fingers to stamp patterns of prints on one of the sides. Then they did the same thing on the other side.

I went table to table with a spray bottle and gave each paper a quick spritz. Then the kiddos closed their “book” and pressed – just like from the story – and when they unfolded the paper they discovered that their primary colors mixed up!

These turned out so beautiful and the kids absolutely loved being able to use their fingers to paint! The next week, they began by cutting their symmetrical paper in half again and cutting it down the middle. They picked their favorite piece to draw a humongous letter “U” on the back. They cut it out to be the flower pot and glued it to another piece of paper.

Next, we talked about the lines and shapes that form a flower. They created 3 circles with straight or curved lines. They added small “U’s” for the petals and 2 horizontal lines for the horizon line.

The last step was to paint. For this project, kinders got to use water colors to fill in the shapes of their petals, circles, and the ground. I think these are so sweet and the process was great for young artists!