Pre-school Lesson Plan / At Home Activity for Toddlers: St. Patrick's Day Shamrocks

Sub-title: A lesson about color mixing and symmetry.
 
This lesson could use a variety of shapes for a variety of different holidays, times of year, or other occasions. In fact, this was initially supposed to be a Valentine's Day project using hearts. When it got bumped to the week after the holiday it became a St. Patrick's Day project using Shamrocks. I also saw the opportunity to put a greater emphasis on mixing colors than the heart project would have given. Another common spin on this project is a butterfly shape.
 
Materials:
White construction paper or craft paper
Pencil
Scissors
Tempera paints, Yellow and Blue
Brushes or paint sponges
 
Prep:
1. Put several sheets of paper together and fold them in half vertically.
2. Use the fold as your line of symmetry, and draw one half of a shamrock or 4-leaf clover design onto the page. I googled images of shamrocks and clovers as references to help me make recognizable basic shamrock and clover shapes. Just keep them simple and sturdy for young hands.
3. Cut out your design, so that when you unfold the page it makes a symmetrical shamrock or clover.
4. Repeat until you have enough blank shamrocks and/or clovers for your group. Remember to stack your paper so you get several shapes out of each cutting session.
5. Set up your painting materials - a vinyl tablecloth to cover your work area, plastic take out containers and lids make good paint palettes. You may or may not want to set out water cups for dipping paint brushes, depending on your kids and how likely they are to spill them!
 

 

Activity Plan:

1. Introduction: I'll be doing this project with a group of toddlers and pre-school kids for my local Mom's club. In an attempt to keep things organized I'll use the following "signs".



           

We'll read the sign on the left first, to discourage a mad dash for the supplies! I also like to do the intro as far from the supplies as possible, usually seated on the floor, away from the work tables.

Then I'll read the letter on the right. I learned the "letter" style intro from my student teaching mentor, Laura Gibson. She is an excellent elementary art teacher!

Then I'll show the kids the supplies, saying:

Me: "Uh oh, what color are these clovers?".

Kids: "White!"

Me: "What color are shamrocks and clovers supposed to be?"

Kids: "Green!" (Or maybe they won't know! We'll see!)

Me: "Well we can paint them! But wait, I don't have any green paint! Does anyone know what two colors we can mix to make green?"

Answer, supplied by the kids or me - Blue and Yellow!

2. Demonstration: Still in the introduction area, demonstrate using the sponges to apply the yellow and blue paint, dabbing and mixing them on the white shamrock paper. Keep the paint on one side of the fold only. Then fold the shape in half so that the paint makes a print on the other half of the paper, a symmetrical design.

Point out things that one does NOT do with the paint, such as paint oneself, the floor, etc.

3. Have the kids go to the work area and begin to paint. Remind them to keep their designs on one side of the fold, then help them fold the paper to make a symmetrically printed design. Keeping the paint on one side only may be too difficult for many toddlers, but that's ok. They can still fold the paper (with help) to make a symmetrical design.

4. Clean up!

- Have kids put sponges and brushes in a clean up bucket.

- I like to use wipes for clean up with toddlers and preschoolers. It allows them to help too.

Total Time for Activity with Introduction: Aprox. 20 minutes

Note for parents: Toddlers will usually paint for only about 5 to 15 minutes at a time. It can be a lot of set-up and clean-up work for such a short attention span, but try not to get frustrated. It helps when you know what to expect, and that it is perfectly normal! This is also one of the reasons I like to do activities with groups of friends - more parents to help with set-up and clean-up, and it feels like it's "worth it" when more kids get to participate.

Extensions:

You can use these ideas to keep kids' attention on the activity a little longer, especially if you are a teacher using this lesson for a class period that is longer than say, 30 minutes.

1. Multiple shamrocks for each kid. Done already? Have another!

2. How much of the paper can you cover with paint?

3. Can you make designs with white (negative) space and the paint?

4. Use the wrong end of a brush to scraffitto into thick paint.

5. Paint on different colored construction paper

6. Use shaped sponges to make prints

7. Add more colors and try mixing those.

Note: A lot of kids will want paper after paper to paint on, each for about 60 seconds. To slow them down a bit, before they run through all the paper in the room, suggest they add to each one before calling it "done". I like to say, "That's great! Now try adding __________ (scraffitto, a sponge printed shape, more paint, designs and patterns of marks, etc.)!"

 

Examples of work: These are from doing the activity with my Mom's club...

Participants were 1.5 to 5.5 years in age. Moms helped a lot with managing materials and clean-up, but didn't neat to assist too much with the painting, with the exception of the under 2 set.