Go Outside!

Weather permitting, art and craft is much more fun outside. There is inspiration in natural surroundings and mess-making is not an issue. If you are lucky enough to have an outdoor area, schedule your art sessions there. This tip is suitable for painting, drawing, clay, playdough and other crafts.

Process Not Product

You may have heard this tip before but it is worth repeating. Art with preschoolers is about the PROCESS not the PRODUCT. It is important that they feel the dough, see the colour, touch the textures, and improve their fine motor skills while learning to glue, build, use scissors, and draw or paint detail. Whether they create a fine sculpture or magnificent masterpiece is beside the point. Learning and creating needs to be fun, especially for preschoolers.

Gift Wrap from the Heart

What child doesn`t love to paint & glue? Involve your child when giving a gift. Have them paint on butcher´s paper and when their creation is dry, paste on some glue and let them sprinkle glitter onto it. This will be wrapping paper from the heart and the child will feel they have contributed to the present.

Paint Pots

When painting ... to avoid each colour turning to a mucky brown before the end of a painting session, use more than one brush. Use separate paint pots (recycled yogurt containers are great) with a brush for each colour.

Craft Materials

Have a box set aside in an out-of the way place to store clean, recycled packaging such as boxes, jars and cardboard rolls, and odds and ends of paper, card and plastic. Sort through the box regularly to de-clutter any extras, which you can donate to a preschool or friend. These recycled items will come in handy for many craft projects. Your preschooler will love to help gather materials for this "Busy Box".

Buy Supplies In Bulk

If you can afford to, buy paint and glue in bulk containers, this saves on wasted packaging and money. Bulk art supplies can be bought from toy stores, craft suppliers, educational suppliers. A lot of educational suppliers have online shopping or mail order catalogs.

No Supplies? Virtual Art...

If you´ve no art supplies at home and want something creative for your preschooler to do, try a "Paint" program on your pc. There are plenty of shareware and freeware versions available from places like ZDnet and Tucows.

Paper Dolls

Paper Dolls are so much fun. They can be used for imaginative play for both boys and girls (though girls seem to generally be more impressed by them!). Paper dolls involve colouring, cutting and folding and come in so many forms from Hercules to Mermaids or Ponies.

Paper Dolls can be purchased or downloaded from the Internet. See the Links List on this site for links, or search "printable paper dolls" in your favourite search engine.

No Brushes? No worries...

You don´t need to have a lot of fancy brushes for preschooler to paint with. Some fun and interesting alternatives include: fingers, toes and tummies... sticks, leaves, grass or little branches... pieces of foam or sponge... forks and spoons... corks and pinecones... toothbrushes, eye droppers, straws and pieces of string... balloons and spray bottles - the list is endless! Enjoy!