Art in Preschool Lesson Plans

I remember in kindergarten gluing a thousand cotton balls on a paper cutout of a bunny for Easter. That activity, although I enjoyed it, wasn't very creative.

I think art lessons in preschool lesson plans shouldn't be something that the teacher does and then the kid colors it. I know why teachers do this. They want a nice finished product for parents. They know that their child didn't do that complex cut and paste job. So why don't we, as teachers focus on the process, and not the product. And teach parents the same concept- that it's the actual act of making art, not the final product, that matters.

We can work it in our themes. An example would be having paper cut into butterfly shapes and have them paint with watercolors. Stamp painting with kitchen implements, car painting, or sculpting with clay would be other suggestions. They are still the creators.

I think if we can teach our children to be creative thinkers, to think outside the box, then they will be better at so many things when they grow into adulthood.

Preschool Lesson Plans: Free Theme Ideas

I have used Perpetual Preschool for preschool lesson plan ideas for years and it is invaluable. The content is free and thats great too. Click here to visit and get some ideas.

Time for Preschool Lesson Plans in Your Day?

YEAH RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!

If your center is like most, your planning time is during nap time minus your lunch break. That's if your lucky. Unless you have been doing this for years, preschool lesson planning isn't that easy. And even if you have been teaching 10 years, isn't that "All about me" theme boring by now? It isn't our job to give an average start to our classes, but to help them be exceptional. To do that, we have to be exceptional ourselves. But how? When you have to squeeze your lesson planning in between your lunch break and cleaning up the cots!!! I don't have an easy answer to this, I am afraid.

I wish I could. I think lesson planning is important and worth a couple hours out of your week.But with small budgets and high turnover rates how do you find the time? I think the answer is the directors and assistant directors. I know they are busy with payments , staffing and keeping costs down, but why don't they come around and give each teaching team time to plan their next week's activities? It would help them remember the struggles their staff goes through in the class room every day. They may even see what you are talking about with that unruly kid!

Preschool Lesson Plans for February

February can be an easy month to create your preschool lesson plans... Unless you have families in your classroom that don't celebrate Valentine's Day. If that is the case then you have to be more creative.

Some easy preschool themes for February could be Friendship, Post Office, and at the end of February, a Dr Seuss theme(March 2 is his birthday).

Some ideas for Friendship could be Friend painting(having them at the easel together painting together), have them make a gift for a friend, and you could even have a "Friendship" party in lieu of a Valentine's party. You could exchange "Friendship" cards they make in the writing center, or pre-bought ones. You could make "Friendship cookies" as a cooking activity for the party (use a gingerbread cookie cutter and make 2 cookies hold hands). In doing these activities, you are teaching the value of friendship, cooperation and patience.

With the post office idea you can plan a trip to the post office to see how the mail gets where it needs to go,(be sure to mail something back to the kids). Something else would be to set up a post office center in your classroom with a mail slot for each child(this is easily done with shoe boxes). And when the kids go to writing they can "write" notes to each other. Be sure your writing center is set up with stickers that resemble stamps and mailing labels, envelopes, and ink stamps too. This works well with the friendship theme preceding the post office theme.

And finally with the Dr. Seuss theme. Just have a Green Eggs and Ham day with a cooking activity, have a Red Fish Blue Fish day with a fish matching activity, and so on with your favorite Dr. Seuss books. Have a birthday party for Dr. Seuss, make Cat in the Hat hats, and of course read the books!
I find that if they know more about the authors, they become more interested in literature.