- glue
- paper
- pieces of string
- tempera paints
- river
- squiggle
- water
- wave
- wavy
MA Standards:
Speaking and Listening/SL.PK.MA.5: Create representations of experiences or stories (e.g., drawings, constructions with blocks or other materials, clay models) and explain them to others.
Language/L.PK.MA.6: Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, listening to books read aloud, activities, and play.
Head Start Outcomes:
Approaches to Learning/Initiative and Curiosity: Demonstrates flexibility, imagination, and inventiveness in approaching tasks and activities.
Literacy Knowledge/Early Writing: Uses scribbles, shapes, pictures, and letters to represent objects, stories, experiences, or ideas.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
Logic and Reasoning/Symbolic Representation: Represents people, places, or things through drawings, movement, and three-dimensional objects.
English Language Arts/Composition 16: Use their own words or illustrations to describe their experiences, tell imaginative stories, or communicate information about a topic of interest.
String Pictures
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
Skill Focus: Creative Expression, Fine Motor Skills, Vocabulary
Have children make string paintings that show the movement of water. Encourage children to arrange the string on the paper to match the shape of water: they could make wavy lines across the page to show a river and waves, circles and coils to show pools of water, etc. Guide children to experiment moving the string across the paper. Once children are finished, have them glue the string to the paper. Then have them paint a scene, if they wish, around the “water.” Talk with children about the movements and colors they use. Help children write their names on their paintings. Display the art when it dries or let children take them home.