Preschool Winter Mural Project

A Season Themed Art Lesson for Early Childhood Classrooms

Feb 8, 2009 Erica Loop

This lesson plan contains steps for making a winter-themed group art project in the preschool or daycare classroom.

The winter mural art activity can help young children to develop creative, aesthetic, fine motor, and social skills. Working together as a class, preschool aged children can create a beautiful seasonal display for the whole school to see. Add extra materials such as glitter, construction paper, or felt to transform this winter landscape into a mixed media masterpiece. This lesson can be adapted to fit the classroom's specific needs, ages, and available art materials.

Winter Mural Lesson Objectives

  • Explore the season of winter/ environmental awareness.
  • Discover artistic processes such as painting, drawing, and collage.
  • Increase aesthetic awareness.
  • Improve fine motor skills.
  • Develop pro-social skills such as turn taking, sharing, listening, and working as a group.

Suggested Age Level for the Winter Mural Activity

Ages two through six

Materials Needed for the Winter Art Activity

  • Large sheet of paper (butcher paper works well), a large piece of poster board, or a large cardboard display (i.e., science fair display boards)
  • Tempera paints (the primary colors and white)
  • Paint brushes in a variety of sizes (this can include rollers or sponges)
  • Construction paper in a variety of colors
  • Glue
  • Cotton balls
  • Markers and/or crayons
  • Tissue paper (white, plus additional colors as needed)
  • Fabric or felt scraps
  • Glitter (white, silver, or opal)
  • Scissors (age appropriate)

Steps for the Winter Mural

  1. Pre-planning: Cut butcher paper to size (this can be guided by place of intended display). If you are using a large sheet of poster board or card board, do not cut the paper.
  2. Pre-planning: Initiate a class discussion on winter. Focus on what the children see outside. If possible, take a field trip outdoors for a pre-art making viewing activity.
  3. Begin with a horizon line (make sure to tell the children that this is the line that divides the ground and the sky).
  4. Divide the class into two groups. One group will begin painting the sky, the other will begin with the snowy ground. Switch half way through.
  5. Invite the children to add extra "winter embellishments". These might be people drawn with markers or collaged out of construction paper shapes, winter white trees, sleds, houses, or anything else that the children can imagine. Use the additional materials such as felt, fabric, or tissue paper at this time.
  6. Add extra snow with glue and cotton balls. If cotton balls are not available add scrunched up tissue paper or construction paper collage.
  7. Finish with a dusting of glitter. Have the children decide where the glitter should go. If it is a sunny snowy day outside, ask them to point out where the sun is shining on the snow. Try to recreate these highlights using glue and glitter. Allow the children to squeeze school glue into specific areas, then have them sprinkle glitter over the snow.

Winter Mural Lesson Wrap Up

Due to different processes and drying times, this project may extend over the course of a few days. Try adding to it each day for a week to see what happens, and how the winter scene may change. Once the mural is dry, find a place to display it in the classroom. If possible hang the mural on a hallway wall for the whole school to see.

After displaying the mural, invite the children to view and discuss their creation. Ask them to recall who did what, and why they chose specific materials.

Winter Mural Enrichment Activities

  • Dramatic play: Instead of simply applying glitter to the mural, have the children pretend that it is snowing on their winter landscape. The children can lightly sprinkle snow (glitter), or use more to create a blizzard.
  • Vocabulary: Even young children are able to learn and repeat new "art vocabulary" words. Try using words such as landscape, horizon line, foreground/middle ground/ background, collage, and mixed media.

The winter mural art project is a great way to introduce basic art concepts to preschoolers. Additional benefits include developing positive social skills, learning about the winter environment, and creating a fun classroom display.

The copyright of the article Preschool Winter Mural Project in Day Care is owned by Erica Loop. Permission to republish Preschool Winter Mural Project in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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