The new school year is off to a busy and exciting start! The library that I work at went through massive renovation over the summer. I am so excited to use the new more flexible space and engage in some messy hands on activities with all of my students, especially with my youngest students, Junior Kindergarten. As I was looking for some inspiration on Pinterest and Twitter, I was reminded of the book Mix It Up by Herve Tullet. I love Tullet’s books and they are always a big hit with my students. So to start the school year and use our new design studio I decided to use the book Mix It Up as the jumping off for a collaborative preschool art project that linked what students learned in Mix It Up with the work of Alexander Calder with every student contributing and creating an art piece to hang in the new library.
Junior Kindergarteners started with sharing the book Mix It Up and talking about what they learned about how different colors are created with the three primary colors. Next students used markers to test what they had learned and created orange, purple and green as well as making the colors lighter or darker by adding black and white.
During the next library class students recalled what they learned about mixing colors from the previous week. Then students moved onto using paint to make their own colors. Students started by experimenting on paper to make their own color with washable paint. Next they were each given a square of Tyvek paper. This material is sturdier than cardstock but still flexible and easy to paint.
JK students were really engaged with the idea of being able to create their own colors and focused on mixing and making! They were also able to recall all the information they had learned from the first reading of the book Mix It Up to the next week when they started their color creation.
Next I will be reading Sandy’s Circus: A Story of Alexander Calder by Tanya Lee Stone. Students will learn about Calder’s art that will be the inspiration for our collaborative art piece!
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