Do you want to do a super fun art activity will materials you probably already have in your kitchen? Of course, you do!! Let's get into it, hey but first let's step into the classroom.
This art project is called "painting with your senses," and just a recap because there are no dumb questions here senses are sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. Okay, but why are senses important for children's learning, glad you asked. The "sensory system," is the part of our nervous system that receives and processes information from the world around us. According to Maria Montessori "The senses, being explorers of the world, open the way to knowledge."
Are you with me so far? Good, let's keep going.
Sensory Integration.
So, there is something called Sensory Integration. Sensory Integration or as it's known on the streets Sensory Processing has to do with the brain and how it processes information. Pretty much the brain gets a sensory input, such as the feeling of being cold. Then the brain processes it, such as "man, it's cold maybe I should go inside." With children, this process creates an opportunity to compare the information they receive with past experiences. Then update their knowledge accordingly, then create an appropriate response with the information. For example, when a child feels cold, they will remember that in the past they put on a jacket to get warm. So, they might say something sweet like "mom, where on earth did you put my jacket!"
Okay well now that I've bored you and or made you a little bit smarter it's finally time for the cool activity I promised.
Painting with Your Senses and the sense we are using today is the sense of smell!! Okay, for this activity you will need
Paint
A strong smell such as (Coffee Grounds, Vanilla, Cinamon, or any other spices you might have in your kitchen.) Pretty much a smell your child might know.
Paper and maybe a paint brush or they can just paint with their hands totally your call.
Step 1:
Get your paint and mix in the ingredients. So maybe the blue paint gets some coffee added or the green paint gets a little splash of vanilla. Don't put all the smells into one paint cup, then it will be some weird combo smell and won't work. Maybe you already were thinking this but it's good to mention.
Step 2:
Mix it up!! The colors will change but that's cool, it even gives you something to talk about with your kiddo. "If I add vanilla which is brown to yellow paint, what do you think will happen?"
Step 3:
Get painting!! It's that simple!!
Something Extra:
Want to keep this party going? Cool, let's turn it into a game. Don't tell your child which color has which smell and let them guess!! Find another grown-up or kid in the house and have them guess.
Questions To Ask:
Here are some good questions to be asking during this project.
"What are you smelling?"
When have you smelled that before?" (At Grandma's house she makes cookies, awesome!!)
"Will your art project always have a smell, what do you think?"
"Do our ingredients change the color of the paint?"
"What happens if we mix the smells together?"
"What other smells could be used to paint with?" (Don't be shocked if your child or a kid in your class says poop. Handle it how you like and move on.)
The possibilities are endless!! Get Painting!!!
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