Have you ever made a mural with a group of kids? Do you remember making them when you were young?
It never occurred to me that it could work in your home, where you have a smaller number of children than a traditional school classroom, but it works.
I did it with my kids a number of times when they were preschool age. Since they are twins it was pretty easy to work with them as they were used to taking turns and working together. But I think it works with all siblings if you can find a way to make it fun.
I discovered that toddlers and preschoolers make gorgeous art.
The reason why it can sometimes look cluttered or mushed together is that they don’t know when to stop working. They get so engrossed in the movement and application of color that they don’t stop to look at their picture overall.
The key doing painting with toddlers and preschoolers is to remove the paper and give them fresh ones before the paint gets all mixed into a brown mush. An encouraging, “That is wonderful!” is all it takes. Then you can take the painting away and give her a new blank sheet to work on.
So, back to making collages. What you need is a fairly detailed line drawing that is really large and prints across 12 to 16 sheets of paper.
Here is an example of one you can download free that relates to a book about an umbrella and the rainforest by Jan Brett (sadly I cannot find the ocean mural we used when my kids were little. It seems to be gone from the Internet).
Then you divide the printed pieces between your children. The trick is to try to alternate the pieces so that little Janey doesn’t do all the pieces on the left side of the collage and little Jimmy does all the pieces on the right hand side. Try to alternate between your kids. That is how you get an interesting collage.
If your kids are preschoolers, then all you need to give them is some water color paints and the pages and let them go to town.
Turn on some favorite music to set the tone and enjoy yourselves!
Remember, though, your job is to sing and dance along to the music. Make your kids happy. Let them paint however they like with those water colors on their printed mural sheets.
And, most importantly, be ready to snag the paintings from them before they turn into brown mushy paintings!
When the pages are all dried, all you need now is a large wall space.
We always used the wall in my bedroom so that “Daddy can admire your work when he gets home!” (It didn’t hurt that the kids could jump on the bed while I taped up the mural, which made them really happy and added to the overall experience)
