Kindergarten - Colors, Shapes, Cut, & Glue

For Kindergarteners, the first month of school is all about learning the basics: how to walk in line, how to raise your hand, and how to write your name. In the art room, it was all about how to identify colors, how to draw shapes, how to use scissors, and how to use glue! I started the little ones out with the basics by making color & shape collages.

Day 1 was all about color.

We identified red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, and I read the students the book The Day the Crayons Quit. This book is one of my favorite children's books. It's witty, thoughtful, and each crayon has its own personality.

After learning about all of the colors, I had each child verbally identify and select three colors of construction paper. They wrote their name on each one (although some nuggets didn't even know how to do that yet!) and we paper-clipped them together until the next lesson...

Lesson 2 was all about SHAPES!

Specifically circles, squares, and triangles. I showed videos about each of these shapes. These videos are kind of annoying and will straight up get stuck in your head, but the little ones loved them, especially the parts where they got to make circles in the air with their fingers. Heres the circle song in case you're curious:

After watching all three songs, I gave each student a circle, square, and triangle stencil. I had them trace a shape on their contruction paper and then draw the shape on their own right next to it.

Day 3 we learned how to use scissors!

I explained to the students how important it was to use scissors correctly. Next, I had them each sign a "scissor contract" (I explained what a contract was) that held them responsible for using the scissors appropriately. I told them that scissors cutting on a pencil line is like a car driving on the road - you want to stay on the line!!

Day 4 was glue day!

I taught the students the "dot, dot, not a lot" technique, which most of them did a great job with. Some of them still ended up with a gluey mess. They were able to place their shapes anywhere they wanted to on their paper. I encouraged them to think about how they might want to overlap the shapes.

At the end, they were all so proud of their collages. Some students struggled with drawing and cutting, and some really excelled. It was a great way to start the year with an assessment of their fine motor skills and previous knowledge about colors and shapes.

I hung the final artworks up in the hall right by the Kindergarten wing. They all looked so colorful together!