Preschool Activities for STEAM #STEM: Art Challenge Fall Bug Habitat, a paper plate, clay, and paint nature educational craft for kids.
Preschool art is filled with coloring, painting, molding, and creating. Most often, parents, teachers, and caregivers give young children the opportunity for some directed learning projects along side open-ended art exploration.
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STEAM Preschool Art Challenge
For this challenge, we have used a variety of art mediums to connect science, nature, and art into one simple, but fun educational activity: Create a Bug Habitat. This activity is re-printed with permission from STEAM:Preschool Activities for STEM Enrichment.
We encourage you to try this activity with the preschoolers in your lives. Then let us know by posting in the comment section how it went. This is week 4 of the Free STEAM Enrichment E-Course for parents, teachers, and care-givers of preschoolers.
Create a Fall Bug Habitat with Mixed Art Mediums
Learning Objective
Create a bug’s environment with a variety of art mediums.
Materials Needed for Fall Bug Habitat
- Air Dry Clay / Clay
- Crayons
- Watercolor Paint or Tempera Paint
- Nature Objects (twigs, leaves, or flowers)
- Paper Plate
- School Glue or Hot Glue (optional and adult use recommended)
Directions for Making a Fall Bug Habitat
1. Paint the paper plate fall bug habitat with fall colors. Discuss the time of day this setting will take place in. My preschooler decided on sunset and chose bright colors for the sky.<
2. Go on a nature walk to find a twig for the main tree of the fall bug habitat (Nature +Art = AWESOME!)
3. Glue a small branch or twig on to the paper plate to create the main tree trunk.
4. Add details such as leaves, dirt, and other branches on the paper plate, being careful not to break the stick.
5. Create different bugs and leaves from the clay. Follow the directions on the package for the clay drying time or just use a small piece of clay or play-dough. (Whatever you have on hand will work great! No need to run to the store for this simple preschool art and science activity!)
6. Paint the bugs if needed and once the paint is dry, arrange and glue them to the paper plate. OR – keep them unattached and carry them around all day (which is what my kids did!)
Even MORE Tips and Tricks for Making Art an Every Day Experience
Watch as Jamie Hand, creator of Hand Made Kid Art and Amanda Boyarshinov co-author of STEAM: Preschool Activities for STEM Enrichment discuss how this preschool art challenge went with our own preschoolers.
Here are links to the previous STEAM preschool activity Challenges.
Additional Preschool Art Resources:
30+ STEM + ART: Hands On, Minds On activities to complement and enrich preschool learning.
Read the Full Book Description
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My preschooler loves all drawing books, but these are some of his favorites as the drawings are simple and practical, yet still cute! Read the full book description here
This book is great for learning the process and exploring different art mediums. Read the full book description here
This book is exactly as the title says. I have had it in my collection for over 10 years and refer to it often for ideas and inspiration. The kids like to read it and choose projects to do too. Full color, easy to follow instructions. Read the full book description here
Science connects well with art, but so does social studies and learning about the world. Explore global art with this multicultural kids art book. Read the full book description here
STEAM Preschool Activities for STEM Enrichment E-Course :
READ: Science Challenge
READ: Technology Challenge
READ: Engineering Challenge
READ: Art Challenge
READ: Math Challenge
