Activity: Colour Mixing with Droppers
Age Group: Preschool (2.5–5 years)

One) Process-Focused Art Activity Plan:

Materials:

  • Liquid watercolours (primary colours).
  • Droppers or pipettes.
  • Ice cube trays or small cups.
  • Coffee filters or thick absorbent paper.

Process:

  • Children use droppers to mix colours in the tray, then squeeze their mixtures onto coffee filters. They watch colours blend, diffuse, and create new shades.

Learning Focus (Process > Product):

  • Scientific exploration.
  • Fine-motor development.
  • Cause and effect.
  • Curiosity and experimentation.

Educator’s Role:

  • Provide language (“I notice the red is blending with the blue”), observe patterns, encourage predictions, and allow children to explore freely.

2) Collection of Loose Parts Ideas for Art Exploration:

  • Bottle caps.
  • Fabric scraps.
  • Leaves, sticks, pinecones.
  • Cardboard rolls.
  • Buttons.
  • Ribbon and yarn pieces.
  • Shells and stones.
  • Mesh fruit bags.
  • Recycled lids and containers.

Why these support learning:

  • Loose parts invite creativity without a predetermined outcome, fostering problem-solving, imagination, and sensory engagement.

 

3) Example of an Emergent Art Activity

  • Observation: Children noticed melting snow outside and began talking about “painting with ice.”

Emergent Activity:

  • We froze coloured water in muffin tins with popsicle sticks. Children used the ice paints to create art outdoors on large cardboard sheets.

Why this supports emergent learning:

  • The activity grew from children’s natural curiosity, linking art with the winter environment and sensory investigation.

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