For our bird theme week we managed to create three completely different art or craft projects with my PreK students. I enjoyed how they all turned out so our hallway is filled with bird themed projects.
Our first project involved painting with feathers. (Amazon aff. link) I gave students blue and yellow feathers that they could dip in the same color paint to paint the paper. I also provided pipe cleaner (Amazon aff. link) bird feet to dip in orange paint. Students could use all or just one of the choices to create their artwork.
I found the idea for the pipe cleaner bird feet on Fun-a-Day. They used the idea for turkey tracks.
In more of a craft vein, we created our hatching egg birds. Someone donated hundreds of already cut out egg shapes made of a thick textured paper. I drew a jagged line for students to practice their cutting skills first. They also painted a circle and triangle yellow to be the head and body of the baby bird. This project was inspired by Young School Art.
The next day I had the students put the craft together. They cut tissue paper to make the grass. Some students made a fringe and others cut the tissue paper into strips. I enjoyed how the students placed the feathers and the top of the egg to make the birds have some personality.
Since we had a center to create insects and bugs recently, we took the idea to adapt for birds. I could tell that my students were thinking much more about how to create their bird after having the practice with bugs recently.
The wings for this project came from a center we had during the week for cutting practice. Several students enjoy cutting so there were plenty of wings to use for this project.
