Scratch Art and the Importance of Memory
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As our children begin to discover the beauty of written words, and take baby steps into reading for themselves, there are many factors which help reading click. It is great to keep introducing new letters and their sounds to our children, and to keep reviewing the ones they have learned, but if they don't have strong auditory and visual memory, the process of sounding out whole words will be frustrating.
The Peaceful Preschool curriculum very intentionally includes activities to help strengthen these processes. Although every bit of imaginative play that our children engage in are helping with these processes, we can also give them a little more input by doing several activities with them.
Reading stories aloud and asking them to tell you about what you read.
Playing memory games such as Husker Du, or Art Memo.
Playing visual discrimination games such as Bird Bingo and Phonogram Bingo.
Using Picture Word Cards and letter flash cards to match beginning sounds with pictures.
Doing auditory sequencing with numerals and with words.
If you need more insight on how to do auditory sequencing with your child, and you are a current curriculum user, you can check out the demonstration video that I did which is available in the private FB group. If you aren't using The Peaceful Preschool, we would love to have you join us. The curriculum is only $44 for 26 full weeks of daily lesson plans. The curriculum uses classic children's books, along with playful activities to help prepare your child to love learning.
If you are wanting to hear from other users of the curriculum before purchasing, check out the visitor posts in our new Facebook page. Several of our community of Peaceful Preschool families posted what they love about the curriculum.
Scratch Art
If you are using the curriculum, you will know that for the letter K, one of the art activities is scratch art. I know I have said this before, but arts and crafts are not my forte. I love knitting and watercolor painting with my child, but in The Peaceful Preschool it was really important to me to provide a variety of simple crafts to do with your child. This one was very simple and just required a little bit of patience.
First we thoroughly covered a piece of cardstock with bright crayon colors. I encouraged the children to fill in any white spots with their crayons. It provided some great hand muscle building, and it didn't at all matter what coloring level they were at. It was full on scribbles. While they are coloring would be a great time to read your picture book for the day.
Next, we painted over the whole crayon drawing using black crayola tempura paint. My youngest friend and I didn't cover our scratch art quite as deeply with the black paint, but my 9 year old went to town on it, and it turned out very black!
After the crayon drawing was well covered with black paint, we waited. This was when we did some large motor activities, perhaps braiding hemp string into rope, or throwing a ball back and forth.
Once the paint was thoroughly dry, I gave my students various scratchers to make a design . Toothpicks, pennies, and forks are all possible implements for scratching though the paint to the bright crayon below.
I can't say it was the most beautiful of any craft we have done, but the magical experience of covering up the colors and then uncovering them was delightful for my kiddos.
What are some of your favorite art activities so far in The Peaceful Preschool?
What letter are you on? Share, by tagging #thepeacefulpreschool on Instagram, or in our encouraging private Facebook group, available with your curriculum purchase.
For a complete list of picture books used for The Peaceful Preschool click here.
For hands-on learning with your K-6 grade students, check out The Playful Pioneers and The Precious People.
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