Earth Day Process Art Project

Your class will get to hold the whole world (and work those fine motor skills) in their hands with this fun Earth Day process art project!

Earth Day Art Project

Materials Needed:

• Eyedroppers
• Blue and Green liquid watercolor, paint, or food coloring
• coffee filters
• pans or trays (to catch the drips!)
• Black construction paper or cardstock
• Silver marker or white crayon

Preparation:

First, give each student a tray to catch the drips – remember, coffee filters allow water to pass through!  In each tray, add a coffee filter, with a paper towel underneath it if you prefer a little extra protection.  At the tables, have cups with blue and green paint and enough eye droppers for each student.

Work those Fine Motor Skills!

Students use their fine motor skills to squeeze the dropper, suck up liquid, then release it over their filter.  The teacher may have to demonstrate this a few times for children unfamiliar with droppers. Encourage the students to try different things like squeezing quickly or slowly, right next to the paper or up a little higher.

A Very Pretty Planet

Depending on what kind of materials you use, you will have different results.  Liquid watercolors tend to be more vibrant, food coloring diluted in water is softer and more pastel, and paints diluted in water tend to be more opaque.  If you have time, you can revisit the project by using different materials all week!

Let it Be

After the students are done, the projects will need to dry for a little while.  It’s best to let them dry on the trays or on the paper towels so that they do not tear.  To speed up the effort, use the Sun to heat and dry the “Earth!”

Some Writing Practice

After the projects are good and dry, help students glue their Earth to a piece of black construction paper or black cardstock.  Provide the word “Earth” along with a silver marker or white crayon and students get some writing practice along with more fine motor skills as they title their work and add their name at the bottom.

Some Variations

Did your class love this project?  Try putting different colors out to make their own planets during a solar system lesson.  If you have time, students can spatter paint the black paper with stars, or use peel and stick stars to get even more fine motor skill practice.  You can even skip the black paper background altogether and hang them in the windows for some translucent sun catchers, or on some crepe streamers for an Earth Day banner!