Learning our names is the first priority in preschool literacy instruction. We practice recognizing and spelling our names every day in a variety of developmentally appropriate ways. At the beginning of the year, many preschoolers recognize their names simply by the first letter. So, we spend a lot of time talking about “our” letters! These tape resist name art projects focus on each child’s first letter.
The local craft store has bulk economy art canvases– 8 or 10 for $8 (and, of course I use my 40% off coupon!). We bought 2 packs to use with our 2 preschool classes.
Before the art project, we programmed each canvas with a masking tape letter to correspond to each child’s name. When the students arrived in the morning and saw the canvases set up on the table, they got so excited to find “theirs” simply by locating their name.
Since it’s fall, we offered the artists some fall colored paint: red, orange, yellow, gold, brown and black. As you will see from the pictures to follow, it wasn’t a great idea to add brown and black. When they get mixed on the plates, the painting turn into one big muddy mess! It’s still a cool process, but with our second class, we left off the dark colors and you can see that the final results are much brighter.
Some of the students started by tracing and outlining their names on the canvas.
Others (the younger crew) were happy to just explore with the paint and the brushes and paid little attention to the tape letter.
This little artist mixed red and yellow paint and was so excited to discover that he made orange!
Aren’t those colors amazing?
Tape resist art projects are a good compromise for teachers who value the importance of process art and parents (or others) who really want their children to bring home something that’s fridge worthy!
We encouraged the students to cover their entire canvases with paint. Then, when they were done we peeled the tape off of the project to reveal the tape resist name.
After the canvases were dry and the students had left for the day, I added a coat of mod podge. (I might have a slight mod podge addiction! It just makes every project better!) The mod podge goes on like white school glue, but it dries clear and gives the name art a glossy finish.
The final tape resist name art canvases are simple, but stunning. We have a feeling they will be displayed on the wall when our students take them home!
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