Looking for a cute Valentine's painting project for your preschooler? I saw this project originally at Hands On As We Grow and thought it was perfect for our kids. So while I certainly can't claim originality for this idea, I did try to expand on it as part of our homeschool preschool curriculum.
Now lest anyone frown at me for using a technique like resist painting with preschoolers (some say it inhibits creativity), let me say that I am a process over product person. The main point was to explore painting with different non-brush materials and helping my girls get over their fears of getting dirty! At the same time, we had talked about making some decorations for the upcoming Valentine's Day holiday, so when I saw this project, I figured it could kill two birds with one stone. This project underscored the idea of heart shapes and the colors pink, red, purple and white being representative of Valentine's Day, which we had previously discussed. We also discussed the difference in paper orientation (Josie chose landscape and Caroline chose portrait), and we talked briefly about the term "negative space" and that white is the absence of color. Those were pretty much above their heads but I wasn't worried about mastery, just exposure. So although some people think the resist technique gives too many parameters for a creative preschooler, I happen to think it is a fun project on its own merits and can be a great part of a well rounded art curriculum! The basic questions I ask myself about preschool art projects are:
1) does it encourage creative thinking or practice?
2) does it teach a skill or concept?
3) does it expose the child to a new material or technique?
4) is it challenging, yet not frustration-creating?
5) is it tactile?
6) is it FUN?
If you can answer yes to most of those, it is probably a green light!
Anyway, here are the materials we used. Just use whatever you have on hand. I didn't have fancy rollers or rods but I did have a paper towel roll waiting to be recycled, so I cut that in two and used it. I also added Q-Tips, cotton balls, a skewer broken in half and an old rag as vehicles for the paint. We used painter's tape for the resist portion.
Obviously I did the hearts. There is no way the kids could have done this without becoming completely frustrated, which defeats the purpose. They used the leftover bits of tape to stick around the paper where they wanted.
The rag proved to be the most effective in covering the paper in paint.
Using the skewer to scratch the paint before it dried
The finished painting, before removing the tape...
... and after. We "framed" the paintings on their choice of colored contruction paper. They both chose black. :|
Now that they have gotten some exposure to the resist painting, I think I'll remove the parameters and have them do it again, letting them rip the tape and create their own design one hundred percent. Then they can choose their own colors... I am excited about how those will turn out! In the meantime, the girls are very proud to have their paintings be part of our Valentine's Day decoration!
and 
. The girls still read them a year later. There are a lot of junky books out there that celebrate holidays; I feel like publishers/authors just churn them out to make a buck. But there are also some good ones, and here are some examples you might want to check out:
by Felicia Bond (who also wrote the If You Give a Mouse a... series). A cute tale of a rainy day that turns into a love fest full of surprise valentines
by Todd Parr.
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