Tuesday, January 18, 2011
This was an activity we did as part of a unit on safety and community helpers. This activity was adapted from an one I found online. The online project called for painting a fire scene with the shadow of a house in front. I had two problems with this: 1. I would have to make the house for it to look right since the kids are too young to cut out windows and such, and 2. it seemed a bit morbid to me. So I figured out a way to make it less morbid, but also create a project the would help the children learn how the things we see are made out of shapes.
First, I had the children paint a white piece of paper with orange yellow and red paint. I told the kids to really glob the paint on. Then we placed saran wrap over the picture and rubbed it around to mix the colors, then quickly pulled it off in an upward motion to create the look of fire.
Next, I created some shapes that the children could use to make a shadow form of a fire truck. I made circles (wheels), squares (the cab), a large rectangle (truck), and a long rectangle (ladder). Then I showed the children how they could use these shapes to make the image of a fire truck, and let them past it on their paper. I think they turned out great!!
I know, I know.. I'm a creative genius. :P