At many preschools, art is an indoor activity… a messy indoor activity. Some mess in preschool is a good thing, but when you have an art project that could cause a lot of mess, why not bring the project outdoors?
We suggest taking art projects outdoors to the preschool outdoor playground. When exploring with art outdoors, you and the children don’t have to worry quite so much about clean up. For example, paint on an outdoor art easel and the clean up is as easy as spraying water and wiping off the easel or letting rain wash it clean. Paint or glue using outdoor classroom equipment like an outdoor art table and clean up is as easy as getting out the hose. Did someone spill paint or glue on the ground? It’s not such a inconvenience when you are outdoors!
Taking the art learning outdoors is also great because the outdoors provides dozens of different manipulatives that can be added to art projects. Children can use grass, flowers, leaves, sticks, rocks, mulch, bark, pine cones, seeds, etc. in their art, using their imaginations as they go through the process of creating art on the natural playground.
