Yesterday, I shared how we spent time learning with lids in preschool so if you missed that post, click on the link and head back over to get caught up! If you are all caught up, then you are ready to see how I expanded the learning with lids in my classroom by inviting the children to create with lids…
Painting with Lids
Lids come in lots of different sizes which make them a wonderful tool to use along with paint and paper…
My students used the lids to print colorful circles on their paper…
Once again, as the children are creating with the lids, learning is happening. Whether the children are focused on design, color, or just the process of creating with lids through any kind of creative process, the children are making decisions about how to approach the process based on what is most interesting or meaningful to them…
While painting, the children may prefer to fit the circle prints inside each other, connect the circles together, make a long line, or just explore the process to see what happens when they place each painted lid on their paper…
The wonderful thing about creating with lids is that lids are just a tool that one can use to inspire creative expression….
And that expression can come in many different forms…
And lead to all kinds of different results…
Gluing with lids
In my classroom, we do quite a bit of glue collages on pieces of cardboard. We use cardboard to give our artwork a sturdy canvas to work on and a cardboard canvas holds up to the heavy weight of glue better than construction paper…
Because we had so many different colors of lids, the lids were the perfect resource for creating a bright and colorful collage on our cardboard canvases…
Some of our students created a picture with the lids while others preferred to just enjoy the collaging aspect of creating with lids…
Most of the children placed their lids flat on the cardboard canvas while a few of the children decided to glue some of their lids standing up on their sides…
Every child was free to choose the colors, sizes, and number of lids they wished to add to their glue canvas…
Easel Painting with Lids
In my classroom, we also enjoy the process of using easel starters. Our easel starter today was, of course, a lid! I hot glued one lid on each piece of paper and made enough easel starters for each child to choose from plus a few extra. Some of my students preferred to paint on more than one lid easel starter paper…
Each child made their own choice as to how they would like to integrate the lid into their easel painting…
And just like the creative process should be, every child’s work was unique in approach and results…
These were a few ways that we explored creating with lids in our classroom. Tomorrow, I will share with you a little bit more about our exploration with lids. I know from reading the comments on my Facebook page that many of you have other creative ways to explore with lids and if you have something to share, please do leave your idea in the comments below!
In the mean time, be sure to also check out how we explored life skills by making Lid Soup…
And how we used Lots of Lids to make this rather unique Bottle Cap Matching Game!
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I work in a pre school and I love all you great ideas on this page there are some fantastic motor skills ideas thank you for your great ideas x
Thank you Carla for your sweet comment!
I Make a nesting game with the largest lid coming from a giant mayonaise jar down to the smallest from a bottle of food color and about 6 in between. The kids can grade them by size or try to stack them to make a tower. I try to use the same color caps but it’s not essential.
Another idea is using bottle caps from seltzer or club soda to make a tic-tac-toe game. I trace around the caps and using a box cutter, I cut out circles from corrugated cardboard to make the board and glue onto another thick cardboard. Then the children use 2 different colors, inserting them in the cut-out circles, (instead of “x” and “o”) to play the game.
I love both of those ideas! Lids make a wonderful tool for all kinds of games like you have shared. I need to put more of them into a game type idea!!
The idea of gluing lids and painting around them is wonderful!
I love your ideas, I have a question, why you just have one class? you should have one school just for you I love all yours activities. 🙂
I used the applesauce lids as wheels on cars. I used q-tips as the axles by cutting off the cotton end. I punched holes in the lids with an ice pick just the right size to fit tight onto the axles. Then I punched two holes in a thick straw. The axles went in the straw holes, then the wheels went on the axles. They really roll. The kids had races with them on a table that had been propped up on one end with a “big block”.
So awesome!