Take the plunge into plunger painting!

Deborah J. Stewart, M.Ed.
July 21, 2014

Plunger painting is one of those ideas that I have been putting off but after finding a set of small plungers at the Dollar Tree, I decided it was time to take the plunge and try some plunger painting with my preschool class.

Introducing Plunger Painting

To introduce plunger painting to my students, I brought a plunger into the classroom and we explored how it works just a bit. I showed the children how to push the plunger straight down on floor to see if we could make it stick! It didn’t stick all that great to our floor but the children got the idea and were excited to give the plungers a try on their own.

The first thing we needed to do was prepare our paint. The children helped me pour paint into our flat metal pans and then take all the prepared pans of paint outside to set up for our plunger painting…

Setting it up Outside

Once we had all the paint ready to go, we spread a large sheet of butcher paper down across the drive and held the ends of it in place with rocks so that the wind wouldn’t blow the paper around. I also went back and added some tape along the edge of the paper to help hold the paper in place.

And then it was time for the children to have at it! There was some problem solving to do along the way. For example, the children had to figure out how to keep the plunger from sticking to the bottom of our pans once they had paint on them. No worries, they figured out that they could just use a foot to hold the pan down and their hands to pull up on the plunger at the same time.

Once the children got the hang of it, they went to town painting all up and down our sheet of butcher paper.

All different colors of circles began to appear and then more were added on top.

This really was all about the process and not so much about creating circles. The children loved seeing how they could maneuver the plungers as they painted with them.

All through the morning, the children came and went from the plunger painting area (We had other outdoor activities going on as well). This little one discovered that she could use two plungers to jump over our painting!

This was definitely an outdoor art experience that was fun, inventing, creative, and worth doing again. So have you taken the plunge into plunger art yet? Really, you don’t want to miss this one!

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Deborah J Stewart

Every time I think I know everything I need to know about teaching young children, God says, "Hold on a minute!" and gives me a new challenge.

Let me tell ya...

With each new challenge that you overcome, you will find yourself better equipped and more passionate about teaching young children.

God didn't call wimps to lead, teach, or care for His children. Nope, he has high expectations, so get ready. You will have to give your very best but after teaching for over 30 years, I can tell you that it is a wonderful and rewarding journey.

Whenever your calling feels hard, just remember, 'He who began a good work in you (and in the children you serve) will be faithful to complete it.'