Use painting activities to teach pupils about color. Let them experiment with mixing various paints to create new colors. Have them add white paint to mixtures to create different tints. Have pupils use their colors to paint pictures. Introduce pupils to the color wheel. Teach them the primary colors and show them how to mix paints to make secondary colors. Provide them with templates to create their own color wheels.
Let pupils experiment with finger paint. Have them create pictures using their fingerprints. Provide them with black markers to add details to their fingerprints to turn them into fish, people or insects. For example, several green fingerprints placed one after another can be used to paint a caterpillar.
Provide students with sponges to use in their painting activity. You can use sponges that have been pre-cut into various shapes. Students can dip them in paint and use them as stamps to decorate cards or make wrapping paper.
Ask pupils to bring in a variety of rocks. Provide them with paints, sponges and brushes, and have them create designs on their rocks, or paint them so that they resemble animals. Brush on a mixture of white glue and water to seal the rocks when the paint has dried. Similarly, collect large and small white seashells. Students can use acrylic paints to create pictures on the inside of the large shells. Smaller shells can be painted and used to decorate picture frames.