Provide preschoolers with tempera paint and a piece of paper; have them put small blobs of paint on one side of the paper and then fold the paper in half, squishing both sides together. Open up the paper and let the paint dry; have them finish drawing details of their butterfly including the body and antennas. For another paint experiences, offer a variety of rubber stamps or homemade stamps -- cut up sponges, sea shells or potatoes cut in half with a design carved into them -- and a couple colors of tempera paint. Have the preschoolers experiment with different types of stamping on a piece of paper.
Focus on one or two colors at a time when teaching color concepts. Give kids the opportunity to practice using safety scissors and identify colors by cutting out specifically colored items from magazines. The the kids can tear the pictures into smaller pieces and glue them onto a piece of tag board, making a collage. Alternatively, have each child identify one crayon color; help the child place a piece of paper over an object -- such as a shell or coin -- and stabilize it while he uses the side of a crayon to color over the object. Watch the details of the object appear on the paper.
Provide each child with a small paper bag, construction paper, crayons, glue and scissors. Each child can can draw a face on the bottom of the bag or use construction paper to create the eyes, ears, mouth, nose, legs and tail of his favorite animal. Show the children how to place their hands into the puppets to make them talk. Another puppet can be made out a tube sock. Give the children markers, puff paint, buttons and ribbons to decorate their sock characters.
Provide children with some paper and crayons, colored pencils or markers. Have each child draw the people in his family or what he did with his family over the weekend. When the drawings are finished ask each child to explain who each person is and what they are doing in the picture. Another drawing activity can turn basic scribbling into colorful works of art. Instruct the kids to choose one color and make circular scribbles on a piece of paper, the color in each loop or circle with a different color. Emphasize that every picture will be different and each time this activity is done you will get a different result.