This is a good game to play with preschoolers to reinforce listening skills and the importance of following directions. Give each child a blank sheet of paper as well as a small container of paint and a paintbrush. Tell the children that they are going to create a picture together but they have to follow your directions very carefully in order to see the secret picture. Make sure all of the children are listening and give directions one step at a time to create a simple picture, such as a flower or the sun. For example, tell the children, "Draw a large circle in the middle of your paper. Now draw four lines moving away from your circle."
Learning to create and continue patterns is an important pre-math skill for preschoolers. Give children two colors of paint to work with as well as a blank piece of paper. Using colored beads, blocks or buttons, create a pattern on the table that children must then continue by painting on the paper. For example, lay out a green triangle, a red circle, a green triangle, a red circle and so on. Provide red and green paint and ask children to continue the pattern on their paper with the paint. Or allow them to experiment with the paint and create their own patterns.
The basics of color mixing and finding secondary and tertiary colors is often discovered by accident by preschoolers. As a small group art activity, provide red, yellow and blue paint and several paintbrushes in your art center. Write simple directions on a poster to display near the art center that show children how to mix colors. For example, a circle of red paint plus a circle of yellow paint equals a circle of orange paint. Encourage children to follow the directions on the poster to mix the primary colors together and also to experiment to create new colors.
While paintbrushes and fingers are the most popular ways for preschoolers to paint, they are certainly not the only way to get the paint on the paper. In your art center, provide many different ways for preschoolers to paint pictures, such as with cotton balls, cotton swabs, sponges, bubble wrap and aluminum foil balls. Play a simple game with preschoolers by asking them to guess which item would be the best way to create a certain shape. For example, "What would we paint with if we needed to make long skinny lines?" Allow children to guess and then experiment with the tools and compare the results.