Teach children about the sense of smell by creating paper flowers that really smell good. Use different colored pieces of construction paper and draw flower shapes on each one. Have children cut around the outline of the flowers and paste layers of flowers together to create beautiful, multicolored flowers. Alternatively, they can cut petals from one sheet and glue them on to the flower of another sheet to create a flower with multicolored petals. Spray cotton balls with a scented fragrance and have students glue them to the center of the flowers. When the glue dries, students can smell their flowers to inhale an appealing scent.
Children are often fascinated by the multicolored leaves that transform on trees in the fall. Have them create their own beautiful fall leaves using coffee filters or plain, white tissue paper. Cut leaf shapes out of the tissue paper by tracing leaves that you found outside or simply drawing the shape of a leaf. Fill small water droppers halfway with water and the rest of the way with washable paint in fall colors, such as red, orange, brown or yellow. Have children place drops of different colors on their paper leaves to make leaves with a tie-dye appearance in fall colors.
A shoe rubbing is a project that is easy to do, can be accomplished by students and can fit in with all sorts of classroom themes. Shoes can be utilized in a sports theme, a theme on health and exercise, a unit on clothing or even a unit about the seasons and what kinds of gear is worn for each. The students can perform the shoe rubbing by taking off one of their shoes and placing it upside-down underneath a piece of paper. Holding a crayon sideways, they should lightly rub the crayon back and forth on top of the paper to make the shape of the shoe show up on top.
Whether for an informative unit on the post office or a handwritten letter for their parents, preschoolers will be delighted to design their own stamp. The possibilities are endless, so provide an abundance of supplies to allow them to creatively design the picture of their choice. Paint, crayons, glitter, glue and markers are all wonderful tools to make a picture that will go on their own personal stamp. To make the look more authentic, cut around the border of each paper with special decorative scissors that cut in a wavy pattern, similar to the border around a stamp. After each child has completed their picture, copy and shrink the pictures on a photocopy machine to the size of a real stamp. Place a piece of double-sided tape on the back and affix to an envelope.