Create an art station for the day. You may want to set aside one table for working on a specific project and have another area for more free-form art. Include areas for painting, stamping or working with shaving cream during the preschooler's outdoor time, as well. Use a variety of paintbrushes, scissors and other materials to help the children get practice with different art equipment and develop their fine motor skills.
Design the day's art project. You may have the children glue paper plates together and decorate with cotton balls to make snowmen for a unit on weather, or practice cutting out the letter or number of the day. For a unit on families, preschoolers may be asked to draw a picture of their own family. Over the holidays, they may use glitter to decorate a holiday or Valentine's Day card.
Choose an outdoor art project for the day. Set out smocks and easels with paints and paintbrushes, or a table with paper and paint and shaving cream for textural and messy finger painting. Set out Play-Doh or clay on another day. Allow the preschoolers to explore with different materials while they play outside each day.
Discuss the art with the children. While they are working, spur scientific investigation by asking questions like, "I wonder if both of these paintbrushes will make the same kind of line?" After they are done, ask them to tell you about what they have created and share with their classmates. If the art ties in to your lesson plan, discuss what they have created when you return to circle or rug time.
Display the art around the classroom. Preschoolers develop pride from seeing their work displayed and remember the process of creating it, as well as what they discussed and learned before, during and after making it.