Teach children to use their own hands to create pictures of animals that are as individual as they are. The students will use all parts of their hands to include their palm, the side of their fist, thumbprints and the length of their index finger. Using washable acrylic paints, teach them to make a dolphin by using the length of their flattened hand with fingerprints for the nose and tail. This project gives you the opportunity to talk about the napping behavior of dolphins; they nap for several minutes every few hours while opening their eyes now and then. The preschoolers can paint a moose head by using an upside down print of their outstretched hand with all fingers printed separately for the antlers. Teach them that a moose's antlers can weigh as much as 50 pounds; that's like carrying a giant bag of dog food on your head.
With a red envelope, a toilet tissue tube, an egg carton, construction paper and paint, help your preschool children create a barn with animals. By painting the tube red and topping it with a section from an egg carton painted brown, you can attach the "silo" to the envelope with its flap open to simulate a barn. Then the kids can cut out pictures of farm animals from magazines and fit them into the back of the envelope. Add cutouts of barn doors and smaller hayloft doors while teaching the children to sing, "Old MacDonald Had a Farm."
Ask your preschool students to bring in a light-colored knit glove to craft a horse puppet they can wear. Using cotton balls to stuff the middle finger to fill out the horse's head, help the kids glue on wiggly eyes. Show the kids how to draw on nostrils, glue on triangular pieces of felt for the ears and short yarn pieces for the mane. Add six-inch pieces of yarn for a tail and read the poem, "All the Pretty Horses."
Teach your preschoolers fine motor skills by using crayons, scissors and assembly instructions to create a penguin with egg or oval shapes. They will also learn their colors, numbers and shapes by assembling the penguin. Have the students identify the egg shapes, teaching them that penguins are hatched from eggs and daddy penguins carry their children under their body to protect them until they are hatched. Two large egg shapes form the black body and white belly of the penguin. Two ovals each for the wings, feet and eyes are attached to the body and one oval for the beak. The kids can add a bow tie to give their penguin a decorative touch. This craft makes a good teaching lesson around Father's Day.