Let your preschoolers turn musical art into visual art by engaging them in the creation of music pictures. To begin this activity, select a classical music piece that features a bold melody or other attention-getting feature. Sit students down with sheets of paper and coloring supplies. Tell students that you are going to play them a song and, as you do, they should draw whatever comes to mind. After students have completed the task, allow them to share their creations, showing their classmates what the piece of music inspired.
Mix dancing with mural painting. Prepare for this activity by covering a classroom wall with white bulletin board paper. Give students paintbrushes and lay out paints, or keep it simple by having them use markers to create their mural. Tell your students that you are going to play them a song and they should dance around while listening to it and, while they do, add colors to their mural. Play the music and allow your students to boogey down. After the song reaches an ending, play another one to continue to add to the mural, or stop and admire the collaboratively created piece of art.
Give your preschoolers practice with the skills of cutting and gluing by creating a music collage with your students. To begin this activity, give students sheets of colored paper and magazines. Select a long piece of music, like a symphony or album containing tunes that go together. Play the selected piece and, while you do, ask students to clip out pictures of cut colored shapes that they think fit with the musical piece. Have students glue these pieces down to create a collage inspired by the musical selection.
Ask students to capture movement in their works of art by creating movement pictures. Give students sheets of paper and coloring supplies, and ask them to draw a person or animal that is in the process of moving. Tell them that they can draw someone who is dancing, a cat running or a frog jumping, to give them a few ideas. After students create their movement-rich pieces, allow them to share them, telling their classmates what they have drawn.