"Good Behavior" charts are a gentle way to enforce classroom rules, and gumball machine charts are bright and playful ways to liven up an otherwise challenging task. At the preschool level, tracings in the shape of gumball machines are the best option for children still honing fine motor skills. Use child safety scissors to cut out the gumball machine patterns from red pieces of felt. Show students how to cut small circles from several different felt colors to serve as gumballs. After the machines are labeled with the children's names and hung around the classroom, add gumballs to a child's chart each time she models good behavior, like raising her hand or sharing a toy. The student with the most gumballs at the end of each day gets a small reward, like taking the classroom stuffed animal home for the night.
Recreating the glass globe of a gumball machine is a challenge for preschool crafts, but clear contact paper is a preschooler-friendly material for a gumball machine paper craft. After students trace and cut out the red construction paper base of the machine, help students cut out small gumball circles from different colors of construction paper. The adhesive side of a circle of contact paper provides a sticky surface for students to apply their gumball circles. After sandwiching the paper gumballs between another circle of contact paper, use tape or glue to attach the globe to the construction paper base. This craft is useful as a classroom decoration or as a take-home project.
Gumball crafts are also useful for classroom instructions about colors, shapes or following directions. A large paper gumball machine made from butcher block paper serves as a classroom decoration and learning board. After students master the art of cutting out circles from paper, incorporate additional directions into your daily lessons. For example, challenge students to cut three blue gumballs and two red gumballs. Incorporate different gumball shapes like squares and triangles, or ask students to draw pictures of their families or pets on their gumballs. As students create gumballs, add them to your classroom gumball machine as an ongoing classroom craft.
Creating functional gumball machines is a craft outside the skill set of most preschool students, but plastic gumball machines are a creative surface for kid-friendly painting crafts. After you've collected a supply of miniature plastic gumball machines, supply students with smocks, brushes and a gel-based washable paint suitable for painting on plastic or glass. Talk about patterns or color mixing to create an academic lesson. Keep the machines in the classroom to store items like pencils or crayons.