Cut or tear different colors of tissue paper into small pieces. Give each student a paintbrush, a sheet of construction paper and a small cup of liquid starch. Have the students adhere the tissue paper to the construction paper by painting over each piece with the liquid starch. They can continue to add pieces to create a picture or design. Give your students a general theme and let their imaginations take it from there. For the fall, your students can use the colors of the fall leaves to create their own trees. A spring theme can focus on colors to create flowers and grass or a butterfly. Hang the completed project or set aside to dry. Once the starch is dry the tissue art will remain stuck to the paper.
Give your students scented paint to create paintings. Mix a tablespoon of water with a tablespoon of powdered drink mix. Make a variety of colors in various flavors, such as cherry, grape, orange and lemon. Set small bowls of each color in front of the kids. Give each child a paintbrush and paper and let them paint with the mixture. Hang the finished paintings to allow them to dry. Once they are dry your students can scratch the paint and smell their fruity scent.
Cut small squares of bleeding art tissue in a variety of colors. Give each student a plain piece of construction paper, paintbrush and a variety of tissue colors. With a spray bottle, wet down their blank paper and let them create pictures by placing the tissue onto the paper. They can use the paintbrush to gently smooth down the tissue onto the paper without creasing. The tissue will stay to the paper as long as the paper is wet. Once the paper dries, shake off the pieces of tissue to reveal the colors that bled through. It is essential to use bleeding paper. Regular tissue paper will not bleed color onto the construction paper.
Provide your preschoolers with various stencils to trace. Tracing helps develop their fine motor skills. Once they trace the objects, they can color and either cut out their designs or add to their pictures.
Create an apple tree using your students' hands. Dip each child's hand in brown paint and press on paper to make the trunk of the tree. After they wash their hands, let your students create the tree leaves with fingerprints dipped in green paint. Have them wash off the green paint and then make the apples using fingerprints of either red or yellow paint.