Print templates of the elements of a landscape. Print trees, flowers, mountains, clouds and streams to serve as examples, which they children can use when creating a landscape. Distribute different colors of construction paper to the children: white for clouds; brown for tree trunks; green for leaves and grass; blue for streams and the sky; and yellow, pink and red for flowers. Give each child a piece of poster board. Instruct the children to draw an outline of a landscape on the board. Then, by cutting or tearing the colors of construction paper, the children use glue sticks to affix pieces of colored paper to the board drawing to create their landscape. Children may incorporate other elements of nature, such as animals like birds or deer. Children will begin to recognize shapes in the landscape like cylinders in tree trunks, circles in the sun and clouds, and triangles in the mountains. Motivate the children to use their creativity and imagination.
Teach children about the primary and secondary colors with fun ice cream cone shapes. Make sure you have plenty of construction paper in the primary colors---red, yellow and blue---and a good selection of secondary colors. Precut ice cream cones from brown or tan construction paper for each child. Let children decide which two colors they want to put on their cone. Children then cut an ice cream scoop shape from each of the primary colors they selected and then glue the two scoops on top of their cone. Based on the two colors chosen by the child, ask the child to figure out which color will result if the two colors are combined. For example, if a child selects red and yellow, combining these two colors will result in orange. The child then cuts out an orange scoop and glues it on top of the cone. The colors on the cone show the primary colors and the secondary color that results when the two primary colors are mixed.
Give each child a piece of black construction paper, a straw, three or four different colors of glitter and some school glue. Give each student a box lid or other shallow container to collect excess glitter. Instruct each child to squeeze a small amount of glue onto the black construction paper. Use the straw to blow the glue around on the paper to create long tendrils of glue. Before the glue dries, cover the glue with glitter. Allow it to sit for a few minutes and then shake off the excess into a small container. Repeat until the paper is covered with colorful glitter and glue fireworks. This is an ideal activity leading up to the Fourth of July or other community celebrations where fireworks are displayed. This activity is an opportunity to teach children about how the Chinese people invented fireworks and the different celebrations where fireworks are displayed.