Divide your students into groups of five and give each a child an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. Place various sizes of sponges cut into the shape of animals, along with various colored finger paints like orange, brown, yellow, white and red, in the center of each table.
Have the kids dip an animal sponge stamp into a color and then press it onto their paper. Show them how to dip only one side of the sponge into the paint so their hands stay clean.
Preschoolers love squishing things in their fingers. For a special project, give each one a small lump of colorful play dough. Show them how to make simple animals, like a snake or a turtle. Then allow the class to make their own critters and creatures---real or imaginary.
Once everyone is finished, collect them and allow the play dough to dry and harden. Then, the kids can take home their critters.
After reading a story about generosity or wants versus needs, pass out worksheets to each student with a large tree in the center. Next, pass out three paper apples to each student. Instruct the students to color their tree and apples any color they choose. Then, instead of pasting the apples onto their own tree, the students must give their apples to three different students.
Explain to the students that they cannot give all of the apples to one person and at the end of the "giving," each student must have three apples from three different students. After the students accomplish this, ask them questions like, "It felt nice to give your beautifully colored apples to others, didn't it?" This will help get the message across that doing your best work and then joyfully giving it to someone else is a very kind act.