Cooperative Spring Mural

We had been noticing and discussing the arrival of budding flowers on our playground. The children had enjoyed sketching them as part of their time outside. Check back for post on that soon.

I modified this idea that I had seen from Teach Preschool on Springtime Easel Starters.


I glued some birdseed that we had in class onto the bottom of a large piece of easel paper and hung it across our triple easel.  It remained up for the week.  Before our center time on Monday, we read Eric Carle's The Tiny Seed The children were encouraged to add anything that might grow from a seed or live among the growing plants. The used mini paint trays and selected their own colors and paints from our easel materials cart. Everyone chose tempera this week, although it was not a requirement.

It was an interesting experience as some children found it more difficult to paint near other's work, often saying "there's no room!"  This would lead to discussion of creating a larger flower or a smaller flower to fit in remaining space.  We also brainstormed other things that could be added to the mural other than flowers as the space became tighter.  Some children chose to paint the dirt or the grass rather than a flower.  By the end of the week (not pictured here) we had a few bees, a bird, a couple of worms and a snake.

A beautiful cooperative effort!