El Cerrito Preschool Cooperative

Play, Learn and Grow at ECPC

art

MESSY ART DAY March 19

You’re invited to ECPC’s annual Messy Art Day on March 19! This free event gives preschoolers and prospective preschoolers the chance to experience truly immersing themselves in art.

Who: This event is carefully designed for children 4 and under
When: March 19 11am – 2pm
Where: El Cerrito Preschool Co-op 7200 Moeser Lane, El Cerrito

*Got older siblings? There will be messy art activities geared towards older children (such as older siblings of preschoolers attending Messy Art Day) set up on Ashbury Avenue next to ECPC, which will be closed to traffic for the event. Food will be available to purchase.

*Please note: due to space restrictions, we will not be allowing strollers on school grounds. Stroller parking will be available outside. Also, Messy Art Day is truly messy. Come dressed for mess.

 

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Science learning with gelatin art

ECPC kids enjoyed a super cool science and art project this week. Inspired by Bev Bos and our friends at the Roseville Preschool Cooperative, Teacher Kathy made gelatin molds for the children to poke, prod and just experience the way only kids can.

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How to:

Mix gelatin powder with water, using more powder than package directions to create extra-firm gelatin. Pour in a mold — here, we used glass mixing bowls lightly oiled — and chill to firm. Then invert onto trays and put out sturdy drinking straws.

The kids can poke holes and pull out “worms” of gelatin before really getting hands-on. Once they demolish the molds, melt the pieces back down in a large pot and start over. Let the kids see the melting gelatin to understand about the transformation from solid to liquid.

*Bonus activity: Use pipettes to let kids inject streams of color into the gelatin.

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Science learning: This activity brought out all kinds of natural curiosity in the students. They were fascinated to hear that gelatin can be heated to a liquid and then cooled into a new shape, just like ice melts to water when it gets warmer and water freezes to ice when it gets very cold.

MESSY ART DAY March 19

You’re invited to ECPC’s annual Messy Art Day on March 19! This free event gives preschoolers and prospective preschoolers the chance to experience truly immersing themselves in art.

Who: This event is carefully designed for children 4 and under
When: March 19 11am – 2pm
Where: El Cerrito Preschool Co-op 7200 Moeser Lane, El Cerrito

*Got older siblings? There will be messy art activities geared towards older children (such as older siblings of preschoolers attending Messy Art Day) set up on Ashbury Avenue next to ECPC, which will be closed to traffic for the event. Food will be available to purchase.

*Please note: due to space restrictions, we will not be allowing strollers on school grounds. Stroller parking will be available outside. Also, Messy Art Day is truly messy. Come dressed for mess.

 

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Kids get their hands — and feet — on some really messy art

At ECPC, our philosophy of play-based education includes practicing preschool art as process, not product. We don’t make models of projects for children and just let them get into making their art, without focusing on what they create. Messy Art Day was designed to showcase that approach, and, boy, did the kids get into the process! At our 8th annual MAD, kids from the community joined ECPC students in some truly hands-on (and feet-in) art and science.

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Projects included tire-swing spin art, enormous pools of oobleck (corn starch plus water, which behaves as a solid or liquid depending how much pressure you apply to it — crazy!), baking-soda-vinegar explosions, and splatter painting.

Thanks to all the volunteers who helped make this free community event a beautifully messy success!

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Playing preschool pictionary

Lately, teacher Par has been playing pictionary with our kids. They sit in a line and take turns drawing while the others guess. It’s sweet and surprising to see how detailed some of the pictures are — and how quickly the kids can guess them.

Check out the drawings below. Any guesses what the first one was? The kids suggested a cucumber with wheels… The second is obviously a sweet bike. And the third was a cloud raining down on the ocean — and one of the kids correctly guessed all of that!

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Fun with shaving cream art

It was fun with shaving cream in the art area during the AM program recently, with the kids making marbled paper one day and “cloud jars” another.

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For the marbled paper, the participating parent smeared shaving cream on a tray and smoothed it. Then the kids dripped food coloring around and swirled it through with sticks.

 

 

 

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When they were satisfied, the parent helped them put pieces of paper over the color-filled cream …

 

 

 

 

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and then scraped off the shaving cream, leaving behind marbled paper!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cloud jars were clear glass jars filled with water and topped with shaving cream. Then the kids put food coloring in with droppers, creating swirling clouds under the water. Lots of fun and messy hands ensued!

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