Painting With Pudding

This is an activity I've been wanting to try for a few years now.  But the idea of all that pudding and food coloring was just too daunting!  So when a friend called to invite us over for a crafty play date, I thought it was the perfect time to try making pudding paint.  I loved the way it turned out, especially for some of the more tactile kids (Xander!).  It's a great way to teach colors, color combinations (what do yellow and blue make?), and writing (practice forming letters and numbers in the pudding).

Lesson:  Painting with Pudding

Objective:  Child will creatively investigate how colors mix together.

Materials:  Vanilla instant pudding.  Food coloring.  Plastic drop cloth.

Process: 
1.  Mix up the pudding according to package directions, and pour into individual serving bowls.  Here I accidentally bought the kind of pudding you have to cook, so that added an extra step.  If you buy the instant kind, just blend with milk, and pour directly into the bowls.

2.  Add drops of food coloring, and mix.  The colors will be a bit muddy, since the pudding already has a yellowish tint to it.

3.  Repeat, until you have colored all your bowls.  With older kids, you might want to let them do the food coloring, to experiment with shades and tints.

4.  Spread the plastic drop cloth over your table and lay out the pudding bowls.  Make sure everybody has on clothing that you don't mind getting stained!  (or, in Xander's case, non-clothing.  Don't worry, he had pants on.)

5.  Let the fun begin!

Don't forget to taste the pudding!

Messy little man.

What's this foreign stuff??

And clean up is a cinch!

Spider Unit - African Kente Cloth Legend

One of the things I'm excited about with this spider unit is that it  provides lots of opportunities to pull in folk tales from different regions.  Thus, we will get to do a lot of cross-curricular activities - in this case, language arts and art.

Lesson:  African Kente Cloth Spider Legend

Objective:  Child will identify what a folk tale is, and become familiar with the Ghana legend of Kente cloth.

Materials:  The Spider Weaver, by Margaret Musgrove.  1 sheet construction paper.  Plate.  Fork or other mixing utensil.  Elmer's glue.  Water.  Different colors of yarn.  Scissors.

Process:

1.  Discuss with child what a folk tale is.  Say, "Although you didn't know it, you already know some folk tales!  There's one about three bears, and a little girl with curly blond hair, who eats porridge and breaks a chair and sleeps in a bed ... what folk tale is that?"  Discuss several other familiar folk tales, such as Hansel and Gretel and Little Red Riding Hood.  Then say, "Other cultures around the world have folk tales, as well, and today we'll be reading a folk tale from Africa."  Read, The Spider Weaver.

2.  Give child a piece of construction paper (black works best).  On the plate, mix equal parts glue and water.  Cut the yarn into strips.  Instruct child that she is going to make a web like the spider in the book.  Have her dip a piece of yarn in the glue mixture, then place it on the construction paper.

3.  Continue the process with more yarn.  Child can use scissors to cut the yarn into smaller pieces if she wishes.  Leave the book open so the child can refer to the picture of the web for inspiration!

4.  Even the little guy got in on the action!  I dipped the yarn for him, and he placed it on the paper.  

5.  We even made a "B", which is his letter of the week!

The kids REALLY enjoyed this activity.  Messy, but fun!