My First Weeks As a Preschool Art Teacher

When I was a kid and someone would ask what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would often answer art teacher, or writer. I never imagined one day I would be able to call myself both.

Since having a home of my own, my love of art has grown to include a love of design. Putting rooms together, picking wall colors, organizing and decluttering are all things that bring me great joy.

It has been a blessing to add Interior Designer to my list of jobs over the past months. As I have worked with clients shopping for furniture and decor, decluttering and organizing spaces, redesigning rooms, and even painting furniture – my heart has been filled with gratitude. I am grateful for each and every client that has welcomed me into their home.

Am I making a ton of money? Far from it. Am I loving what I’m doing? You betcha.

A goal of mine is to share more of what I am doing outside of the home with my readers. In addition to sharing thoughts on life, faith, and parenting – I will also include preschool art projects and design tips.

To get started, I wanted to share some of the things I have done in the classroom over the past weeks.

Week Number One

The first week of school can be both exciting and intimidating, for young and old alike. To help the preschoolers deal with first week jitters, we read the book Maisy Goes to Preschool by Lucy Cousins. The kids then had fun painting their very own masterpieces, just like Maisy on her first day. My very favorite part of this class was when the kids had the opportunity to share their art with their classmates.

Their answers were wildly creative. They painted spaceships blasting off to outer space, frogs battling around a body of water, the whole entire city and universe, and even poop – to name a few. (It was hard not to laugh at that one.)

Here is an article on some of the benefits of painting for children.

Week Number Two

The next week, we read The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister, and the kids had fun creating their own rainbow fish out of play dough that I made the night before using this recipe.

They added google eyes and glittery, beautiful scales. I asked the kids if they went swimming over the summer, and if so – where? We also talked about how God gave the Rainbow Fish his beautiful scales, just like He has given each of them beautiful, special gifts to share with their loved ones.

Week Number Three

On the third week, we watched a cute video of the classic story Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. After we finished, the kids created their very own night sky. They enjoyed the sensory experience of crinkling the aluminum foil and used their fine motor skills to peel the stickers off the page and place them on their paper. I originally found this craft here.

We looked out the window and talked about if it was day or night. We then talked about how day and night are opposites and what other opposites they may know.

Here is an article on the benefits of using scissors.

Week Number Four

Last week, we read the interactive book Mix It Up! by Herve Tulles. The kids had a ball pressing, mixing, wiping and smashing the colors together. They did what was requested on the page, and then watched in amazement to see what would happen next. What happens when you mix yellow and blue? Blue and red? What happens when you add black to a color? Or white?

Afterward, they had a chance to finger paint and mix their own colors together – just like in the book.

I am just a few months into interior design work, and four weeks into being a preschool art teacher, and I can say with confidence I love what I do. And I hope the same for you. I hope you can pursue what you are passionate about in life, whether that be at work or at home.

I hope you have enjoyed this little sneak peek into the first four weeks of my life as a preschool teacher. I am looking forward to sharing more as the year goes on, and I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to email me any ideas or suggestions you have for upcoming art projects.