Melting ArtHousing a Forest

It is still snowing, so we are making the most of it before spring hits! Remember the wonderful snowman the kids made in the kitchen a few weeks ago. We followed the same concept, but this time we decided to see what it would look like as the painted snow melted.

We used our art trays (found at IKEA in the kitchen section) with cooling racks set on top to contain the snow as it melted. Watercolor paper works great since the paper will become soaked as the snow melts. Pile the snow on to your paper and begin painting. I limited the kids to green, blue and purple so we did not end up will “muddy” images.

As the snow melts, the colors mingle together beautifully. We added salt to encourage the snow to melt faster. Partly because I love how salt creates great texture and sparkles with watercolors, but mostly we were impatient and wanted the snow to melt faster. After the kids finished we placed the trays on the radiators to aide in the melting process. I may have turned up the heat as well. I love radiators for drying art work and for warming my coat and mittens in the winter!

As the snow melted it starts to pool and run so make sure that the tray is deep enough to catch all the drips. I love how they turned out!

16 thoughts on “Melting Art”

I LOVE this idea…..so wouldn’t work in a classroom full of preschoolers, but it is so fun!

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Tammy on March 10, 2011 at 4:16 am said:

Thanks, I’m not sure who had more fun “playing” today me or the kids!

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Katrina @HA on March 26, 2011 at 8:45 pm said:

I just used this in a preschool classroom and it did work! We have stations set up so only 4-6 kids can ‘work’ at one time and then when that group is done another group of kids come over. The students have 3-4 ‘jobs’ they need to do each day during the 1.5 hour free choice time and last week this was one of them!

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- Laurie on April 4, 2011 at 2:02 am said:
  
  So fun! We only have the students for 2.5 hours a day and only 45 minutes of that is choice time, it’s a game to get all 18 kiddos through! With two classes a day and no room for things to take a good amount of time to dry its all a balancing act
  
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I love this idea! We didnt get any snow this year where I’m at but I will keep it in mind for next year!

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Tammy on March 11, 2011 at 4:52 am said:

Ice cubes would be a great snow substitute. If you try it I would love to hear who it works.

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SOOOO fun! Though, I have to say… luckily, our snow is melting!!! We may have to save this one for next year too.

Thanks for sharing at the For the Kids Friday Link Party! I look forward to having you back this Friday!

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Tammy on March 14, 2011 at 3:30 am said:

I am looking forward to jumping in puddles! Hopefully soon.

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What a fantastic idea! Thanks for linking up on my snow painting post :). We definitely have to try this one out!

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Tammy on March 14, 2011 at 5:20 pm said:

The kids thought it was fun to watch the colors pool and run on the paper as snow melted.

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We did this in one of my preschool classrooms last week just after the new batch of snow (boo…) and it was lots of fun! It was funny how some of the girls who don’t like playing in the snow on the playground were loving playing in the snow at the art table.

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