Sponge painting is a wonderful way for young children to explore paint, they don’t need to have superior fine motor skills to succeed at making a great finished piece of art, here’s the how to:

1. Gather your materials. For this art activity you will need a regular kitchen sponge, some paint, a paper plate or the like to put your paint on, paper and scissors.
2. Cut the sponge into some good hand size shapes for your child. We’ve been learning about shapes so I made some , but you can cut out fish shapes, letters..the sky and your cutting ability is the limit!
3. Spread some paint on a plate or tray and dip your sponge in.
4. I like to mix colors as we paint, it’s fun and keep the kids interested, as well as asking them what shape or picture they are making with the sponge.

” Brown Bear, Brown Bear” by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle is a favorite, kids love to read it over and over yelling out the next line before you get the page turned! It’s a great book to read when you are learning about colors.

” What if Zebras lost their stripes” by John Reitano is a poignant look at how zebras would treat each other if some were black and some were white. Great book for teaching multicultural themes or any day!

” Mouse Paint” by Ellen Stoll Walsh is a fun look at colors and what happens when they are mixed!