Activity: Creative Tracks

Have fun helping your child discover and name real-life (true) tracks left behind by objects, animals, and humans. Then paint colorful creative tracks on a t-shirt by using simple objects at home.

Materials:

• small objects for making tracks
• colorful fabric or acrylic paints
• shallow plates, bowls, or pans for paint/dipping
• optional: artist canvas; white bed sheet(s); towel; t-shirt; or cut out sponges

Directions:
Take a walk outside and discover what kind of objects, animals, and human tracks are in your neighborhood. Then help your child leave his/own creative colorful tracks by using old toy cars, trucks, tractors, mini-cars or bikes, baby doll feet and hands, sponges cut out in any kind of shape, or "familiar" human hands and feet. Simply dip objects into colorful shallow amounts of paint. Then gently press or move objects across an artist canvas, white bed sheet, towel, t-shirt, etc. for an honestly wild and fun expression of art.

Talk about It: Ask your child what kind of tracks might be found in a forest, on a playground, around a river, in a flower bed, or in a desert. Then plan a time to take a nature walk in your local area to discover, name, and follow different kinds of tracks.

Take it Further: Make fun lasting "impressions" of your child by using these different mediums of art:

• Make a plaster hand and foot imprint using craft plaster poured into a tin pie plate. When plaster dries, take out impression, paint, date, and enjoy for years to come.
• Use a sugar cookie recipe to make a dough ornament. Roll out a 1-2 inch thick piece of dough. Trace your child's hand and cut out. Slide a large paper clip 1/2 way into the top of hand for hanging later. Place on a greased cookie sheet and cook to directions. When dough is cool, paint, and date. Hang with ribbon or yarn.
• Make a photo collage by covering the piece of cardboard that comes inside most store-bought frames with pictures of your child. Frame and enjoy.
• Make a silhouette (profile; side view) of your child by placing a piece of white paper or canvas on a wall. Sit your child down and shine a light to make a shadow of his/her profile. Trace the shadow using a pencil or marker for a cameo effect.

With a Group: Make a gallery of individual silhouettes (profile; side view) for your group to enjoy. Show group examples of a silhouette. Most children are familiar with shadow puppets. Explain that a silhouette is also a shadow created by using a light. For each silhouette: Place a piece of white paper or canvas on a wall. Shine a light or lamp on each child to create a shadowed profile (side view). Trace the shadow using a pencil or marker. Have children sign and date silhouettes. Invite others to come view images of your group in this unique way.