A Thousand Splendid Fruits

We did a whole lot of paintings and drawings in the Forest Animals theme. One evening, as we learned about squirrels, I motivated the 2 Bees to paint a colourful fruit tree using fingerpainting. They loved the activity, and it gave me a good 30 minutes of peace and tranquillity as they focused on their jobs! 

I traced both their forearms and hands on a piece of drawing paper, and got them to paint it brown for the tree trunk. Then I encouraged them to use as much colours as possible to create a resplendent fruit tree. Big Bee, being the typical perfectionist, was very conscientious in ensuring that all her fruit dots were of similar sizes. Little Bee, more impatient and bohemian, simply hurried along when dotting the different colours. 2 very different personalities. 

After the dazzling tree came into fruition, I got them to paint bright green grass and finally, they used their little fingers to fingerpaint a squirrel on each painting (can you spot the squirrels?). Little Bee still needed a lot of guidance from me when painting the squirrel, of course. I then explained that most squirrels have bushy tails, hence the Bees' squirrels have beautifully smudged bushy tails!

Big Bee's fruit tree with the squirrel getting ready to scamper up the tree

Little Bee's fruit tree with the squirrel already up in the tree, munching on the fruits!

Depending on your child's learning style, painting a particular subject theme is a wonderful way for younger children like Little Bee, who is clearly a kinesthetic and visual learner, to absorb information and knowledge in a thematic learning activity.