Prickly Cacti

Before I show you today's art project, I have some news to share. This is my last week with my Pre-K class. Yes, I am leaving. I have a good reason, though. I currently work 20 miles from home and the commute has gotten to be too much. Especially in the winter. So when a pre-k position opened up at a center 5 minutes from my house, I took it. I will still be doing the same things and hope to continue my blog, but two things will be different. I won't have a co-teacher, which means I'll have a new theme for you every week instead of every other. And the themes are center-wide and chosen by the administrator. She is open to new ideas, so I'm hoping I'll still be able to do the themes I love. I am excited for this change, but sad to be leaving my class. It's at a good time, though. Most of them will be leaving for kindergarten in a couple weeks.

But back to the blog. Today we started our Desert theme. I taught the kids about the Saguaro cactus and then we headed to the art table to make our own.

I drew a cactus on a piece of paper and put out some crayons. I knew I wanted a bumpy texture for the sand and cactus, but I didn't have any sand paper. Then I noticed our walls are textured! So I let the kids color on the walls!

Ooh, they loved doing that! They could also color other things in the background. Then I put forks in green paint and they pressed the forks onto the cactus. I also printed out an actual picture of a flower that grows on Saguaro cacti and each child glued one onto their picture.

We had colorful cacti, as well.

Fun Fact: It takes 60-75 years for the Saguaro cactus to grow its first arm. A cactus that has 5 arms is about 150 years old! Oh, and those white flowers? They bloom at night and last less than 24 hours.