Friday, February 18, 2011

Dip Bowls-- A Preschool Art Teacher's Best Friend




You know a really good way to provide paint in separate colors for preschoolers' artwork? It's dip bowls-- those little bowls sold by kitchenware sellers for putting small amounts of salsa or other dips, in. They're fairly inexpensive, not as easily tipped as paper cups, easy for brushes to "dip" into, and easy to clean up when painting is done.

They have lots of other uses for crafts, too-- you can put out small quantities of sequins, beads, pom-poms, or other materials in these bowls. This is easier for young kids than boxes with dividers.

Also, they work well for putting glue in, and dipping a cotton swab or cardboard strip or wooden craft stick into, to apply glue for collage or other gluing projects.

These little bowls are great for crafts! You may be wondering why I am posting about doing preschool crafts when my youngest kids are 11 and 14 . . . well, my kids babysit for a young nephew, and I am also in charge of plans for crafts for young children for a Sunday School program. And besides that, these bowls are so handy that we often use them ourselves-- myself and my older kids-- when doing artwork.