Toddler Art Class: Foil Wrapping

Although the planned project was "foil wrapping," this class also became a vehicle to talk about texture.

Art Project: Foil Wrapping
Supplies:
foil (I used both regular aluminum foil and some foil circles I had in my craft stash from a donation)
tissue paper (optional, but a fun alternative to foil)
stuff to wrap up (toy cars, spools, wooden blocks, pompoms, plastic eggs, whatever you have on hand that's small enough to be wrapped up and yet not so small that it's a choking hazard)

Book:

  Is it rough? Is it smooth? Is it shiny? / Hoban, Tana

 Music to make art by:  









Throw a penny in the wishing well [sound recording] / Gasoi, Jennifer

What Kids Do: 

--wrap things in foil and tissue paper and experience the difference between the two and the oh-so-satisfying crinkliness of foil.

 

 --create an assembly line of things to wrap

 --see just how much stuff you can cram into one piece of foil

 --press textured things onto foil to see what patterns and designs they make

 --wrap "gifts" and give them to a friend who then opens the gift, squeals with delight, hugs it to her chest and says, "oh thank you!"

 
Notes: 
although this activity was extremely similar to foil sculpting, no parents mentioned that we'd done that project just last month and the kids interacted with this activity for a surprisingly long time and in a surprisingly wide variety of ways.  Sometimes simple is best!

Adult Challenge:  Allow your child to experiment and "fail."  There isn't really a way to "fail" at this project, but rather than jumping in to correct or change something that your child is doing, let them try it out for themselves and discover new things as they go.  Unless, of course, whatever they're doing is hurtful or damaging property!