Teacher Tips For Early Childhood Teachers

Beginning a new school year can be stressful for teachers, new or experienced!  That’s why I’ve created Teacher Tips For Early Childhood Teachers! If you are an early childhood teacher, you will understand the amount of work that it takes to start a classroom and keep it going. Today, we will discuss how to have a ‘clean’ paint center. 

Kindergarten kids love to paint! Painting Centers are their favorite. Creative arts help shape the development of young children and bring out their personalities. Painting allows them to unleash their creativity and create unique pictures that are only known by them and a few trusted friends. The colors can be bright, or dark depending on their mood. Read on to learn my Teacher Tips For Early Childhood Teachers. 

KEEPING A CLEAN ROOM ISN’T EASY

As much as I enjoyed their creations, it was messy! The once cleaned room took on hues of the rainbow, a cloudy day, storms, animals, and families to name a few. Cleaning up dried paint every day became a chore I didn’t like. Scrubbing the easels after the paint dried was a tedious task and, after all, I had kids at home to clean up after! There were more Styrofoam bowls of paint thrown away than I can count! Because of that, the painting activity diminished my joy of teaching and I used less painting centers, which diminished the joy of school for the students. So, as any resourceful teacher would do, I came up with an idea to put the joy back into my classroom. 

MY IDEA

I took icing cans and cut a hole in the lid big enough to fit a paint brush. I poured some paint into the can and, voila! The icing can held the paint much better than the Styrofoam bowls and the mess was limited. But, after awhile I noticed the paint was drying out and the cans were becoming covered in paint that would mix in with the other colors.

A BETTER IDEA

I needed something, a better idea. As I was pulling my sandwich from the baggie, it hit me. I could use sandwich bags inside the cans. I’d put the bag in a can, pour in the paint, and snap on the lid. When the kids finished painting, I’d simply take the cans to the sink to rinse out the brush. Then I would zip the bag over the lid. I didn’t need to remove the bag from the can, OR I could take out the bag and store it. No mess, no fuss! No touching the paint! BRILLIANT! Our paints and classroom are saved, and clean up time almost gone! EASY-PEASY.

DON’T FORGET

Paint shirts!  Have parents send in an old tee shirt from a bigger sibling or parent.  As I said before, paints are messy.  Kids love them and paints get thrown everywhere!  You may want to lay down cardboard or a cloth underneath the paint easels to catch runaway paint. For the kiddos, put their tee shirts over their clothes.  Mom and Dad will be happy to you did so!  

BONUS: 

In 2006 I was teaching kindergarten and I had to use their paint shirts for lunch shirts.  The office scheduled us to get our school pictures taken right after lunch, which was a big surprise! (Who schedules kindergarten school pictures after lunch?) Can you guess what they were having for lunch?  Yep! Spaghetti!! I thank God for a quick-thinking classroom aid and another easy teaching tip that saved the day!