I love children’s books! I love the art, the stories and I love bringing my favourite books to life. As soon as I read, “SNAP” by Hazel Hutchins and illustrated by Dušan Petričić, I immediately wanted to do an activity with my kindergarten children using the book as a springboard. This has become one of my favourite, low prep, art projects for kids.

This book is an easy way to integrate some language into an art lesson. The book is fun and engaging. I have read it many times to hundreds of children over the years and it remains a favorite and a frequently requested book.

Another thing that I love about this art project for kids is the fact that you don’t need to do any prep to plan the activity.

It also gives children the opportunity to use various materials, such as markers, crayons and pencil crayons, but look at them in a whole new way.

Materials

Most of the materials needed for this activity you probably already have on hand if you work with children. You can easily do this activity at home, or at school.

• The Book “Snap” by Hazel Hutchins and illustrated by Dušan Petričić
• An Assortment of Drawing Materials – markers, pencil crayons, crayons

I used a large roll of paper and unrolled it for all children to work and create on the same page. However, you can also simply give each child their own sheet of paper and have them create independently.

For another art project to try after using similar materials of paper and crayons or markers, for this Lazy Susan Spin Art.

Art Projects for Kids Using “Snap”

I did this activity with a group of 3-6 year olds. Our kindergarten classes are play based and we do a lot of hands-on learning. This activity, and book, are perfect for this form of instruction and make for an exciting art period.

I started by reading the book aloud to children. As soon as I was done, children were excited to draw and create.

Next, I rolled out a huge sheet of paper through the hall in our school. I then gave children markers to make their first mark on the page.

They were encouraged to draw anything they wanted. The focus is not on what children create, but rather being mindful of what happens when they create.

I encouraged children to think about and really notice what happened when they go over a crack on the floor or a piece of sand or dirt. Did it leave a mark? What kind of mark did it leave? Why did it leave that mark?

Often children said that they didn’t mean to create certain marks or impressions, but that they had simply happened when they made marks. In a few places there were even small rips in the paper.

Instead of being frustrated with these marks children used the rip or mark to create a picture using it as their beginning.

Getting Started

I started by giving children markers.

Children explored the marks that their markers make. They drew with the tip of their markers, but then they dragged the marker along on its side to make a different mark.

Next, I handed out pencil crayons and again, children were encouraged to make their mark and draw whatever their imagination came up with.

Similar to the markers, children drew using the tip of the pencil crayon, but then they explored what happened when they rubbed the pencil crayon on the side of the color. A whole new mark was made.

I handed out stencils and children used them to create more pictures.

Another key part of this art project, which came from the book, is color mixing. With each drawing material that I gave to the children they tested if the colors would mix.

They then began mixing the colors by coloring on top of other colors, to create new shades. They discovered new colors they didn’t know they could make!

Finally, I handed out crayons. At first children drew pictures and tried to mix the colors. By now our long sheet of paper was filling up with beautiful colors and pictures.

With the crayons, children tried drawing/rubbing with the sides of the crayons. Again, they became aware if they went over something under the paper and took note of the mark that was made.

Art Project for Kids Results

I loved the fact that as they made their marks with the different drawing materials, children also noticed the differences between the marks that the markers made versus the pencil crayons or crayons.

It was great to see and hear them being mindful and aware as they created these art projects for kids. There was a lot of exploring and learning that happened during this art period.

One of my favourite things that came out of this activity was when a pencil crayon or crayon broke and students simply said, “Oh, I wonder what mark this broken crayon will make now” or “I’m going to try to mix a blue and yellow pencil crayon marks together to make green since mine broke.”

These are ideas that are explored in the book. It made me happy to hear the children constantly reference the book throughout the activity.

This was such a simple art activity, but we had so much fun! The book encourages my young children to look at their art materials in a new way and create pieces and colors they never had before.

Although our final art project looked like a lot of small scribbles and lines, there was so much more to it. It was children exploring materials in a whole new way and being mindful of all of the prints and marks on they could make. To me that is the best art there is!

Hands-On Teaching Ideas

Looking for more learning activities or art projects for kids at home or school? Below is a collection of my favorite and most popular blog posts. From arts and crafts to science and DIY escape rooms, there are lots of activities to keep kids engaged and learning.