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Home / Early Learning / Preschool Arts and Crafts / Painting with Coconuts: Process Art Activities for Preschoolers

Painting with Coconuts: Process Art Activities for Preschoolers

Shared by Mary Catherine 6 Comments

Put a tropical twist on your art activities for preschoolers with this super fun process art activity!

In the area where we live, it’s not often we come across coconuts. So, students will be excited to learn about, see, touch, hear, feel, and taste a real coconut. But be sure to save one or two because the real excitement will come when they find out that the coconut will be their paintbrush in today’s activity!

Painting with Coconuts: Process Art Activities for Preschoolers

Today was the first day of our “Island Aloha” summer camp!  We packed a lot into the day, and we had way too much fun with coconuts.  Process art activities for preschoolers is something very dear to my heart.  While crafts are all well and good (and I do my fair share), letting kiddos go through the process of making art teaches so much!  Without an end-product, they’re free to fully explore art materials, movement, shapes, and their own sense of creativity.  Okay, enough rambling . . . onto painting with coconuts!

Before we set up the art activities, I let the kids check out the coconuts.  We shook them and hear the coconut milk moving around.  We felt the hard, rough exteriors.  We observed that they looked “hairy”, brown, and round.  One of the children even remarked that the coconuts looked like bowling balls, with a round shape and three “eyes”.  After this, we took the coconuts outside for the art activities.

I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Painting with Coconuts: Process Art Activities for Preschoolers
Sorry for the blurry picture here, but just look at that smile!!!

My summer camp co-teacher and I wrapped a kiddie pool with butcher paper first.  We placed a bit of blue tempera paint on the paper, then added a coconut.  I explained that this would be like marble painting, but on a larger scale.  Four or five children circled the pool, lifted it up and got to work!  They moved the pool up and down, this way and that, rolling the coconut through the paint and along the the paper.  Each kiddo got a turn of course, and many of them wanted a second and third turn.

Painting with Coconuts: Process Art Activities for Preschoolers

After a while with our giant coconut painting project, we brought out the kiddie slide.  This was, by far, the children’s favorite activity!  They were curious as their teachers wrapped the slide in butcher paper, then quickly realized what we were going to do.  “We’re going to roll the coconuts down the slide!”  I placed the bottom of the slide into the pool because I didn’t want the coconuts wandering too far!  We put some paint at the top of the slide, then the first child had her turn!  The kids had so much fun with this, and most of them wanted to go again and again.

Painting with Coconuts: Process Art Activities for Preschoolers

We found out that letting gravity take its course was the best way to paint using the slide.  When the coconuts were pushed too hard, they bounced off the slide and the pool, careening into anyone too close to the pool.  Needless to say, a few of us were pegged with coconuts!  I still have a little blue paint on one of my shoes!

Painting with Coconuts: Process Art Activities for Preschoolers

Based on how much the kids talked about this art activity, I count it as a success!  Yes, it was rather messy, but we made sure to use washable paint.  I loved watching the smiles on their faces throughout the painting process.  The only thing I would do differently — art stations for the kids.  We had over 10 children at camp today, so they all had to be really patient waiting for their turns.  They all did a great job doing that, and most of them enjoyed watching each other, but I didn’t care for the amount of down time they all had.  With 5 kids or less, though, this set up would be perfect!

Have you ever let the kids paint with coconuts?  What other process art activities for preschoolers would you suggest?

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Filed Under: Preschool Arts and Crafts Tagged With: Ocean, Process Art, Summer

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  1. Stephanie @ Twodaloo says

    July 29, 2013 at 11:47 pm

    Love this! We have a couple of coconuts in the kitchen waiting to be explored…this activity just might make it on the list!

    Reply
    • Mary Catherine says

      August 5, 2013 at 9:26 pm

      Thanks Stephanie! 🙂 Let me know how it goes if you and the kiddos try it out.

      Reply
  2. Blayne says

    July 30, 2013 at 7:52 pm

    Omgoodness this is so very very fun! What a creative idea! I love how the end result turned out too! 🙂

    Reply
    • Mary Catherine says

      August 5, 2013 at 9:25 pm

      Thanks, Blayne!!! 🙂 It really was pretty fun!!

      Reply
  3. jaime@FSPDT says

    August 8, 2013 at 6:13 am

    featuring you this week on the kids co-op!

    Reply
    • Mary Catherine says

      August 11, 2013 at 8:48 pm

      Oh, that’s wonderful Jaime! I just love Frogs & Snails & Puppy Dog Tails . . . as well as checking out the weekly Kid’s Co-op! Thank you!

      Reply
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My name is Mary Catherine, and I love to share meaningful {and fun} learning activities for kiddos! Feel free to browse and stay awhile!

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