Open-Ended Art with Styrofoam, Toothpicks, & Golf Tees

This open-ended art activity is a great addition to your list of process art ideas for preschoolers. Grab a styrofoam ball and some odds and ends from around the classroom or kitchen. Use them to set up an invitation to create for your students!

For morning choices today, I put out a few random materials for the students.  I had recently cleaned out part of our closet at work and discovered extra golf tees (leftover from Holey Pumpkins) and fancy toothpicks (leftover from potato turkeys).  I remembered how much fun the kiddos had with both of those activities, so I checked the school workroom for something that might work well with those supplies.  Then I found them . . . Styrofoam balls. These materials led to an amazing open-ended art activity!

Materials for the Styrofoam Creations

Like I said, I just kind of stumbled across some materials in the supply closet that inspired this activity. But if you’re looking for the specific items we used, or even for some inspiration to come up with a similar project of your own, check out the list below.

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

• Styrofoam balls
• Toothpicks
• Golf tees
• Push pins
• Craft sticks
• Yarn
• Rubber bands

Styrofoam Ball Invitation to Create

As the children started arriving, I set out the Styrofoam balls, the golf tees, and the fancy toothpicks.  I wasn’t sure if they’d be too interested, but I had miscalculated on that!  I couldn’t even take a quick picture of the materials before a couple of the kids were diving into things.  Of course, I think that was because they wanted to grab the two biggest Styrofoam pieces!

As more children trickled into the classroom, the crowd at my table grew.  Not all of the children were interested in this activity, but most of them were.  I had fun watching as their creations came to life, and even more fun listen to them describe what they were doing. One of my girls was intent on covering as much of the Styrofoam ball as possible.  She was really focused on the process, rather than a specific outcome.  I can respect that!  🙂

Another gal tried to figure out how to connect a few of the balls together.  She was pretty proud of herself when she discovered one way to do it.  After she was able to connect some of the balls, she informed me we needed more so she could make a super tall snowman out of Styrofoam.

Some of the children noted that the golf tees and the toothpicks left holes in the Styrofoam, and there were observations about which would leave larger holes.  One of the boys also discovered he could use the tees and toothpicks to write/draw in the Styrofoam.  Then he decided he’d rather make “a bad guy named Metal”.

One of the boys was there for the entire time, creating “Spike”.  He had tons of fun making Spike talk to the other creations, photo bomb some of the pictures I was taking, and he just couldn’t stop giggling!  Ahhh . . . the humor of preschoolers!

My favorite creation was made by a few of the girls working together.  He was called “Corn Teeth”, for some reason I wasn’t privy to.  I just love how they created a face and legs for their creation!

All in all, a fun time was had by the kiddos this morning.  I was asked multiple times if we could do this activity again, so I think it was a success.  I was also asked if I could get more Styrofoam pieces of different shapes and sizes next time.  I think a trip to the craft store is in my immediate future!

Shared at Tuesday Tots, Tot School Tuesdays, Mom’s Library, It’s Playtime!, Kid’s Co-Op, TGIF Linky Party, Sun Scholars’ For the Kids Friday, Sugar Aunts’ Share It Saturday, Train Up a Child’s Sunday Showcase, Red Ted’s Art Blog, Raising Memories’ Sharing Time, Delicate Construction’s Made By Little Hands Monday

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