I compiled a list of various center activities, after reading some different sites the amount of information and ideas I got was dizzying! So I wrote up a list in Word to help organize some of the new info I was acquiring. I'm going to post it on my blog so all of you can read it. I'll keep you posted on how center time actually goes!
1.‘Practice Draw’ – Laminate stock photos of things and have the students chose from the box of images what they can copy and draw from.
2.‘Practice Draw 2’ – Instead of photo’s use real objects like shells, baby shoes, dollar store stuff, etc.
3.‘How to Draw Books’ – Have on hand different how to draw books based on animals, cartoons, well-known characters, etc.
4.‘Draw Starts’ – First, I demonstrate on the white board, 1 person makes a random mark then another student makes something out of it (i.e. an animal, face, etc.). If the students can’t make the marks, the teacher can pre-make a bunch. They must elaborate and no snakes, worms or letters. (Good for k-2)
5.‘To Do List’ – Things that the teacher may need help doing things around the room.
6.‘Who, What, Where Game’ - Which is a box filled with cards of three colors. The pink ones are people, animals, or things(nouns or subjects) the green ones are action or verbs, and the purple ones are places or locations. So, if they draw a card of each color, they get a wacky idea to illustrate, such as "A hula dancer (pink) on a subway (purple) telling fortunes (green), or a polka dotted penguin, square dancing with a hippo, in a submarine.
a. You can add adjectives to your noun choices, you can add details to any of your choices to make it more fun.
i. So, a list of pink choices might be:
A lazy lizard, A wild-eyed elephant, An affectionate alligator, A sleeping frog, etc. A list of my green cards or strips might be: waltzing with a whippet, standing on his head, shaking off drops of water, eating a triple decker ice cream cone, etc.A list of purple choices might be: on a cruise ship, At a baseball game, in a toy store, on a beach at sunset, in your bedroom, at a summer camp, on a diving board, etc.
7.‘Scrap Monsters’ - Where they use scraps off the scrap cart, pretty much in the shapes they find them, to build monsters or animals or people. Some kids like to build with paper, but NO WEAPONS or airplanes.
8.‘Origami Box’ - With instructional books in it and paper. Students may trade me for true origami paper after they have demonstrated mastery.
9.‘Art Games’- various pre-bought packaged games that can include:
a.Pictionary
b.Squirt
c.Tangoes by Rex Games (make the shape seen in the picture)
d.Thinkfuns: Izzi, Brick by Brick, or Block by Block
e.‘Modern Art’ - In Modern Art, players compete to gain the most money by buying and selling paintings at auctions and reselling them for profit.
f.‘Art Memo Game’ - Try your hand at a memory game with a twist. Art Memo has 72 cards depicting 36 different pictures. All 36 of the pictures are fine art from museums around the world. Made in Austria by Piatnik.
g.Prof. Noggin's History of Art - The History of Art card game, from Professor Noggin's series of educational games, encourages kids to learn interesting facts about art, one of their favorite subjects! Each of the thirty game cards features a great work of art from Michelangelo, Hokusai, Leonardo Da Vinci, and more of history's famous painters
h.Masterpiece, The Art Auction Game - For years families have thrilled to the excitement and fun of the MASTERPIECE game. Now you can join the tradition and make your mark in the high-stakes world of an international art auction, where the excitement is in the bidding
10.‘Calligraphy Bin’- With pens in it.
11.‘Sculpturades – Use of modeling clay or play dough where students need to guess the objects the person in creating (based on index cards with objects or pictures of objects)
12.‘Stamping Center’- Contains an ink pad and several different stamps. Some are from cheap children's kits found at the dollar store, some are higher quality. 4 1/2x6" paper is included in box.
13.‘Collage Center’ - Various types paper, stickers, sequins, ribbons, etc. 1 1/4 oz. glue bottle and 4 1/2x6" white paper included in box.
14.‘Coloring Center’- Variety of coloring sheets such as Optical Illusions, Famous Artworks, etc.
15.‘Rubbing Center’ - Various textures for rubbing including sandpaper, screen, mesh, texture rubbing plates. 4 1/2x6" paper included
16.‘Exquisite Corpse’- Round Robin style drawings, I would need to make the booklet.
17.‘Art Puzzles & Patterns’ – Various puzzles either hand made or pre-bought which can include:
a. Squizzle Puzzles (from Mindware)
b. Busy Beetles and Batty Lizards
c. Pattern Play (from Mindware)
d. Busy Beetles and Batty Lizards
e. Art Print Puzzles-can be handmade
f. Sudoku using colors (from the teaching palette, it has a link to printable sheets)
18.‘Manipulatives’ – Either hand-made or store bought for building, or connecting things which includes:
a. Toobers and Zots
b. Tanagram sets
c. Connectograms
d. Crystal Productions: ‘Wonderboard’-magnetic architecture set
I apologize for any misspelling and for the weird formatting (I copied and pasted this off word). Feel free to add any of your own center ideas. I'd love to add to my resources! :)
