little smudge art

We have been loving the book Little Smudge by Lionel Le Neouanic.  Have you read it?

Little Smudge asks a group of colorful shapes if he can play, and they reject him.  

{WARNING:  Their rejection is brutal.  Depending on my audience, I change the wording to be less negative.} 

When Little Smudge goes home disappointed, his parents show him a few tricks that totally win the other shapes over.  

When I read this book, the children are always shocked by the rejection scene.  

They get all like, 

Are you kidding me?! 

Don't those other shapes know that EVERYONE is included? 

Duh!

{"Everyone's included" is one of our school rules, and most of the children believe it to be universal.  Wouldn't THAT be something if it was?} 

This book leads to meaningful conversations, and some pretty fun art, too!

  

First, we made our own little smudges on heavy paper with finger paint.

After the paint dried {this took an hour or two}, we turned our little smudges into other things... 

...people, dogs, insects, transportation systems, smiley faces, etc.

We experimented by drawing with markers AND ball point pens.  

The children were very proud of their creations, and they want to make more!

For more fingerprint art, check out 5 Orange Potatoes.  I think we're going to try their project next!