This is a post out of the 31 Days of Morning Circles. You can find the main page for this series here.

Note: If you’re reading this series for the first time, I suggest you look at the daily structure post to understand the routine we follow in our morning circle.

I don’t like to include messy activities in the morning circle. I save painting, gluing, and play dough for after the circle for two main reasons. First, my son is better positioned at an adapted desk and chair, thereby allowing for better fine motor access.

I also try to contain major clean-up to a one-time-a-day thing. I have enough to do all day long, so I organize the messy activities to follow one another and all take place in the same zone. This way, I can leave them all drying in one spot and I can get to the clean-up when I get a free moment.

However, since we’re in close proximity in the morning circle, it’s a great time to practice the fine motor skills that are required for arts and crafts. Sometimes, the activities are practiced as a means to get my son accustomed to certain textures. These are practiced for several days or weeks. Sometimes, they are preparatory tasks for the painting/cutting/gluing/etc. that he will engage in later that day.

Art prep activities in the morning circle

• Tearing papers for a gluing activity later
• Crunching tissue papers
• Holding a paintbrush by dry painting different surfaces
• Dry painting hands for sensory exposure for a hand print activity later
• Dry sponge painting different surfaces
• Dry roller painting
• Using a scraper
• Punching with scrapbook punchers

We tore these scrap bits in the morning circle but used them for an art activity later in the day.

How can you prepare for art activities in the morning circle without actually doing art?