Do you have a classroom full of budding engineers and architects? Unleash their creativity with these construction art projects that will help bring out the brilliance in your students! Whether painting with construction trucks or smashing chalk with hammers, these five project ideas will inspire your learners to think outside the box and express themselves in brand-new ways. Get ready for some colorful creations that will make your walls look fantastic!
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Construction Lesson Plans
Painting with Magnets
Construction Process Art
Our first construction art project uses more than just art supplies. In fact, this art project could even be called a scientific art project.
That’s right. We are trading in paintbrushes for magnets to create a unique art piece.
Add paint (we used two colors to witness color mixing, too) to the paper, then use a magnetic ball on top of the paper with a magnet underneath to swirl the paint around.
Your toddlers can direct the magnet around their paper as many times as they would like. (My little one did this art project five times to experiment with all the different colors.) After all, they are the head artist of the construction site!
Tip: Set the paper inside a shallow cardboard box and have an adult hold the box while the little ones guide the magnet underneath.
Materials:
- paper
- tempera paints
- magnets
Chalk smash
Construction Art Projects
My husband lives in a state of complete confusion these days as to what actually constitutes trash. He has simply given up and leaves little caps, tiny boxes, and egg cartons on the counter for me to decide later.
That’s just the way of life for a preschool teacher.
But here’s something you may not have thought about saving: tiny bits of leftover chalk.
You can turn those sad pieces of abandoned chalk (the ones that are just too tiny to hold anymore) into a work of smash art.
Just soak them in a bowl of water to soften them up, pull out some black paper, head outside, and smash the colorful bits into a work of art.
Not only will you love bringing some new life into old chalk, but your kiddos will love using hammers to create a blast of color with this construction art activity.
Materials:
- black paper
- leftover pieces of chalk
- bowl of water
- hammers
- trays
Painting with Trucks
Construction Process Art Project
“Let me hear you say, truck yeah” for this next construction art activity!
That is actually the Tim McGraw song that played on repeat in my mind as we painted with construction trucks. True story.
And we did this process art activity several times, so I definitely got my rock on.
We experimented with two colors on the page at a time, adding small paint dots directly on the paper.
Then, we cranked it up and drove construction trucks all over the page until we were satisfied with our creation.
Driving trucks, making art, and rocking out to some country – now that’s fun!
Materials:
- watercolor paper
- tempera paints
- construction vehicles (Dollar Tree)
Construction Directed Drawings
Step-by-Step Drawings
There are two types of people: those who cringe when Pictionary is brought out and those dying to show off their creative skills.
I am a stick-figure-drawing Pictionary fan. Every time we play, it reminds me that simple drawings are key!
Build your toddlers’ capacity for drawing with our construction-themed directed drawings.
The budding architects and artists in your classroom will love following the step-by-step directions included with these directed drawings.
They’ll learn how to draw a screwdriver, hard hat, and dump truck to add to their construction-themed drawings.
Materials:
string art
Construction Art Projects
Stop! Hammer time!
Yes, I said hammer! Let’s hammer our way to creating a one-of-a-kind string art piece.
We started by painting log slices with watercolor paints. Then, we worked together to hammer nails into the log. Cue the concentration.
They can create any design they want as they use string to complete their masterpiece. FYI: That blob is actually a hyena.
Materials:
- log slices
- small nails
- hammers
- watercolor paints
- string
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It’s time to roll your sleeves up and get to work with your little learners! Which of these construction art projects will you begin with? No matter which you choose, your toddlers will enjoy using their creativity to create each art project.
