Study the 4 Seasons
Using art and poetry.
— August 29, 2024
What season are you in right now? Spring, summer, fall, or winter? No matter what season you are in, you can study the four seasons at any time of the year with your child through books, poetry and art. The changing of the seasons is an excellent way to introduce the passing of time to your preschooler and encourage the observation of the world around them.
The tree printable and painting activity is a part of a week of lessons centered around leaves. You can check it out for more leaf themed art activities and books suggestions at Ll is for Leaves using the button below.
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Structuring the preschool art activity for homeschool.
Read books about the seasons.
Before beginning I recommend reading books about the four seasons. For younger children books such as Old Bear by Kevin Henkes or Tree: Seasons Come, Seasons Go by Patricia Hegarty are excellent choices. For the older child they can benefit from Four Seasons Make A Year by Anne Rockwell or The Reasons for Seasons by Gail Gibbons.
Depending on the age of your child will determine how much discussion can accompany the painting and poetry reading. If your child is younger, simply reading the poems introduces them to beautiful language. An older child will benefit from discussing what they remember about that time of year and the imagery in each poem.
Prepare the materials and poems.
The free printable of the four trees is at the bottom of the page. I recommend printing it off on blue paper. I enjoy hanging this art activity on our fridge so I print it on this pastel blue cardstock to make it a little nicer. The paint is tempera so that you do not need to worry about staining and no paint brushes are needed because your child will be using their fingers.
The painting and poems are great to do in tandem together. Because of this, have the pages marked in the poetry books ahead of time or reference this page.
Set up the paints.
The paint colors needed are white, pink, green, and fall colors. Such as, red, orange, and yellow. Place just a little bit of paint for each color on individual small plates. I have found it is easier to bring individual paint colors to the table to avoid any disagreement on the correct versus preferred color for individual seasons.
Set up the paint station with the white paint, a paper towel (for cleaning messy fingers), and printable. You are now ready to begin so bring your child to the table.
The four seasons for preschoolers
You will need to demonstrate the pressing and lifting of the finger to your child. You do not want them to smear or rub the paint. It is okay if they do but you are aiming for individual leaves, blossoms, and snowflakes.
WINTER – When The Earth Rests.
Poem:
Winter-Time by Robert Louis Stevenson from A Child’s Garden of Verses
Late lies the wintry sun a-bed,
A frosty, fiery sleepy-head;
Blinks but an hour or two; and then,
A blood-red orange, sets again.
Before the stars have left the skies,
At morning in the dark I rise;
And shivering in my nakedness,
By the cold candle, bathe and dress.
Close by the jolly fire I sit
To warm my frozen bones a bit;
Or with a reindeer-sled, explore
The colder countries round the door.
When to go out, my nurse doth wrap
Me in my comforter and cap;
The cold wind burns my face, and blows
Its frosty pepper up my nose.
Black are my steps on silver sod;
Thick blows my frosty breath abroad;
And tree and house, and hill and lake,
Are frosted like a wedding-cake.
Painting
In winter, deciduous trees do not have leaves. Because of this the winter tree will remain bare of leaves but instead your child will paint in snowflakes all around it. Demonstrate to your child dipping their finger in the paint and then pressing and lifting straight back up. Encourage your child to make individual snowflakes and not to smear.
Once they have completed the snow falling, wipe their fingers clean. Now switch plates for the pink paint.
SPRING – When The Earth Awakes.
Poem
Spring by William Blake from Songs of Innocence and of Experience
Sound the flute!
Now it’s mute!
Birds delight,
Day and night,
Nightingale,
In the dale,
Lark in sky, –
Merrily,
Merrily, merrily to welcome in the year.
Little boy,
Full of joy;
Little girl,
Sweet and small;
Cock does crow,
So do you;
Merry voice,
Infant noise;
Merrily, merrily to welcome in the year.
Little lamb,
Here I am;
Come and lick
My white neck;
Let me pull
Your soft wool;
Let me kiss
Your soft face;
Merrily, merrily we welcome in the year.
Painting
In spring the trees bud out and blossoms adorn their canopy. On the spring tree your child will use pink paint to make blossoms. Once again your child will create individual stamps by pressing down and pulling straight back up. However, this time instruct them to stay on the tree’s limbs, or the canopy, where the blossoms would grow.
Clean your child’s fingers and swap plates for the green paint.
SUMMER – When the earth showcases her beauty in shades of green.
Poem
Summer Sun by Robert Louis Stevenson from A Child’s Garden of Verses
Great is the sun, and wide he goes
Through empty heaven without repose;
And in the blue and glowing days
More thick than rain he showers his rays.
Though closer still the blinds we pull
To keep the shady parlour cool,
Yet he will find a chink or two
To slip his golden fingers through.
The dusty attic spider-clad
He, through the keyhole, maketh glad;
And through the broken edge of tiles,
Into the laddered hayloft smiles.
Meantime his golden face around
He bares to all the garden ground
And sheds a warm and glittering look
Among the ivy’s inmost nook.
Above the hills, along the blue,
Round the bright air with footing true,
To please the child, to paint the rose,
The gardener of the World, he goes.
Painting
The summer tree is going to be lush with green foliage. Encourage your child to be generous with the green paint on the canopy of the tree. Still pressing down and lifting straight up.
Give them plenty of time here. Now, clean their fingers and swap paints. Bring out all the autumn colors of red, yellow, and orange.
FALL – When The Earth Adorns Herself In Warm Hues.
Poem
Autumn by Emily Dickinson from The Illustrated Treasury of Poetry for Children Edited by David Ross
The morns are meeker than they were,
The nuts are getting brown;
The berry’s cheek is plumper,
The rose is out of town.
The maple wears a gayer scarf,
The field a scarlet gown.
Lest I should be old-fashioned,
I’ll put a trinket on.
Painting
In autumn the leaves turn an array of hues of red, yellow, and orange and fall to the ground. Have your child create the colorful canopy on the fall tree and on the ground beneath the tree. Also, they can make a few leaves that are fluttering to the ground.
Once your child is done, be sure to explain to them that the seasons are cyclical. After autumn comes winter and it all occurs again. Lastly, ask your child about their beautiful trees and what happens to the leaves as the seasons change. Now get your free printable for this art activity below!
Creative art activities for preschoolers.
Painting and poetry come together in this creative art activity to create a beautiful and memorable way to learn about the changing of the seasons. Hang your child’s painting on the fridge and occasionally ask them about the different seasons. Ask what season they were born. When were family members born. Refer to their artwork as the seasons change. Using their artwork validates their work.
If you enjoyed this activity there are many more art activities on the blog as well as in Letter of the Week. Your child will experience science, nature, art, music, math, social studies, baking, games, and so much more with Letter of the Week. Check it out at the button below.
Seasons Of A Tree Finger Painting
Activity Instructions
Materials needed
- Included printable
- Light blue paper or blue cardstock
- Paint
- Paper towel
Instructions
- I enjoy reading books about the seasons before this activity and discussing each season. In addition, there are a lot of free season activities out there you can pair with this to practice what activities a kid does in each season and what nature looks like. You can make this activity as in depth as you like or simply instruct them in how the leaves change with each season for this specific activity.
- Print off the included printable. I recommend some sort of blue paper because you’ll be using white paint and the blue looks like the sky.
- Have paint on individual small plates: white, pink, green, & fall colors (red, yellow, and orange) so you can easily switch out but don’t have to worry about your kiddo wanting to use the other colors.
- Begin with the winter tree and have them use their fingers to make snow fall around the tree. Press down and pull straight up. They may want to smear and that’s okay but show them how they should be doing it, you can always have your own printed to demonstrate. Talk about how it’s so cold when there’s snow that the tree is sleeping (dormant) and there’s no leaves.
- Now switch the paint and wipe your child’s fingers off with the paper towel. Have them focus on the spring tree and use pink paint to create the buds and flowers on the tree. Discuss how it’s getting warmer and so the tree is waking up and the tree is growing buds and flowers.
- Switch paint again and clean your child’s fingers. Focus on the summer tree. Using the green paint, have your child create a beautiful green canopy. Discuss how the tree has all its leaves because plants need the sun’s warmth to be awake.
- Switch paint one last time and clean your child’s fingers. Focus on the autumn tree. I like to have a selection of paint: red, yellow, and orange. Let them press their fingers in the canopy of the autumn tree but also discuss how it is now getting cold outside and the tree starts to go to sleep. Without the sun to feed the leaves as well as it did in the summer the tree sheds its leaves. This is why we call this season fall. The leaves fall to the ground so we need to also press some leaves down by the ground. Encourage them to use all their colors.
- Lastly, clean their fingers one last time and don’t forget to discuss how this is cyclical. After autumn comes the cold winter again and all the leaves have fallen and now it’s snowing. Point to their pretty trees and have them tell you about each season.
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