mrrichiecreates.com
LITTLE LESSON 15 · PRESCHOOL · TK · EARLY K
Can Your Skeleton Strike a Pose?
Allow extra drying time for paint or glue. Children can pause and return.
Elements of Art focus: Line & shape. Move connected lines and shapes at their joints. Meet the seven art ideas →
Let’s wonder!
“How can a still picture look as if it is dancing?”
Our little purpose: Arrange paper pieces with bends to communicate a pose.
Gather a little magic
Dark paper, white paper strips or cotton swabs, a drawn or printed skull, glue, patterned paper scraps, and crayons.
For your grown-up: A grown-up prepares short pieces. Paper strips are an alternative to cotton swabs. This is a playful collage, not an exact anatomy model.
Make it yours
Wonder together · 2–3 min Try & make · 12–20 min Share & tidy · 3–6 min
- Try a comfortable arm pose and notice where your elbow bends.
- Arrange white strips as a spine, ribs, arms, and legs. Leave a bend where you want a joint.
- Move your pieces into a new pose before gluing. Compare the two ideas.
- Attach a skull and invent paper clothes or accessories. Tell the story of your dancing character.
“I’ll show you how I did mine. Yours doesn’t have to look like mine.”
Look what you discovered
Ask: “What did you choose? What changed? What would you try next?”
Notice: The child indicates a bend or changes a joint position in the character.
Listen, watch, or accept pointing and home-language responses. Notice the process, not resemblance to an example.
Every idea belongs
A little support: Use large pre-cut strips; children may imagine or point instead of moving their own body.
A little more: Describe how changing one joint changes the character’s pose.
No supplies today? The child can make choices, predict, and direct a grown-up.
The learning underneath
California Preschool/TK Learning Foundations · Visual Arts: 1.9, 1.6. Kindergarten bridge · California Arts Standards: K.VA:Cr3.
These are planning connections selected for this activity, not a claim of mastery or state endorsement. The kindergarten code is an extension, not a preschool requirement. Read the code key and official California sources →
PLAY THIS ART ADVENTURE · 15
Bend Here!
Move connected lines and shapes at their joints.
Art ideas: Line & shape. One playful connection to this project.
Find this resource again: mrrichiecreates.com/lessons/skeleton-pose