How To Make Easy Sculptures With Toddlers and Preschoolers

Make easy sculptures with toddlers & preschoolers – practice STEM concepts, improve fine motor skills, and increase creativity with a process art activity!

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*This sculpture idea came from Hello Wonderful. Thank you for sharing! We used foam garden blocks because we couldn’t find the balsa wood blocks for a reasonable price.

How to: The Artwork

A fun and easy project! First, have the kids paint the foam block with the paintbrushes and tempera paint.

We let our blocks dry for about 10 minutes and then we got to work on designing our sculptures. I let the kids use pipe cleaners, pasta noodles, and pony beads to build big, beautiful sculptures. And who knew – the kids spent 20 minutes (not including painting the base) putting their sculptures together! They were so invested!

How To: The Program

My Young Artists class allows 2-5 year olds to explore art and engage the senses to help them understand the world around them. Exploring famous artists and their work allows kids to see that they are capable of making beautiful, creative artwork. Plus, exploring famous artists provides a unique way to teach children about basic art techniques.

Group Activity:

To start off the program, I had the kids paint their sculpture bases, so they could dry a little bit before we started building. Then, we moved to the center of the room where I had two jr. high volunteers put painters tape on large craft sticks.Then, the kids took the craft sticks and made pictures on the walls, using the craft sticks. They could’ve gone on forever sticking the craft sticks up. Apparently they were working together to make a city – so creative, right?!

Group Story:

Anyway, eventually the kids ran out of craft sticks to put up, so I had them sit down on the floor and talked to them a little bit about sculptures. We looked at a few pictures from Look! Look! Look! at Sculpture by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. I showed them all of the different kinds of sculptures and we talked about what sculptures can be made of. And then, finally, we went back to our painted foam blocks!

The kids put so much time and thought into their sculptures! And each child’s turned out differently. I’m in love with how well they did, and I love that their caregivers gave them the freedom to make whatever they wanted. (It’s about the process, after all, not the product, right?)

Comment below with some of your favorite sculpture activities!