Cotton Ball Clouds Process Art for Preschoolers

Often times when I take a step back from having to "do" things, my kiddos own curiosity shines through.  Thus their curiosity then leads me to create an activity! ha! Recently my 4 year old took notice of the clouds in the sky: the various shapes and sizes, etc.

So on our most recent trip to the library I grabbed a few books and in a rare toddler free moment, I brought out some cotton balls for my 4 year old to create a cloudy sky with cotton balls.

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The books introduced some "cloudy" vocabulary and a chance to further invite my little one to satisfy his recent curiosity about clouds.  I picked up two non-fiction books and one fun fiction read:

• Clouds
• Fluffy, Flat & Wet: A book about Clouds
• Little Cloud

Preschool Weather Process Art

The two non-fiction books talked about how clouds formed and gave us some specific names of the clouds we may see in the sky.

After reading the books, my 4 year old set to work on making his own cloudy sky.

Supplies:

• cotton balls
• glue
• blue construction paper

The book, Clouds, had a beautifully illustrated page showing the various types of clouds and where they are found in the earth's atmosphere.

I kept that page open for a little cloudy inspiration and encouraged my little one to create various clouds with cotton balls.

Using cotton balls for this process art activity also provided some fine motor work by either pulling the cotton balls apart to make "feather-like" cirrus clouds or by applying glue to the puffy "cumulus" clouds.

To do this activity with your little one(s), grab a few books, observe the sky, and encourage your child to create his/her own cloudy sky with cotton balls!

Process art activities are a great way to encourage your little one to get messy and creative.  I love that there's no perfect end result in mind; thus it allows the child to create to their liking... whether that is to use a lot or a few cotton balls to create their own cloudy sky.