November is the perfect month to explore creativity through seasonal materials and textures. Open-ended art encourages preschoolers to express themselves freely—no “right” or “wrong” way to create! Here are some fun, process-based November art ideas that celebrate fall, gratitude, and nature…while building fine motor skills and imagination.
1. Thankful Collages
Provide magazines, paper scraps, glue, and scissors. Invite children to cut or tear out pictures of things they are thankful for and glue them onto a large sheet of paper or canvas. Add natural items like leaves or acorns for extra texture. (TIP: Don’t have a lot of magazines? Use grocery ads, store mailers, stickers, family photos, printed photos/images from online, and stickers.)
2. Corn Painting 🌽
Provide ears of corn for children to dip in fall-colored paint, and roll it across paper. Children love watching the dotted patterns appear—and it’s a great sensory experience!
3. Nature Paintbrushes 🍃
Gather sticks, pine needles, grass, or leaves and tie them to sticks with rubber bands to make “nature brushes.” Let children explore painting with their handmade brushes.
4. Leaf Printing 🍂
Collect leaves, paint one side, and press it onto paper. Children can experiment with layering colors and different leaf shapes.
5. Gratitude Mural
Place a long sheet of butcher paper on the wall. Each day, invite children to something they are grateful for (let them choose whether to draw, paint, etc.)
6. Leaf Creature Creations
Along with an assortment of leaves, provide googly eyes, glue, markers, paint and other materials you have. Let children turn leaves into imaginative leaf creatures. Add sticks, acorns, and twigs for legs and arms.
7. Stick Sculptures 🪵
Provide sticks, clay, string, and cardboard bases. Children can construct their own open-ended sculptures—bridges, people, or abstract art. Add natural materials for decoration.
8. Pumpkin Smash Art 🎃
After Halloween, use old pumpkins for outdoor art! Cut them open, give the children mallets or toy hammers, and let them explore smashing and painting with the pulp and seeds. Messy, sensory fun!
9. Tissue Paper Turkeys 🦃
Offer brown paper turkey bodies and bins of colorful tissue paper squares. Children crumple and glue tissue pieces to make turkey feathers. Focus on the process, not the perfection!
10. Feather Prints 🪶
Provide real or craft feathers, paint, and paper. Children can dip the feathers in paint and press or drag them on paper to see the unique lines and shapes they create.
✨ Teaching Tip
When doing open-ended art, focus on process over product. Ask questions like: “What colors did you choose?” or “How did you make that texture?” This helps children reflect and build confidence in their creativity!
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