Create letter collages with colored rice. Make colored rice with dry rice, food coloring and vinegar. Mix 5 drops of food coloring and 1/2 teaspoon vinegar into a bowl with 1/2 cup of white rice. Stir to coat and then spread on a baking sheet. Place in an oven heated to 200 degrees for 45 minutes. Store different colors in zip lock bags or plastic containers with lids.
Draw a letter on a sheet of construction paper. Let the preschooler fill the interior with glue or use a glue stick to trace the lines of the letter. Finally, press the colored rice in the glue. Do their whole name in colored rice or use this art project to help introduce letters.
Let preschoolers play with a handful of pipe cleaners. Free form play with art materials gives them a chance to make decisions and stretch their imagination. The art sculptures, people and items that are created can be mounted on a block of soft wood with a thumbtack for display. They can also be reused over and over again making this an economical art material.
Make tissue paper tree collages with a sheet of construction paper, crayons, glue and tissue paper. Instruct the children to use a crayon to draw a tree trunk on their paper. Torn and crumbled pieces of tissue paper is glued to the top of the trunk to represent leaves. Use green tissue paper for summer trees, add a few pieces of pink for spring trees and orange, red, yellow and brown for autumn trees.