Winter Process Art Activities for Preschool, Pre-k, and Kindergarten

The gloomy days of winter are ahead, and you are going to have to work extra hard to keep young children engaged and focused on educational tasks. That is why I like to incorporate some art projects to give them a break but still be working on other important skills like fine motor skills, creativity, and social skills. Keep reading to see my winter process art activities for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten students.

So, what’s the difference between process art and product art? Process art is open-ended. The focus of the activity is to use various mediums and create a piece of art for the purpose of expression. Product art is a craft that has a set of instructions and requires the final product to replicate a given design. Both kinds of art are important in the classroom for kids of all ages, I believe.

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Collage Winter Process Art Activities

Snowman Collages! Give students the materials to create their own snowman collages. This is a great way for them to use their imaginations. I set out white circles, scissors, markers, glue sticks, and paper scraps. You could also have some precut white circles for younger children that can’t cut well yet. Then, I let the students decorate their snowmen in the way they wanted.

Snowman Tissue Paper Art! Give students a snowman template from wax paper and use tissue paper squares and liquid starch (I grab mine at Walmart) to attach the pieces. I give students a small amount of liquid starch and a paintbrush to brush it on the paper and attach the tissue paper squares. If you don’t have access to liquid starch, you can use watered-down glue. These tissue paper snowmen are so much fun to create and display!

Melted Snowman Art! I love this winter process art idea for little learners! They get a kick out of making a melted snowman, plus there are so many textures they get to work with during this project. To make the snow part, mix equal parts glue and shaving cream and have students spread it on their paper. While it is wet, have students add the parts of their snowman. I used construction paper for the body parts, but foam or felt would also work. We also added some glitter for some sparkle!

Painting Winter Process Art Activities

Foil Ice Painting! Use foil for your canvas and pretend you are painting on ice. I just used regular tempera paint for these lovely winter creations.

Painting Ice! Create a new kind of art by painting on ice! I put the ice in a tub and then mixed pastel paints for students to paint with. Luckily, we have a big ice maker, so I didn’t have to make all this ice by hand. Here is how the ice looked when we began. By painting the ice, they could easily see the ice melting, dripping, and mixing.

Winter Art! Cover a table with paper and let your students use winter colors to create a wintery masterpiece. Make this last several days by giving students new materials to add each day like stickers, paper scraps, ribbons, cotton balls, glitter, etc.

Bear Art! Use foil to paint the brown and black background and let that dry. Then, crumble kraft paper and glue it to the paper for the cave. Add a bear to complete the hibernation theme.

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Frozen Paint Art! Put some tempera paint into an ice cube tray and place popsicle sticks into the paint. Freeze the paint cubes and give them to students to paint with. I placed a wooden spoon on the ice cube tray to prop up the popsicle sticks while they froze.

Watercolor & Salt Art! Give students winter colors or all the watercolor paints to paint a picture. While the paint is still wet, sprinkle kosher coarse salt onto the picture. Let it dry, and shake the excess salt off. Now, you have gorgeous winter paintings to add to your winter lesson plans. 

Mitten Smash Art! Grab the free printable mitten template and talk about symmetry with your students. To start, fold their paper in half and unfold it. I let students use small bottles of different colors of paint to squirt their colors on one side. Then, we folded their paper and smashed the paint around. Open the paper and let it dry. The next day, students cut out the mittens, and we added string.

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Snowflake Tape Resist Art! Begin by making a snowflake with blue painter’s tape. Then, students painted their backgrounds with winter colors. Let the paint dry, and pull the tape off to reveal the snowflake tape resist art piece. I love these fun winter crafts for little kids because they use simple materials and encourage students in the creative process. 

Winter Process Art Prints

Snowflake Cookie Cutter Stamping! Use cookie cutters to create a beautiful print masterpiece. You don’t have to use snowflakes, just any winter cookie cutters you have. Students place the cookie cutter in the paint and stamp it on the paper. When I am done displaying, I cut it into pieces and send one home with each student since all the little hands in the classroom helped create it. 

Snowball Prints! Use stale marshmallows to make snowball prints for your winter art activity. I leave my marshmallows out overnight, and they become kind of hard but still malleable. This allows students to hold them and stamp with them. This is a fun activity for the colder months, and the best part is you can eat marshmallows for different ways to incorporate into your lesson. 

Still Life Winter Process Art Activities

Snowman Night Drawings! Read the story Snowmen at Night, and then have students create these fun still-life drawings. I like to set out the book for students to look at and if you have snowman figurines, you could also set those out. Colored pencils, chalk, or oil pastels work great on black paper.

Snowflake Q-tip Painting! Create a snowflake still life with Q-tips and snowflake images. I am using snowflake pictures from the Snow and Ice Science unit for students to view and try to recreate for a fun craft for younger and older kids. Students used Q-tips to paint their snowflakes with carrying shades of blue, gray, and white paint.

Dropper Winter Process Art activities

Snowflake Dropper Art! Students make a snowflake out of a coffee filter. Then, give students cups of liquid watercolor and droppers to drop color onto their snowflakes. The color spreads and blends into these beautiful winter process art activities! You can use food coloring and water, but the colors won’t be as bright. Your young children will love these fun ideas for the winter season. 

Icicle Dropper Art! Begin by taping a piece of white paper to a binder or slanted surface. I place a trace underneath to catch all the runoff liquid. Students use droppers to drop liquid watercolor at the top of the paper and watch it run down to create icicles. The end result is so pretty! You can talk about ramps and pressure while students complete this art project. If you are doing a skiing or winter sports theme, this project could be adapted to match that theme.

Winter Art Activities

Winter Hat Cutting Craftivity! Now, this art project isn’t process art, but it is another idea you can have in your lesson plans this winter! Students are going to be building their cutting skills by cutting out the hat and cutting paper strips into squares to cover the hat. Then, students will work on gluing skills when they attach all the squares and the cotton balls to complete the hat. This is a fun way to practice these fine motor skills. 

>>Grab the free printable hat template by filling in your email at the bottom of this post.<<

Wintertime doesn’t have to be boring! Try some of these winter process art activities with your little learners and have fun today! The colors are beautiful, and your little learners are going to love trying something new while they are stuck inside during the winter months.

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Check out this video to see these winter process art activities in action.

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