Thinking of the visual arts in early childhood education can initially evoke an image of a child standing at an easel, thick stubby paint brush in hand with bright acrylic poster paint spreading quickly across the page.

However, research has shown the visual arts to be a rich domain through which young children can explore and represent their experiences, think through and deepen their working theories, and develop their creative thinking.

It is through the visual arts that children learn about the symbolic systems of representation and communication valued by their communities.

For this activity, we used tissue paper to create butterfly wings.

These fascinating creatures (butterflies) have beautiful wings made of chitin and scales.

Students glued each “scale” (or tissue paper) to construction paper along with their friends!