It’s summer, and you’re looking for kids’ activities that will keep your little learner busy. Help your child to learn about the season, build fine motor skills, explore through her senses, get artsy and much, much more with this clay finger paint letter craft.

Summer Alphabet Clay Art

Make early literacy learning into a fun, exciting time with an art activity. How? By finger painting!

Okay, we all know it – finger painting is messy. It’s one of your child’s favorite activities. But, it’s not always practical. Maybe you don’t have an hour to clean everything and everyone up. Maybe you just got all of your carpets cleaned. Or, maybe your kiddo is making art somewhere (like grandma’s house) that can’t get covered in temperas.

This activity takes the mess down a notch. Or, maybe a few. Instead of real finger paints, your child is using modeling clay. It still works those fine motor skills, but it doesn’t require as much prep or clean-up.

Materials Needed:

modeling clay
marker
card stock paper

Learning and Development

What will your child lean and how can she develop throughthis activity?

Fine motor skills – eye-hand coordination, muscle strength, control
Science — seasons and the summer
Vocabulary – summer words
Writing letters
Exploring through the senses – sight and touch

have your child tell you a summer word and write it on cardstock

Ask your child to name “summer words.” She’ll need to think about what happens in the summer and what the season means to her. List the words on a piece of paper. Pick one word to use for this activity. You can save the other words and repeat the activity again and again.

Write the word on a piece of card stock paper. If your child can spell and write on her own, she can do this part. If not, you can write the letters for her. Point to each letter and ask her to repeat it. As

she repeats the letters she can trace over them.

Tear the clay apart into dime-sized pieces.

Smooth the clay over the marker lines. Your child will make a finger painting motion. She can use the same color or a few different hues.

primary color alphabet art activity for kids

Try using the primaries (red, yellow and blue) and mixing them to make new color.

Art Activity Extensions

Your child doesn’t have to stop at one word. She can create an entire summer vocabulary in clay. This can include sentences that she puts together using multiple word art pieces.

Along with the summer art, try this activity in the other seasons. Brainstorm fall, winter and spring words to paint with clay