Discover Cacti in the Desert – Preschool Art and Science

I have found my new favorite art medium for toddlers! Have you and your kids played with cornstarch noodles yet? They are so cool. Just dampen them and they stick together allowing you to build 3-D structures. The kids and I had a blast using them to create cactus sculptures. 

Preschool Art – Cactus Sculpture

You’ll Need the Following:

• cornstarch noodles
• souffle cup
• damp cloth or paper towel
• markers
• toothpicks
• photos of cacti
• little pieces of tissue paper or construction paper

Discuss

Look at pictures of cacti and try standing like a cactus. 

Explore

Set out the noodles and photos of the cacti. Let the kids explore the noodles and make flat cacti designs with them. Younger kids love squishing and crunching them. My two year old is a huge fan! 

Create

Decorate the souffle cup to look like a pot. 

Glue or tape one noodle to the bottom of the cup.

Dampen the edge of each noodle and stick it to another noodle to create cactus structures.

Broken toothpicks make great cactus spines.

Small pieces of tissue paper or construction paper can be added as flowers. If you use construction paper, puncture the paper with the toothpick and then put the toothpick on the sculpture. 

Ladybug’s Cactus (3 years old)

She always likes to dismantle her creations after she makes them, so her finished model is sans flowers 🙂 

Owl’s finished product (2 years old)

He was pretty proud of his little cactus. It went on the fire place mantle to await Daddy’s arrival home for show and tell.

Preschool Science – Wet Cactus Activity

My kids are obsessed with using water bottles. This delightfully simple science experiment lets the kids play with spray water bottles, while you sneak in a little fun science. 

You’ll Need the Following:

• paper towels
• water in a spray bottle
• trays or baking sheets

1. Lay one paper towel flat on the tree and spray away.
2. Fold up a paper towel accordion style and spray it with approximately the same amount of water for the same amount of time.  Note: We soaked them completely and called it equal 🙂 
3. Try a couple different folds resulting in additional thicknesses and wet them.
4. Place the tray in the sun and periodically check to see which ones dry faster. Note:  It was raining, so much for desert sunshine. We placed ours in front of a space heater. Worked just as well.

Ladybug did an amazing job. Her hypothesis was, “the smaller one will dry faster, since there is less of it.” She was surprised and delighted to discover the flat one dried faster. She noted that the smaller one that was still wet was thicker. 

Owl squished the heck out of the two folded towels and haphazardly sprayed as best he could. He started to get the hang of the sprayer after a while and took great delight aiming it at me and his sister. Silly boy! His hypothesis sounded a lot like laughter as did his interpretation of the result.

As a blog ambassador for Mother Goose Time, I am happy to share preschool curriculum ideas, activities, and crafts with my readers.  Mother Goose Time provides our family the opportunity to use their curriculum free of charge in exchange for honest and authentic stories based on our personal experience. 

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