Our 3 and 4 year olds have been studying the rain forest and the creatures that live there. This happened to coincide with us getting a classroom pet, Chase the Gecko. As a group, we decided to create a giant paper gecko to welcome him. This project took place over a couple weeks and was truly a group effort. Collaborative art projects like this can help preschoolers build their cognitive, social, and emotional skills. They must work together and take each other’s opinions into account as they paint and draw.