First, I tell them the story of John, who really wanted to be a carpenter. So he bought a hammer and some tools and started making things. Sing "Johnny Works with One Hammer", all the way to "five hammers" as in the video below.
Then, I tell them John decided he needed a different kind of job, he enjoyed working with hammers but he really wanted to be a ..... PAINTER! He got so excited he went out and got brushes and paints and began to paint. Sing "Johnny paints with one paintbrush"... move one hand in a swishy up and down pattern, then just like the first song, add a "brush" each time.
Next, I tell the students that John's mom came home and found him painting all over the floor, ceiling, carpets and she was not happy. Read/sing/show the book, "I Ain't Gonna Paint No More" by Karen Beaumont.
Available here from Amazon.com.
Then we perform the activity that goes with Trepak from Lynn Kleiner's "Kids Can Listen, Kids Can Move. WONDERFUL resource! There is a throwing and smearing of paint activity to accompany Trepak from the Nutcracker on page 18. Available here from West Music.
As a final activity, we go to a museum! Well..... in a way. We sing, "Let's make a statue shape" to the tune of the Farmer in the Dell and at the end of the song everyone makes a statue shape and holds very still while I "visit the museum". Of course I make funny comments like, "Wow, that statue is a moving sculpture.. I didn't know they had those. I don't like those very much! They freak me out!". The kiddos giggle, but get the point; no moving. We sing again and I tour the museum making various comments. Then I tell them the sculptures in the next museum are partnered. Sing, they figure out how to connect with a partner, etc. From there we create sculptures with groups of 3, then 4, etc. until we have a whole class sculpture. It's a great time to talk about levels of movement; high, medium, low, and for them to work through the problem of creating movement while being connected to another person.