Mess-Less Toddler Paint Bag

Ava (16 months) LOVES to paint. Man oh man, that girl is into all things arty; the messier, the better. Only one small hitch. I hate the clean up. With Eden (3 1/2 years), no problem! She's super neat, so clean up is always minimal. On the other hand, you could give Ava a thimble-full of paint and five minutes later she would have it all over herself, the couch, your clothes, your keys, the fridge and the curtains - that is, if she didn't eat it straight away. 

Solution? A Paint Bag! 

Simply squeeze some non-toxic paint into a ziplock bag, seal with masking tape/duct tape and you're ready to go!

I'm an Art-eest, Mummy!

When I was painting some nursery art for a friend, I put miss E. next to me at the table with a little canvas board and some of her own paints so she could do one too. Kids are such little mimics, aren't they? Check out the concentration on her face...

Fingerpainting for Babies

Who says babies can't fingerpaint? A little ingenuity and a willingness to see your child (and floor, and any adjacent surfaces) covered in muck, and you'll have yourself a fun-filled half-hour or so with your little munchkin.
Although non-toxic poster paint/acrylic paint is, well, non-toxic, I still feel apprehensive about letting Ava anywhere near it. Especially whilst she's in the 'how-can-I-fit-everything-in-sight-into-my-mouth' phase. So I mixed a bit of plain flour with some water and food dye, and came up with my own version of fingerpaint which is safe for babies. It's not a substitute for actual fingerpaint though (ie: the stuff you would use for your toddler, or for use on paper), but it served my purposes just fine.

The paint:

Egg Carton Stamping

For last week's Play Time Challenge (to use an egg carton, see here for the post), I thought it might be fun to try egg carton printing. First of all, I cut the carton up like so:

Bubbles Challenge Part 2

I thought I'd tackle some bubble painting with Eden for this weeks Play Time Challenge, but unfortunately it did not go as well as planned. To do bubble painting, you need a container, powdered paint/s, detergent, straws and paper. You mix 1/4 cup of detergent in with some powdered paint to get the colour you want, then get your child to blow into the paint mix with a straw to form lots of little bubbles (which stay in the container and don't pop). You'll need to make the colour extremely bright in the mix because once the bubbles pop on the paper, they're much paler. Once the bubbles are overflowing the container, take your paper and carefully roll it around on top of the bubbles, but don't press down. The result should look like coloured bubbles have burst on your paper.
I don't have any powdered paint, and I don't plan on getting any (pretty expensive stuff), so I used normal non-toxic poster paint. I poured a fair wallop of if in to make the colour vibrant but that meant that the detergent was too diluted and the bubbles didn't, well, bubble properly. They certainly didn't overflow the container. So I had to grab some much smaller bits of paper to dip into the containers instead. The whole thing was a bit of a debacle, but Eden didn't seem to notice. She was to preoccupied with blowing bubbles into the paint mix to notice that our activity wasn't going as planned. Suits me! Will definitely try this again and adjust the detergent to paint ratio and see how we go.
A note: if you're going to try this, maybe get your toddler to practice blowing through the straw first, the last thing you want is for them to accidently inhale the paint mix. They could blow bubbles into a cup of water, blow pom poms or cotton wool balls around, blow on your face, etc. 

It's Art, Dah-Link!

Toddlers often fall in love with painting from the first time they try it, and in our home that meant that at least twice a week we have to do some painting. This is a lot (to me) when you consider that life still happens! Playgroup, shopping, library story time, catching up with friends, playdates, cooking, playcentres, housework... and painting twice a week.

This causes some dilemmas! Firstly, it means I have to come up with different painting experiences for Eden (eg. Watercolours, fingerpaint, nature painting, and I have a dozen more ideas I've yet to try). Secondly, it means we end up with a lot, a LOT of paintings. I believe it is very important to display your child's artwork in your home, it gives them a sense of pride and boosts their self-esteem to know that something they have made is on show. So, that meant that a full wall in our home was always covered in Eden's art (see photos). Even then, I have to edit and let her choose her favourite pieces - she is very prolific.

  My solution for the second dilemma has been to buy a number of bright frames (see IKEA for the same ones we bought, cheap too) and to put them up with those removeable adhesive hooks. This has served to really showcase Eden's best art pieces. I let her play the art curator and select her fave pieces to display. Then I take photos of the rest of her art that she likes, and I plan on printing up the photos and letting her stick them into a scrapbook-album (I got ours for under $10 from Sam's Warehouse) so we can still show off her art, but the walls are spared! Also, will be a beautiful keepsake to show her when she's 21 :)

Nature Printing

Now that we're experiencing a welcome return to sunshiney days, thank you Spring!, I have been going for walks with my kids just about every day again. Sometimes, Eden just wants to run around, sometimes, she sits in the stroller, and sometimes we take a plastic bag with us and go nature-collecting. She picks up leaves, grass, bark, pebbles, gumnuts, flowers, anything she thinks is interesting, and puts it in her bag.

When we get home, she puts her 'collection' into one or two of my glass vases and it sits on the hall table as a display. Other times, we lay it out on a table in the playroom which acts as the 'Nature Table'. Yesterday, we used her haul to create some nature art.

I laid out some newspaper to protect the table, and cut some old sponges in half, dampened them, put them in meat trays and squirted some paint onto each sponge.

She simply pressed the leaves/sticks/gumnuts into the paint and pressed them onto the paper to create prints. She had a ball!

I had planned for her to paste the leaves onto a cereal box when she'd finished painting with them but we ran out of time.

If you wanted to, you could also get your littlie to arrange leaves or pressed flowers on a sheet of waxed paper (glossy side up). Then put another sheet of waxed paper on top (glossy side down) and iron together with a moderately warm iron. You end up with a semi-translucent sheet with the leaves and flowers showing through. A lovely idea for wrapping paper.

**Also, try adding a squirt of detergent into the paint (makes it easier to clean up afterwards), and you could always let your kids experiment with pebbles, sticks, etc, too. Thanks to Kate G. for this handy tip! :D

Fingerpainting!

Whether it's feeling the paint on their hands, creating their masterpiece or getting the chance to do something different; for whatever reason, every toddler LOVES fingerpainting! As expected, it is a messy activity which entails a lot of clean up and a bit of preparation, so give yourself plenty of time. If you also have a younger child, this is the kind of thing you may want to set up as soon as bubba is down for a nap, to allow yourself as much time as possible.
If you don't have any fingerpaint on hand, you can make some - it's another way to get your child involved. I'll post an easy-peasy recipe shortly. Grab some paper (big rolls of butcher's paper are ideal, find it at IKEA or Riot Arts N' Craft), some paint and a smock/old t-shirt and get to it! Make sure you have somewhere to hang the paper as they finish with each piece, and a bucket of soapy water and a cloth wouldn't go astray either.
This is one of Eden's more recent efforts, a pink giraffe, and I think the giraffe shape is actually discernable!

Potato Printing

What a wonderful activity for young children, and - in my case - what a wonderful way to get rid of potatoes that have gone a bit green! Simply cut the potato in half and cut a simple shape out of each portion; basic geometric shapes like squares and triangles are easiest. I set my girl up with loads of pre-cut (by me) butcher's paper, her craft smock, and a meat tray with a sponge soaked in paint on it, and let her go to town! In future, I think this would be a great way to make cards or wrapping paper (Christmas: maybe some Chrissy tree shapes, or stars?) but at the moment, it's just for the sake of exploration. This is, of course, a messy activity, so make sure you cover surfaces with an old sheet or newspaper, or do it outside in the lovely spring weather! Protect your child's clothing with a smock or Dad's old T-shirt, and have a bucket of soapy water and a washcloth near to hand for when they're finished. A little tip: it's a good idea for you to be wearing some old clothes too, just in case your child gets a surge of affection and wants a cuddle (as mine did). Also, be sure to have somewhere to hang their works of art; bluetack for sticking it on windows to dry, pegs for hanging them on the clothesline, or a clotheshorse. It may require a bit of work on your part, but your tot will love it!