toys and kids: Paint Play

Showing posts with label Paint Play. Show all posts

Masking Tape Paintings

Let me start off by saying I apologize for the crazy hair and pajamas! The girls typically go right for their art supplies in the morning so I had this invitation set out for them. I must also say that my 21M old is a girl, I promise. LOL LOL She chooses all her own clothes. As you can clearly see in my posts greens and blues are her favorite.

Paint brushes, paint, masking tape (you can also use painters tape), scissors (my oldest prefers to cut her tape), and paper. We used white construction paper but anything will work.

This project is so easy and fun! Just place the tape on the paper, paint, let dry, and peel off.

My 21M old loved the tape part of this.

Carefully making her snowflake. :-)

She was getting frustrated a bit with the tape so I placed a bunch of pieces on the end of the table.

My oldest... always willing to give a helping hand.

Ready to paint!

Mine is on the left, 3 year old in the middle, and 21M old on the right.

The painting begins.

My 21M old lost interest when it came to the painting part. She thought drawing on herself with markers was much more fun.

My oldest asked if she could paint mine. She ended up painting her sister's, too. My girls are complete opposites in this sense. My oldest could paint and draw all day.

21M old decided to do her own thing.

She joined us again when it came to the cleaning. I think this is her favorite part.

"Mommy, I'm going to ask Santa for some more wipes." LOL!

Finished.

Invitation in Green

This summer we ~~struggled to maintain~~ enjoyed the benefits of a bountiful garden. We had more summer squash than we knew what to do with, so we gave a lot away and made a lot of squash muffins (think "zucchini muffins" but with squash...yes, it works, but it's not the same). We also had a lot of okra - yum! And we soon discovered that it was better to pick small okra in the morning because by evening they were too tough to eat (seriously, they grew THAT fast). Anyway, one day we had some giant okra, so I decided to create an invitation in green. We'd already done the Yellow Invitation using the squash so it made sense - why not?!

I set up an invitation on the light table after collecting a number of green tools for measuring, cutting, writing, and general exploration. Lately Addi shows interest in having a variety of collected items to create with, so I really did include a a lot (last year this many items would have overwhelmed her, so it's important to research your child's individual interests and needs when setting up an invitation).

Addi immediately took the lid off the homemade light table and brought it to the ground along with all the supplies; she always knows just how she wants to play, lol. Then she set to work pouring the paint into the translucent cups. She noticed the cups with paint were now opaque and explored how to completely cover all the cups...the green popsicle sticks worked well.

"I can see through these, but not that one. Can you help me? Oh, I got it."

This summer her interest in letters grew, so I try to include them in most invitations. I didn't know how she would use them in her work; she started off by painting around them while singing a song from one of her favorite books (Chicka Chicka Boom Boom).

"Weeee said D to E F G I'll beat you to the top of the coconut tree."
"K is out of bed & this is what she said, dare double dare you can't catch me..."

And she painted her hand, around her hand, and made a hand print.

"I'm painting my fingers, not your fingers. Is that cool?"

Luckily there was quite a lot of paint on the ground because Addi LOVES to spray and wipe up...well, she loves to spray. And she likes knowing she can get her own cleaning cloths out of the closet.

I make my own cleaning products, so she's welcome to spray away!

Researching our children's interests can be a fun challenge as long as we don't set ourselves (or our children) up for failure. There are several ways to do this:

Does your child work more deeply with a few items or many?
How does lighting affect his/her play?
Include your child's favorite colors
Include an object your child visits often (lion, letters, etc.)
Consider a theme: color, animal, letter, medium (art, sand, water, etc.)
Give yourself a pep-talk before setting up a potentially mess-making invitation, "This is going to be messy and fun. The more mess the more learning. I will ignore the mess until after dinner if I have to, even until after bedtime." If you start to panic, focus on the sheer joy on your child's face!
Keep your sense of humor and playfulness.
Follow their lead: if they want you to play you can whisper, "what should I do?" Otherwise you can simply enjoy the show.
Jot down their reactions and responses. Their facial expressions and words can bring new and deeper meaning for everyone.
Let go of how you want the materials to be used and instead notice how your child chooses to use them - become curious! "Why did he paint the cup rather than the paper? Interesting: she took apart the light table before using the other materials! I wonder why she included the horse?"

Raising children is full of magical moments when we are able find within ourselves the time and space to watch and listen. I hope you'll find some today...or tomorrow!

Paint Roller Painting

DO NOT TRY THIS IF YOU HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT STAINS.

My son has always loved using the paint roller - even just to pretend. He played a role in painting his bedroom as well as his playroom. Recently, he has been taking out the roller to pretend to paint, so I thought I would set up an invitation for him. We tackled this on a small scale one morning....painting the back porch........

Painting the back porch.

Our back porch is stained and the paint washed off nicely. We used a basic washable tempera paint.

Today I set up an invitation for him to paint the driveway. It was a huge hit, but didn't wash off as easily. There is a very slight stain, but I'm confident it will fade with time.

I would not try this on surfaces that are highly porous.

Invitation

.....and then my camera died.

- AK (MESE, MECD)

"THE HARPSICHORD"

This post actually has very little to do with a harpsichord, but its what my son kept telling me he was painting. That and "the biggest circle ever!". I just love the fact that somewhere in that amazing mind of his, he saw a harpsichord in his work.

It was a rainy day today. We played in the rain for over and hour - putting leaves and flowers in the flowing water and running after them to the drain. I wish I had pics, but I was too busy playing along (plus, it was raining - kind of hard to hold an umbrella and take pics at the same time - LOL). After our outdoor adventures in the rain, we came inside and I set up an invitation. Illuminating the easel. I tried to black out the windows in the garage and then used the overhead projector to illuminate the easel. I dont know if it was just the day or the coolness of the light shining through the easel, but my 2.5 year old son painted for a good 45 minutes. The pictures really dont do it justice - it was a really neat experience.

All you need -

Easel

Projector

Paint

- AK (MESE, MECD)

Not Just A Swing

Having taught children with autism for several years, Im very familiar with Sensory Integration. If you look in magazines geared toward special needs children, you will see that the prices are OUTRAGEOUS! I will never understand why its nearly unaffordable to buy things like this for the children who need access to it THE MOST (outside of therapy). My son is a typically developing child, but sensory integration is beneficial for all children - so I had my husband build this sensory swing.
(It can be seen on the blog under DO IT YOURSELF FURNITURE)

This is a great activity to stimulate the vestibular system - and it was just down right FUN!!! The pics speak for themselves. SWING PAINTING.

- AK (MESE, MECD)

Since he is only two and his arms barely reached the paper, I let him just pour some paint on the paper to start (no pic of that - sorry). For an older child, I would have paint cups out and let the child maneuver themselves to the cups and to the paper (great for gross motor skills and sensory integration).

3D Painted Picture Frames

This is probably our all time favorite paint recipe. You can see the paint recipe HERE.

It is typically done on cardboard like our cardboard Christmas cutouts seen HERE

I always want to hang these after we are done and I could never figure out how I wanted to do it. I found a solution! I had no clue if this was going to work but what a fun adventure it was!

Materials used:

Liquid watercolors... seen HERE

Self-rising flour

Clear condiment bottles from Walmart (kitchen section)

Salt

I'm going to post the recipe here as well because I know none of you are going to click on the above link. :-P

Recipe:

MICROWAVE PUFFY PAINT

4 Tbsp self rising flour
a few drops of food coloring or liquid watercolors
4 Tbsp salt

Add water to make a smooth paste.

1/2 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
food coloring

Add water to make a smooth paste.

Pour into bottles or apply with a paintbrush.

Microwave for 1:30-2:00 minutes.

When you do these on cardboard you only need 20-30 seconds. However, it took a lot longer to puff on the glass.

The Invitation

Puffy paint and picture frames from Dollar Tree.

I was kinda nervous that the glass was going to crack in the microwave but it survived!

My oldest (3.5 years) applying paint to the glass frame.

"I'm going to make a dinosaur"

My middle girl (29 months) having a go.

Hard at work.

This picture cracked me up. My 29th month old closed all the tops and wiped them down after she was done. However, for all the people that know her... she ALWAYS has stuff on her face and is a little ragamuffin. She'll wipe down paint off a table before she wipes her own face. :-P

"Can you help me with the green please?"

This was my oldest's after she was done BEFORE it went into the microwave.

*****MAKE SURE YOU JUST MICROWAVE THE GLASS... NOT THE FRAME*****

The glass will be a little hot so wait a minute or two before you remove it.

Here they are after they were microwaved. My youngest woke up so I ran to get her out of her crib. When I came back my oldest had taken her finger and was smearing the paint all over. On the inside I was thinking "Ah man... what did you do???" A pure example that it's about the process NOT the product!! After I held myself together (LOL), I looked and she had the biggest smile on her face. We all laughed and hung up her masterpiece to enjoy.

Since my 29 month old saw how funny it was to run your fingers through. She had to give it a try, too.

My 29 month olds. These also look great in the window.

My 3.5 year old.

I love the texture her finger smears gave it!

Next time I may have to throw in a few tools to use. :-)

Here is another one that my oldest did. Pre-microwave. We were running low on paint so I added a little more water. As you will see below, this one puffed a lot more. Next time around we won't make the paint so thick.