Leaf print stained glass

Another wonderful art-inspired idea from The Artful Parent.

Last Saturday, I was watching 2 of my nieces (age 2 and 3), and had them gather some leaves. Then, I taught them how to use the side of a crayon to make leaf prints. They kinda got the hang of it, but enjoyed scribbling around and drawing on the paper more. No big deal. The paper was really big, so I didn't think they would be interested in filling the entire paper up anyway. I think they're favorite part of this was just gathering up all the leaves. :)


The following day, I had T and A (3-year old niece), paint the paper with our liquid watercolors. They painted the entire strip of paper practically all by themselves. They really enjoyed this part.


After the paint dried, I cut the paper so it would fit into our window by the front door. Then, T and I brushed vegetable oil onto the back of it and stuck it onto the window.


I absolutely love all the beautiful colors and the way the sun shines through the paper. The leaf prints didn't seem to be so noticeable though, unless you stare hard at it, but the kids and I still like it.

Mural Painting

A couple weeks ago, A (T's cousin that you've seen around the blog) spent the night over for the first time. Whenever A comes over, I love to do atleast one activity for the girls. It's fun to see how different, or how similar, their creativity and imaginations are.

This art activity was really easy. I just taped up a long roll of T's easel paper onto our backyard fence. Set out some paints and handed the girls some paintbrushes.


I also had the pool out full of water for easy cleanup. (Which actually became an activity in and of itself- mixing different paint colors in the pool.)


Body painting was also inevitable. Which was followed with painting of rocks and sticks. (Didn't get to take a picture of that.)

Painting with Colored Ice

This art activity allows for kids to experiment with mixing colors. I set out yellow, blue, red, and green food coloring along with an ice cube tray filled with water. I let T put in whatever color mixtures she wanted to experiment with. She really enjoyed watching the water turn different colors and seeing what color she could come up with. I gave her toothpicks to stir it with and then had her leave them in the hole to use later as a handle for painting.


After she was finished mixing the colors, we put the ice cube tray into the freezer.


Later that day, we took it out and I let T begin to paint with the colors she made.


I let her use both regular and watercolor paper. They both worked equally well.


We used food coloring for this activity but liquid watercolors would also work.


This was another fabulous art idea found in First Art Experiences for Toddlers and Twos by MaryAnn F. Kohl.

Paper Quilt Painting

I finally got around to using one of the art ideas from my First Art book. I've had a bunch of pages dog-earred since Christmas (when I received the book). It is a wonderful resource for ideas and inspiration. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who wants to bring creativity and art into their home or classroom.

What I did was I taped together different kinds of papers. I used construction, parchment, foil, and bubble wrap (not really paper, but still works).


I set out T's paints and just let her paint as she wished. The purpose of this activity was for the child to explore the different textures of paper and see how the papers react; attracting or resisting the paint.





Other paper ideas to use include:

butcher
construction
foil
grocery bag
newspaper
old poster
paper towel
parchment
wallpaper
wax paper
wrapping paper
wrinkled newsprint


Source:
First Art: Art Experiences for Toddlers and Twos by MaryAnn F. Kohl

Painting with Water

I set out T's little chalkboard and a glass of water with her paintbrushes. I wasn't sure how this activity would go. Turns out, she very much liked it. She told me she was cleaning her chalkboard. I gave her a towel too to dry it as well.


She kept coming back to it through out the day and the following days. She definitely got that chalkboard clean!

I got the idea from this Buddha Board I've been eyeing for awhile now. I've seen it around blogland but just am not sure if I want to spend the money on it or not. Still debating.

This past week...

was spent at home.

It rained.
And rained again.
Tried to bring some sunlight in.


We kept busy. Inside...




and outside.
Went on walks...


created...




and daydreamed..


then, created some more.






By the end of the week, the sun began to show itself.
Oh, happy day!

Splat painting - Sponge painting- Finger painting

I kept seeing the splat painting going on in blog land almost everywhere lately. I loved the idea and finally got around to trying it out with T.

However, T had another idea in how she wanted to create. She had no interest in using the spatula I provided when I showed her how to splat the sponges with it. Instead, she chose to get her hands "dirty" and grab the sponges themselves and she began sponge painting.


I have no problem with this as like I've said before, it's the process of creating that matters. I'm just here to provide the tools and encourage creativity.


After a few minutes of sponge painting, she quickly forgot the sponges all together as well. She began glopping her hands with paint and just gooping the paint between her fingers.






She also decided to paint some other objects that were around her besides the big sheet of paper.

Grass-

Sidewalk-

I brought out the bucket of soapy water, a sponge, and a towel for her to clean off herself. It was quite messy but she really enjoyed herself. It was quite the sensory experience, I think.

Painting rocks

I've been wanting to paint rocks and make a little rock garden for a long while now. And, we finally got around to doing it!


We collected our rocks over time. Then, we washed the dirt off of them and let them dry.


We used many different sizes, shapes and colors!


T found some mossy sticks to paint as well.


A good hour or so later, we finally finished painting all our rocks and set them out near our front step.


I loved how they turned out.


T now has been asking to paint rocks every single time we go outside. I do want to do it again, especially since our paint, sadly, got quickly washed away by the rain.

I sprayed acrylic sealent spray on them in hopes that it would keep the paint on the rocks at least a little while. I even put the rocks under the overhang of our house, but they quickly washed off in the first rain. I admit, I was quite disappointed. We both worked really hard on our rock paintings. But, then again, it just gives us a good reason to paint more rocks! And seeing how T loves doing it so much, I definitely see us doing this activity again. Especially when the weather starts to warm up. (Hopefully soon!)

After we made our rock garden, T was being her silly, 3-year old self and started making funny faces.






Then, she asked to take pictures of me making silly faces. So, I obliged.




I love days like these.

Watercolor Butterflies

Spring is here! And our house is currently decorated with lots of beautiful coffee filter butterflies. They're in our dining room, our entry way and our front window. And they are a perfect decoration for Spring.

Once again, T and I used our liquid watercolors to paint coffee filters. (One of our favorite craft projects to do.)

Probably because it's so easy to do and T enjoys it so much. She painted as many butterflies as I did. And they always turn out so pretty with all the different colors.


They're also very easy to make. Once the paint dried, I folded the coffee filters into an accordian.

Then, I cut in half a pipe cleaner of T's color choice while T made a bunch of pipe cleaner happy faces.

I then folded the pipe cleaner in half and wrapped it around the coffee filter and curled the ends for the antennas.

We used thread to tie them to our dining room chandelier.


And we used folded tape to stick them onto the front window and entry way wall.

Some of them are hanging as well.

Don't they go perfect with T's hand print tulip canvas?

Happy Spring!