Kid Made Bird Piñata

Had to share the piñata that my three year old insisted we make for mom's birthday.  "It isn't a party if there isn't a piñata," he told me the night before!  One box, a crayon drawing and a few handfuls of crushed tissue paper later we were party ready.

Pipe Cleaner Garland

Pipe cleaners can be tricky for little hands.  They are a bit sharp and hard to manipulate into exact shapes.  But this abstract spring garland was a perfect pipe cleaner activity for my one and three year
olds.

Materials
Pipe Cleaners
String, ribbon or thin rope

Hang a long ribbon or string in a spot that your little one can reach.  Set out a stack of pipe cleaners.  I was thinking spring, so I picked out a mix of happy yellows, oranges, greens and pinks.  Show your little one how the pipe cleaners bend and move.  Then let them get to work!  Encourage your little one to hang their creations on the string.  The mix of unique little sculptures makes a super fun celebratory display!

Spring!

Spring has arrived and our art making materials have been inspired by the buds, grass and breeze of the season!

Leprechaun's Gold Dough Play

Materials
Yellow Play Dough
Rolling Pin
Rolling Pad
Round cookie cutters

Make a batch of yellow play dough inspired by leprechauns' gold!  Set out lots of round cookie cutters, along with a rolling pin and rolling pad.  All you need for a St. Patrick's Day dough play session!

Painting Snow

Materials
Snow
Container for snow
Paint
Brushes
Cups

We don't get a lot of snow here in the city, but we love what little we do get!  To maximize snow time, I regularly bring a sled full into the house for the kids to play in.  Building, digging and melting the snow are favorite activities over here, but during our last snow we decided to try something new: painting it!

This is an easy one!  On a snowy day head out with a leak proof container.  The container can be any size--cup, bowl, storage bin, etc.  I used our plastic sled. After filling your container with snow, bring it inside and let your little one get to work painting.  They can experiment with brushing on color or pouring paint onto the snow.  They might want to mix up the painted snow with a spoon or their hands, playing with color saturation and enjoying its weight, texture and temperature.

Embroidery Floss + Glue

Materials
Glue
Embroidery floss
Construction paper

Set out paper, glue and lots of long lengths of embroidery floss.  It is the season of leprechauns and pots of gold so I opted for a colorful rainbow of floss choices.   My kiddo used a glue stick to thoroughly cover his paper, though white glue is great too!  He then got busy smushing handfuls of floss into the glue and guiding individual strands into place.  Such an easy way to add fibers into our everyday art making!

Pouring Paint

Materials
Newspaper
Watercolor Paper
Tempera Paint
Cups
Water

Start by lining your bathtub or sink with newspaper.  Place watercolor paper on top top of the newspaper.  Mix tempera paint in cups with just a little water.  You want the paint to be thinner than it is right from the bottle, but not too transparent.

Invite your little one to pour paint onto the paper.  The paint will splatter, pool and mix in interesting patterns.  Your kiddo may want to experiment with colors and paint consistency.

St. Patrick's Day

We moved right on to St. Patrick's Day for our next round of art making inspiration!  Lots of green and rainbows for us in early March!

Class Valentine's Day Cards

Just wanted to share this year's Valentine's Day cards!  My guy made mini collages for his class, gluing hearts cut from old magazine pages and pieces of tissue on to construction paper.  Here he is showing off his work!

Medicine Dropper Painting

Materials
tempera paint
water
cups
medicine dropper(s)
paper
tape

It probably goes without saying; a three-year-old squirting medicine droppers full of paint around the kitchen can be a very dangerous thing!  Prepping your space before you get started is the key to enjoying this one!  I drape the area in a combo of garbage bags, shower curtain pieces and newspaper.

Next dilute tempera paint with water.  I went with about one part paint to two parts water.  You can experiment to see what dilution works best for your droppers and paper.

Then tape your paper down.  I opted to tape multiple sheets of paper close together on a well covered wall.

Then let the paint shooting begin!

For some little ones it might be a challenge to figure out how to use this new tool.   You might need to help them with the first few squirts or fill the droppers for them throughout the project.