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.

Chopstick Painting

Materials
Chopstick
Paper
Paint

Just set out paper, paint and chopsticks.  Your kiddo will do the rest!
The chopsticks will pull and push through the paint, leaving thin lines of color as they go.  Today my little one loved this, but my big one wasn't as interested.  He was preferring the bold mush of paint that a regular old brush provides.  Next time maybe!

Watercolor and Oil Pastels

Materials
Watercolor Paper
Liquid Watercolors
Brush
Oil Pastels

Oil pastels are one of my little artist's favorite mediums.  They are bold, easy to use and oh so gratifying to color with (also pretty messy, but we find them worth the mess!).  Adding a layer of liquid watercolors to an oil pastel drawing is a nice experiment in color and transparency.

First, set out paper and pastels.  After your kiddo has colored for a bit add a cup of liquid water color and a brush to the table.  Watch as they they paint and draw away!  Regular oil pastels will hold their line and color, water soluble oil pastels will bleed into the paint.  We used regular oil pastels.

Valentine's Play Dough Bakery

Materials
Play Dough
Food Coloring
Glitter
Cookie Cutters
Rolling Pin
Rolling Pad
Cookie Sheet

I believe in letting little ones guide their art experiences, so putting out dough, rolling pins and cookie sheets might not turn your table into a holiday bakery, but it is a great starting point for your kid to follow their imagination in any direction!

First make your dough.  Check out Makes and Takes for our favorite dough recipe.  I find it helpful to make dough at least a couple hours before it's needed, otherwise my kids get anxious to play before it is fully cooled.  In this case, I made it the night before and added drops of food coloring and glitter before sticking it in the fridge.  Waiting till the dough and coloring are cold before mixing allows the dough to maintain a swirly look.

After setting out cookie cutters, rolling pin and cookie sheets, place your dough on a rolling pad.  Then let your kiddo get to squishing, rolling and cutting!

All You Need is Love

The last couple weeks I was planning art experience around wool. I thought it would be a fantastically tactile addition to lots of activities we love to do.  However my kiddos were not inspired.  There was lots of drawing, squishing and painting going on, but typically only after they had put the wool to the side! So I am going to keep those project ideas for the future and move forward with a new theme for early February: LOVE!

Bubble Snow

Materials

Stand Mixer Bubbles (more on making them here)

Animals

A few batches of stand mixer bubbles make a lovely winter wonderland.  Just a little dish soap and water and you have a soft, slippery, snowy play medium. 

This activity is pretty straightforward.  First find a spot that you don't mind getting wet.  A counter, bath tub or water table are all good options.  I also drape the floor to catch drips.  Make a few batches of bubbles (you can read more about how we make them in this previous post).   Empty a bowl or two of bubbles on your play surface.  Set out a few animals and let your little one play!  Easy!

Hauling Snow Dough

Materials
Snow Dough (recipe found at Learning Tree)
Trucks

We finally jumped on the snow dough band wagon and I am so glad we did.  We used the recipe from Learning Tree, substituting vegetable oil for baby oil.  The dough is a little gritty, clumps easily and satisfyingly crumbles in little fists.  I had originally put out animals to play with along with the dough, but my guy grabbed a couple trucks and started hauling snow dough around the table.  It was a mess but he had a great time!

Painting with Salt and Tempera

Materials
Watercolor Paper
Tempera
Paint Brush
Water
Coarse Salt 

Simply set out a plate of coarse dried salt when your little one is painting.  The addition of rough texture makes for an interesting tactile painting session!