Watercolors

I spent $1.50 on some watercolors the other day when I was at Michaels getting myself some art supplies, and it was a darn good investment. My little miss has been absolutely loving them!

This is also a great way to continue her learning about mixing colors to make other colors. Our other method of doing that is when she has yogurt for lunch, we dye it with food coloring and practice mixing colors that way.

I also let her sprinkle some salt over her some of her paintings so she could see the effect it makes – it has become her new favorite way to paint! We’re going to use some of them as backings for some Christmas presents which I’ll reveal after the holidays.

All in all, I’m happy with that $1.50 spent!

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Homemade Paints

Since my daughter was running down to the last scrapes of paint in her jars, I decided to give some homemade paints a go. The recipe I used is this:

via Easie Peasie

It worked brilliantly!

I did exactly what the instructions said and dumped everything in the pan (I had my heat on medium/low which is 4-5 on my stove) and although the instructions didn’t say to, I did stir the whole time it was on the heat as I was afraid the cornstarch would settle and clump. So I’m stirring and stirring for probably 6 or 8 minutes, thinking Hmmmm, this really isn’t thickening at all. Then out of nowhere, this happened:

Ah, the magic of science! This was the coolest transition ever since it went from a white liquid to this awesome translucent gel in a matter of seconds. I was still stirring for all of this FYI.

So once it was all thickened, I gathered these supplies for the coloring process:

I just added in the new paint to the old paint jars, and the little container and spoon were for mixing each color (cleaning in between each color is super easy – just rinse with hot water and it melts away).

After mixing up all the colors and loading them into the jars it was time to paint of course!

  

She loved them! In all honesty they don’t make the best brush paints (they are labeled as finger paints after all) simply because when they are spread too thin they tend to turn clear. But my miss still loved them, and it cost me all of about 50 cents (if that) to make. Much better than driving to the store and paying $10 for a new set of Crayola paints if you ask me! And although this wasn’t a great activity for a two and a half year old to help make (let’s see, hot burner and food coloring – ugh) she did great! She understood she couldn’t touch but she did enjoy passing me the paint bottles to fill and picking which color of paint to make next. Bonus: It further reinforced her learning of color mixing!

While we’re on the subject of kid art, I was curious what you all use for your kids to paint on? I tend to use cardboard recycling as it’s something we always have around the house, and it’s free. Plus, the cardboard is thick enough that it doesn’t bend too much if my little one piles on the paint. And did I mention it’s FREE? The white pieces in the above images are actually inserts in between the cans of catfood we buy!

Cereal boxes (and snack boxes) never make it to recycling – I always cut them up for her to paint on! Do any of you have free around the house art supplies you like to use?

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Art: Toddler Edition

I am one of those crazy mums who saves all her child’s artwork. And I mean ALL. From her first scribble, to her finger paints, to her sticker collages. I have every single one. In handy, digital form! Yes, I save every single image she’s ever made – by scanning it into the computer and having it as a digital file. It’s such a space saver. I have a wooden portfolio in which I’ve put some of my favorite pieces she’s done, but for the most part they get scanned and tossed.

Some of my favorites from January through May.

At first, my little miss was upset about losing her art – she happened to catch me one day throwing away a fistful of her drawings & paintings and began screaming “No, Mommy!! Not trash!!” I could feel each heart string snap, I’m telling you. But I pushed down the guilt and explained to her that I had scanned her drawings on to the computer so we could look at them any time she wanted. She was thrilled! Now she likes to take her art and ‘put it in the computer’ as she has dubbed the process. Which brings me to the point of this post: The Toddler Art Gallery.

June was a busy art month!

Even back when I was pregnant, I knew that our little one would be doing art projects. I love arts and crafts, and really wanted to incorporate them into my little one’s life. I also knew that I would want to have a place to display them, at least temporarily. So shortly after her first birthday, I made her her own gallery in the playroom. It keeps the fridge less cluttered, and gives her more of sense that it’s hers, I think. Every time she finishes a picture she immediately says “Let’s hang it in my gallery!”. Ah, my heart sighs with happiness every time.

I made this image to hang above it.

The quote image was actually part of a magazine ad, for a print company I think? Anyway, I trimmed off the company logo/info parts, backed it with some scrapbook paper, and put it in a frame to hang on the wall. Simple, and FREE! Eventually, I’d like to decorate the clothespins with washi tape, but given all my other projects, that’s pretty low on the priority list! The gallery itself is just bakers twine strung between thumbtacks. Again with the simple and free factor. Two of my favorite things for a project!

Her first ever nature collage! I really liked this project. We used white contact paper (sticky side up) so she could just stick on all her treasures.

I take everything down on the first of the month and scan it in, so she gets a fresh clean gallery to fill. I can’t wait until she’s old enough to start trying to draw real ‘things’ and telling me stories about them. It’ll be so much fun to look at them hung all together!

What art related things to you like to do with your little ones?

And since we’re on the topic of art, I just wanted to remind you to visit my Pure Inspiration page! I’ve added quite a few more gorgeous works of art since launch day – go take a look!