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Art projects and supplies
A&J
Posts: 1,825
With the weather change we are hanging inside a bit more, so it's art time. I bought some white canvases to do a little painting and even the supplies for some Eric Carle tissue paper art:-)
Do you guys have some recommendations for some fun art type projects for kids around 2 years of age?
Also our first canvas we attempted doing a handprint. I used tempera paints and it didn't turn out that great
What kind(s) of paint do you all use?
Thanks for any ideas!
Oh and I wanted to add that while I always have fun doing art it's not my strong area. I just laugh thinking back to college when I took the required Art Education class-- the professor and I had many good-hearted laughs. It truly looked as if I was the kid making the art-- actually the kids tend to do better than me:-).
Do you guys have some recommendations for some fun art type projects for kids around 2 years of age?
Also our first canvas we attempted doing a handprint. I used tempera paints and it didn't turn out that great
What kind(s) of paint do you all use?Thanks for any ideas!
Oh and I wanted to add that while I always have fun doing art it's not my strong area. I just laugh thinking back to college when I took the required Art Education class-- the professor and I had many good-hearted laughs. It truly looked as if I was the kid making the art-- actually the kids tend to do better than me:-).
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I did love my baby's turkey hand print that she made at her daycare though...adorable. Also, we set up the easel last weekend and Jack and Emerson just went to town with paint brushes and fingers...
When jack was little we used to set up his baby pool in the kitchen and give him bowls and cups and filled the pool with dried rice and various beans...his all time favorite activity. We haven't tried this yet with Emerson because, well, she's messier and she put everything in her mouth still. For a 2 year old though, this is heaven.
Anyway, we have almost any kind of paint and what we use depends generally on how much energy I have to do the entire project with him rather than let him go crazy on his own with minimal supervision, and thus how much clean up I want to deal with. We keep two large drop sheets handy with the art stuff so we just spread those out in whatever room we are working in to eliminate much of any mess anywhere that we don't want it. We use anything from cheap canvas, large paper scrolls, empty toilet paper rolls, paper plates, empty wine bottles (no joke and how fun to have those displayed in the house with pretty flowers in them), colored craft paper, newspaper, coloring books, etc. to draw/paint on. You don't have to spend money to make it fun!
One of our other favorites is painting rocks...we wander around the neighborhood collecting them (a fun activity in itself) then bring them home, wash them, and paint them. We have them all over our garden and in our indoor plant pots as decoration. :-) Recently we did the same with leaves and pinecones we found on our walks...we glued them down to a big piece of posterboard and painted them.
We also spend time working with bees wax recently...something easily purchased at a crafts store or online. We picked it up through our Waldorf class as they use it to enhance kids hand strength for writing (later down the road). Honestly, I find a lot of projects online through pinterest...no kidding, TONS! We made our own chalk, we make our own christmas ornaments (simple baking soda recipe) and then paint/decorate those, we've strung beaded necklaces together (think large wooden beads and yarn), we've created felt storyboards, we made our own Advents Calendar. I bought a bunch of fabric scraps at Joann's recently and we got some fabric paint to decorate them and made a ton of capes for Seb to wear that he keeps in his costume bin that we have. Speaking of which, sometimes I just go to a crafty store like Joann's or Michael's and get a million new ideas of projects by walking through the store. For instance, Seb really LOVES stickers right now too, so I bought a bunch and let him stick them all over a posterboard that also had pictures of some of his favorite people and animals (think scrapbook style) which now hangs in his room...that was a fun and independent activity for him that entertained him for a good hour.
Anyway, just let yourself go crazy and O too...sometimes there is also absolutely nothing structured about our painting or art time. I enjoy just sitting there letting Seb go nuts with a million different brushes and watercolor or finger paints as I sit back and ask him all about what it is he is painting. :-)
If you google toddler art projects there are also a dozen websites and books available...but again, it doesn't have to be structured to be fun for O!
October 2014
Olivia loves finger painting, and we did a cute craft on pinterest where you dot fingerpaint all over a pice of paper you cut to look like a tree, and stick the "tree top" in a toilet paper roll...super cute. Both kids love the chalkboard, and just writing with crayons and/or pens on blank paper. It's time for us to start some new craft projects, too. I love the idea of painting rocks.
With the holidays approaching I have been looking into different projects and needing inspiration for some handmade gifts. So, I turned to you crafty parents:). I should have been more specifc on what I was looking for, but am glad I wasn't because I got some great ideas to expand upon things we are already doing at home. @ Fisch--- love the idea of of using the kiddie pool inside to explore in! Rice has always been a hit around here. Nina, I am going to look into some fabric paints, this is something we have yet to do. Starfish-- that sounds cute! We did something similar where we made a handprint fish, then used fingerprints as the bubbles. It was pretty cute too! Babybaby, Seren is a little artist, so I bet the stock coloring sheets tick her off!
We also use a lot of non-washable paint - just don't use it near carpet. Maggie loves to color, paint, glue.
I get a lot of ideas for Maggie and my preschool class on pinterest.com
Progesterone therapy and baby aspirin daily
Two miscarriages in between (August 2012 - same donor as Maggie, and December 2014 with husband)
Maggie
I like to give stuff that is actually useful. Another idea is let her decorate a picture frame and put a pic of her in it as a gift. Refrigerator magnet, pot for a plant, Christmas ornament...