A couple of weeks ago, I was scrolling through Instagram and I saw @toysaclock traced her child’s hand onto cardboard and let her paint the finger nails. This got me thinking. My daughter loves to paint but is always waisting paper. She paints one thing on a page, doesn’t like it, and wants to start over. Sound familiar to anyone else? So…I thought if I drew different scenes onto cardboard, put tape over it so that she could erase the paint and start over, then my daughter could paint the same scenes over and over again without waiting paper. If she messes up, no big deal, just erase it!
Thankfully, my daughter was all about this idea. She loves that she can paint the same picture over and over until it looks just the way she wants. If you think your child would like this activity too, keep reading.
What You’ll Need
Cardboard
Sharpie
Heavy Duty Scotch Tape
Paint
Paint Brushes
Paper towel
How To:
Use your sharpie to draw a scene onto the cardboard. Cover the entire cardboard with tape and starting paining and erasing and painting again. We haven’t been leaving the paint on the cardboard for too long to make sure we can erase it easily.
Have you tried this or are you planning to try this? Comment down below!
*Adult supervision is required*
Summer is coming, and while I can not wait to put away our homeschool schedule and turn off zoom, I do want to find a way to sneak in some learning over the next couple of months. This tie dyed paper towel activity is one way I plan on sneaking in some academics this summer. My daughters love this activity because they think they are just playing around even though there is learning happening.
I’ve used this activity in the past to review letters, numbers, shapes and sight words. And now, even though they are older, I still use it to review other skills. Today, for instance, we got out our pipettes, markers and paper towels, and worked on fractions. Every time I said a fraction, they would find it on the paper towel, and use their pipettes to drip water on it. Their favorite part was watching the fractions disappear into a mess of blended colors. It really is fun to watch.
They didn’t complain once about doing math because they were having so much fun. AND they actually asked for me to draw out more fractions so they could continue blending the colors together. WHAT! More fractions? Mom win for sure. Ok… I really don’t think they realized we could just draw any random picture and get the same results, and thats why they asked for more fractions, but hey, I’ll take it.
That’s it for today. If you want to see a video of us doing this activity, head over to Instagram @thiscraftygirlmom. Until next time.
*Adult supervision is required*
Press’n Seal art is something I did with my daughters when they were younger. I used it to teach them shapes, colors, and counting. They really loved it, especially my one daughter who is more sensory seeking. She loved sticking her hands to the Press’n Seal more than she liked sticking the tissue paper to it. Whatever keeps them busy, right?
So today, I decided to set this up for them again, but to make it age appropriate (they are 8) I asked them to cut out the tissue paper shapes themselves and create a scene. They made beach scenes (which included mermaids of course) and a neighborhood. This held their attention for such a long time. I was able to eat breakfast AND put away some laundry while they occupied themselves with this activity. Mom win for sure!
If you give this a try comment down below and let me know what your child created.
*Adult supervision is required*
Today I didn’t feel like cleaning up a major mess, but I really wanted to do a Memorial Day craft with my daughters to go along with some of the lessons they are learning in school. Virtual school that is.
I decided on a no mess painting project. It didn’t end up being “no mess” the way we did it, but don’t worry, I eventually realized why paint splattered out onto my wood table. The table I said we could paint on without a table covering because it was a NO MESS project. Way to go mom!
To be honest, I wasn’t sure my daughters would like this project. We haven’t done a no mess painting project since they were five. They are eight now. Would they think it was babyish or would they love it? Turns out, they still love it!
Materials
Gallon Size Zip Lock Bag (This is where I went wrong. We used a plastic sleeve and I forgot to seal it!)
Paint
Tape
Poster Board
How To
Draw a picture on your poster board (cut to fit the zip lock bag) and add globs of paint within the lines. Carefully insert the poster board into the zip lock bag. SEAL the bag well.
You can place this on a table and let your little one get to work. All they need to do is squish the paint through the bag with their fingers. My daughters love when I tape these to our sliding door. For some reason it is even more fun if they get to stand while painting.
If you do not want to draw a picture, you can simply cut a poster board to fit into a zip lock bag, place globs of paint onto the poster board, carefully insert it into the ziplock bag, and let them squish the paint around. They can trace shapes into the paint or letters. Whatever they would like. Either way, it is a fun and easy project.
Comment down below if you give this a try. Can’t wait to read about what your little ones created.
*Adult supervision is required*