What's in the Tub Tuesday?

Our newest book is Mouse Paint.  It's a great book to introduce and reinforce colours.

I made some paint for the little ones to use.

One of the twins is still putting things in her mouth so I decided to use an instant pudding mix as the base and added food colouring.

Here's our red, blue and yellow paint.

(Although the blue is a bit more green than I preferred).

I took their sensory table, turned it upside down and wrapped it in plastic.

The plastic was recycled from a big item that I had purchased.

The girls were excited.

The twins hadn't used paint brushes before and they didn't put theirs down the whole time we were painting. 

They shared the paint pots adding a new element of colour mixing.

(like the mice in the book)

Since it was new they didn't limit themselves to painting on the plastic.

 I brought out some paper to give them another alternative than their bodies.

The older one has a much different hand grip on the brush.

She has been painting before and can manipulate the brush for big and small strokes.

Here's the reason that the paint is made out of pudding.

But using pudding makes the paint sticky.

And they were all pretty sticky by the time they were done.

So like the mice, in Mouse Paint, they needed a bath.

Which they were surprised to have outside but loved it.

Paint Sticks

I was at Michael's store awhile back and found these paint sticks that I thought may work well for the little ones to use.

They are perfect for them to grip in their fists.

They glide really nicely.

There was some cardboard boxes in the recycling bin so I cut it up instead of using paper.

The older little was very willing to show the twins how to do it

 as well as covering her now.

 The mess is minimal.  

You can see some of the paint on her arm from leaning on her artwork.

It washes off very easily.

Lots of different marks, some made by me too, I couldn't resist trying them.

Homemade Easel

This was the final post from 2018 that I'm just having a chance to finish.

My grand daughter likes to paint on the easel at StrongStart

so I decided to make one for her at home.

My daughter had a box, that is similar to a pizza box, that I used to create the easel.

I opened it all the way up and taped it to her sensory table.

I taped a clear tray to the bottom and inserted a paper clip to hold the paper.

I decide to use waterpaint cakes instead of liquid paint for a couple of reasons.

One they don't need to be covered.

Two they are less messy.

Three she can use them any time she wants without assistance.

Homemade Wrapping Paper

Make wrapping paper.

Here is a very easy and fun activity to keep your little one busy on a rainy day.

I covered the kitchen table with a plastic table cloth, rolled out paper

and then painted her hands to make prints.

She liked it.

Some children may not like the feel of paint on their hands though so you may want to skip it and go on to just giving them a paint brush.

She really enjoyed the independence of painting with the brush.

The main problem was that she couldn't reach very far across the paper.

So I had to turn it for her.

The fridge makes a perfect drying rack.

Oh another idea is to use cookie cutters that they stamp in the paint and then on to the paper.

Have fun.

Marble Painting with a Toddler

Here is our first time using marbles with the Little One for painting.

You may be familiar with marble painting but I'll take you through the steps.

Cut a sheet of paper to fit your tray, any shape and size of tray, although keep in mind your little one's capabilities. 

 Since she is under two I chose a small pan.

Pick a marble and dip it in paint.

Normally I would have little pots with paint and a spoon to scoop the marble out but I didn't have any  pots available.

Put your painted marble onto the paper 

pick up the tray and try to roll the marble around.

She put several marbles in at one time and I showed her how to roll it back and forth as well as shaking the tray.

After each roll and shake she would dip the marble and put it back in.

I think her favourite part was dipping the marbles into the paint.

We ended up completing three sheets which I think will work great for a greeting card.