Cynthia (Nanny): Today I used stenciled paint rollers to introduce the girls to simple patterns. You can find these types of kids' painting tools at craft stores or discount stores. I found these at the Dollar Tree.
As the girls painted, we discussed the pictures that were repeating onto the paper. They were able to name the two objects (a rabbit and a flower) but were more interested in painting.
After every structured painting lesson/activity, I give the girls free choice painting time. They absolutely love art time! One of their favorite things to do is paint their hands and cover their paper with handprints.
Arielle (mommy): This activity was sort of last minute for us so I broke out my scrapbooking rollers and some foam rollers from the kids' art supply cabinet. I also gathered foam shapes and letters I thought the kids could put on the paper and roll the paint over to leave the impression of the foam pieces.
I put the papers in plastic containers to help contain some of the mess. Lil really enjoyed exploring with the paint today, but wasn't that interested in making letters or shapes. I let O use his fingers to paint and he also used the rollers. . . Then he started tearing apart the foam roller. I guess he thought he needed some fine motor practice! :)
Sometimes art is free!
Guru moment: Next time we might try using a paint roller for each color to minimize color mixing. We could also try using ink pads with the rollers if we don't want to deal with the mess of paint.
Reader Follow up: Liz, a dear friend of Mommy. Nanny. Guru. (Another former colleague turned stay at home mom) commented on this post (see comments), and sent us a picture of her experience.
We're so happy to get feedback from Liz and look forward to future guest posts written from her perspective of a (soon to be) mom of three under three!
You both inspired me to dig the paint out of our messy art supply closet along with some different texture brushes. We headed out to the table on the back porch so that we wouldn't have to worry about messes. The boys had fun painting even though they only stayed focused for a couple of minutes before returning to play with their tractors. ~LIZ H~
ReplyDeleteThank you Liz for your comment! I'm glad the boys had fun. Next time maybe you could let the boys use their tractors to paint with using the wheels, this would give them the opportunity to paint AND play with tractors :)
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