Outdoor Body Painting

We have been playing outside a lot lately and like most all things there are times when you need to switch it up. Thanks to a very large piece of butcher paper that came stuffed in one of our packages in the mail I got the idea of painting outside. Initially body painting was not the plan but as so many things with children their ideas are always outside the box and letting them explore things organically and coming up with a different uses is always half the fun.

What I set up:

1. a large piece of butcher paper
2. a few colors of finger paints (make sure they are washable before getting started) 
3. two buckets with a small amount of water
4. paint brushes

I didn't give them much instruction but rather let them explore. They apprehensively started painting on their toes after a few marks on the paper.Once I followed what they were thinking  I made sure they knew I was 100% okay with that idea (today). That was all they needed to run free. Bellies, faces, hands and toes were all slathered in paint by the end and ironically very little ever made it to the paper.

The best part was the cleaning. I filled up their water table and had them clean both themselves and theirs tools. Not only was this a fun activity but they also got to be a part of the cleaning process which made them twice as proud. I really cannot explain how much joy I have to see these little ones explore art in different ways.

Leaf Printing and Palm Sunday

Sometime last week while playing outside I got the idea of doing a Palm Sunday craft that involved leaf printing. We went out and collected a few leaves and set ourselves up for an easy craft.

Materials needed
*green construction paper
*paints (we used light green, green, and yellow)
*collected leaves
*paint brush

There wasn't a whole lot of direction with this one. I was more curious to see how they were going to use their tools. Bear started painting the leaves themselves and later started stamping them on the paper while Wolf finger painted more and explored the leaves later. It was a very easy open ended project that  every kid will do differently.

I  later decided to cut out a donkey out of soft cardboard (cereal box) and have them paint it brown and cut the leaf print into a palm shape. I taped the donkey to the palm leaf and 'poof' you've got yourself a whole Palm Sunday craft.

Cardboard picture frame and Giveaway (closed)

As a child and even to this day I have been fascinated with how things are made or how things work. When I was little I have vivid memories of  watching Mr. Rogers' crayon factory tour and thinking it was  the greatest thing ever. When I was recently sent a few Curiosity Quest DVDs I was pretty excited. If you haven't heard of Curiosity Quest it is a family show that airs on PBS. Kids submit things they are curious about and host Joel Greene goes out and answers it a very hands on unscripted way. It sounded right up my alley. 

Here's what I loved about the show. I appreciate that although it is a kids show it engages the whole family, I was entertained and actually learned a few things along the way. Joel is a great host, he is  engaging and friendly but not talking to my kids through the screen (i.e. Blues Clues, Dora type shows). Bear totally loved it. (We don't always watch TV so it is nice to have a few quality shows I use as a special treat from time to time). You can be inspired and actually opens a dialog between your kids.

We watched the Family Recycling episode from their CQ goes Green series. I was automatically interested in scaling this down to something that made sense to the boys. Here is what we came up with.

                                            Upcycled cardboard box picture frames

What you need: cardboard box, scissors, glue, scraps of paper or paint, masking tape

1. I sketched out and cut the shape of the frame and measured and cut out the center according to the size of my picture. My picture was 4x6 so I cut the center half an inch smaller all around (3.5x5.5). 

    2. I had a few scrapes of construction paper that I tore into small pieces and had B glue around the frame 

      

I also had W finger paint his frame since that is easier for him to do.

Once dry I cut out a small square of cardboard to stick to the back I tried glue but later realized that it was hard to get the picture in once dry. I opted for placing my photo inside the frame first and then taping the back with painters tape since it can be easily removed if I choose to change the picture.

3. If you have takeout restaurant magnets you can glue one on the back and hang it on your fridge, or you can glue some ribbon to hang. 

I love that these can be great holiday gifts for the family made by your little ones and even better that it is all recycled material. 

I have even better news. Curiosity Quest also sent me two extra DVDs to giveaway to one lucky reader. These are great gifts and stocking stuffers so it's a perfect time for it. Good Luck! The winner will be announced here December 12th. Sorry, USA and Canada residents only. 

For more information and list of episodes be sure to check out their site. Just click on the image below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
**This is a sponsored post and giveaway. All opinions were my own and would only recommend things that I would sincerely use on my own**


UPDATE 12/11: Congratulations to Jamie R. Please send me your info at cuteandpeculiar (at) gmail

The Art Process {In Pictures}

This scene was from a few mornings ago. It pretty much made my heart melt. Their finished work is proudly displayed on our easel in our living room.

On the Farm- Milking a Cow

Over the weekend I pulled out our farm animals and barn toys. The boys have had a lot of fun playing with them and I can see Bear's imagination growing by the second as he pretends to feed the animals and have his trains carry the animals along. 

When I worked at the preschool I came up with this activity (at least I think it's original) and it worked so well I was excited to try it with the boys. It is a way to teach your kids not only the basic concept of how to milk a cow but also it teaches them how to sign the word MILK in ASL (HERE is the link to what the sign looks like). 

You will need

1. a latex glove (this will be the utters) 
2. watered down white paint (milk)
3. a pin or small sharp object
4. something to contain the mess (i used a casserole dish)

First of all, you are going to want to teach them about cows and milk. Here are a few things I used

• cows make milk
• we can drink cows milk 
• cows milk comes out of their utters

We read a few books and watched a YouTube video on how to milk a cow by hand. All the while having him imitate the hand motion of milking.

When we were all set up. I pricked a hole in the tips of two of the gloves fingertips. Then I filled it up with the watered down white paint. You could at this point tie the top of the glove in a knot so it won't spill everywhere. I only had one glove and wanted to be able to refill it once it was empty. So I held it from the top while the boys worked.

 Have your little one pretend to milk the cow over your container. At first we had a piece of paper inside the dish to attempt to make a finished art piece but the paint was so thin that it just soaked through the paper. We ditched the paper and kept working. 

The Results: This project has not failed me yet. Bear understood that milk comes from cows, and we freshened up on our "milk" sign and both the boys enjoyed this whole process. Bear splashed in the "milk" for a while and had to be reminded that it was paint and we really couldn't drink it. 

Afterwards we cleaned up and enjoyed some homemade cookies and a  real glass on milk. Not a bad morning. 

Birds of a feather

We started our morning with breakfast and some art. The boys were in exceptionally good spirits and eager to get dirty. This project is simple, all you need are some paints, paper and some feathers (plumes if you want to be fancy). 

The great thing about this project is it gets better as the time goes on. The feathers start sticking together  and sticking to your fingers as you go on painting. Bear was not only creating art but experiencing a whole new texture at the same time. I have to say that sticky, paint filled feathers made him giggle and get frustrated all the same time. As you can see W only used his feather to paint for a total of two seconds before attempting to eat his paint. 

They both spent the rest of their morning giggling and getting messy. Afterwards we hung out paintings to dry. Look at Bear's face in the last image! He was so proud of his work.

More leaf activties

       

       

       

   Well fall is officially upon us. How exciting!!! I have yet another leaf activity to share with you. (what can I say...we have been taking a lot of walks and leaves are free. It's a win win people!!!) This time it is from The Artful Year: Autumn crafts and recipe e-book.

Our first project we decided to make was her Fall Leaf Suncatchers. As you can see Bear was really focused on his work here. I mean seriously look at those chubby toddler hands at work. So cute. (okay doting mommy moment over). The results were lovely and I especially liked the fact that it was a craft that Bear could easily make.

If you are looking for Autumn activities to do with your little ones this season this e-book is well worth the money. With 78 pages of lovely pictures displaying each activity it is as much eye candy as it is instructional. There are so many great ideas. I have been reading the Artful Parent for some time now and am excited to be an affiliate for such a great book. For a sneak peek and info on how to purchase just click on the image above or on the sidebar. I can't wait to get started on a few of these.

Fall Leaf Confetti {Kids Co-op}

As I mentioned HERE we have been really into nature walks lately. We have been collecting a ridiculous amount of leaves, but what to do with them? Crunchy leaf confetti/glitter (I really don't know what to call it)  of course. 

First I placed all of our leaves in a shallow baking dish and let B make a big crunchy mess (this was the highlight of this project). I made sure to take out the stems and veins that you couldn't crunch and  some of the leaves that were not dry enough. We crunched them up as best we could with our hands. I think that maybe a mortar would have worked better or maybe even a food processer to make it extra fine.

I placed our leaf confetti in a salt shaker. We slathered our paper with glue. (Yes, slathered. There is no other word to describe a toddler with glue) and shook our confetti bottle over it. It seemed to work okay but as I mentioned I would have made it finer in retrospect. B started getting impatient with the bottle and decided to just pour it over the glue with  his hands. Works for me. 

The results are really cool, you actually get to see all the various shades of colors the  leaves had. I let it dry and then went over the top of it with craft glue to seal the leaves a little bit more. I also went back and cut out the paper into a leaf shape but you could leave it as is. For older kids I think it would look really neat if you draw with the glue and use the leaves as a glitter project. 

Have your paint and eat it too *Wee Can Too**

If you follow me on Twitter (@cuteandpeculiar) you know how excited I was to receive our Wee Can Too paint. If you are not familiar with Wee Can Too they are an all natural, vegan, edible paint specifically aimed to babies and toddler. As I have mentioned before W is still very oral and most of his art projects end up in his tummy. I was so thrilled to hear that with Wee Can Too paint that is 100% okay. SWEET! I host an art group at my house from time to time and it is so reassuring to know that I am able to offer such a safe product for even the youngest artist. (once they are eating solids of course). 

I had to try them out the minute we got them. The first product to sample was the Baby Finger Paint.  It calls for equal parts water and paint mixed in a separate container. ( I ended up using more water than this to make the paint more spreadable. The texture is a bit grainy but I was so pleased with the pigment in the paints especially the yellow. Both the boys loved it and I was so excited to not have to worry about W eating it. I was also very surprised by how much paint you get from such a small amount. I used a little less then a tablespoon of each paint color and that was more then enough paint for both the boys. I still have a few products that I received and will let you know how those work out as well.  I can't wait to try them. 

**paint courtesy of Wee Can Too all opinions were my own**

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