I must be a slow learner because it took me two goes at raising toddlers to figure out that letting a toddler create art with paint need not be a humongous headache. I had to find a 'Magic Fix' that would make pulling out the paint and giving it a go worth my while. After a few experiments, I finally found a 'Magic Fix'. Follow a few simple rules and you too could actually end up with a masterpiece created by your very own darling.
RULE #1: Never paint indoors. Always in the garage or outdoors. This might seem quite obvious to you but it took me many disastrous attempts painting indoors to work it out!
RULE #2: Paint on the floor. This allows the toddler the freedom to be their own 'Jackson Pollock' and drizzle, pour, splash, squirt, slosh and maybe paint freely. I found that my toddler liked to use his feet to stamp and spread his paint around.
RULE #3: Use only TWO colors of paint. Add any more and you'll end up with a painting that's the color of MUD! Unless of course you would like a mud colored painting...
RULE #4: Mix the tempera paint with cornstarch and dish soap. This makes the paint much more manageable and tactile for the toddler. Besides that it makes washing up a breeze!
IMPORTANT: As you all know, toddlers do not have immense amount of concentration, so enjoy the moment while it lasts, the masterpiece will come together like fireworks and finish all too quickly. Be quick to pull away the masterpiece when you believe it has reached its maximum potential or else your little maestro might overwork his/her art.
I loved my toddlers painting so much that I framed it. IKEA frame of course. ENJOY!
Great when they're engrossed like that. Cute.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could say that he was engrossed long enough for me to at least make myself a cuppa but it was all over before I could've blinked!! being a dummy I gave him a glass jar to wash his brush, of course he topples it, it shatters, you get the picture. Yet I was glad for all the trouble...??? I did get a cute pic out of it.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have a garage or any outdoor space so all our painting goes on indoors. Which isn't actually too bad. My daughter sits next to the radiator (which is easily wipable) and gets on with it. She does all messy crafts in her nappy only. And is NOT allowed to wander away from the table without permission (although that last one is probably the least obeyed rule in history. We've done ok so far :-)
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Oh you are lucky, my son is such a daddy's boy and only listens to him(mostly because he isn't scared of me one little bit) so he manages to do the very opposite of everything I say! You made me laugh out loud with the nappy comment and my son too is very obedient in THAT department. Hope you saw that I visited your blog. It looks very good by the way.
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