The totally fun zero mess art activity

Yesterday morning we tried out some great new kid's markers. They're a large size, perfect for little hands to grip, and are designed with a sturdy tip that can't be pushed inwards if they're pressed too hard on the paper.

 

Drawing with markers gave LB the chance to practice putting lids on and off. Something he dearly loves doing. With every lid he finds. All the time.

 I thought Little Bean would love this activity but it was met with limited success. He loved the drawing part but kept crying "Ewwww" every time he got ink on his hands. Out came the wet wipes and problem solved. Hmmm, maybe not. His cries became quite upset because there were still faint ink marks. 

 

After washing his hands for the third time, I'd had enough of trying to get him over his ink phobia for one day. I decided a cleaner art activity was in order. Enter one jug of water and a large paintbrush.  The neighbours had held a wedding reception - street party in our little laneway cul-de-sac the previous day and the gazebo was still up. Perfect for an outdoor activity. We set up under it and  "painted" the concrete laneway with water. As time went on, curious kids came out and had a look. Within 15 minutes, we had half a dozen kids "painting" with us. One of the kids even "painted" flower pots and her front gate. Loads of fun was had by all and there was zero mess to clean up. Just a few paintbrushes needing a quick rinse. This will be a regular activity I think.

One of my clearest and fondest memories from kindergarten is "painting" with water on the side wall of the school. I remember being so excited to go to play lunch because it meant that I could go and "paint". This activity would work well on many surfaces. Your kids could "paint" the house, the garden path, the driveway or you could even get them to "paint" (and wash) your car.

Art activity trays for toddlers

Little Bean went to his first Gymboree art class last week and loved it. The kids got to play with play dough and make collages. The first collage was a flower with seeds glued in the centre with colourful paper and foam pieces on the petals. They then drew around the flower with some really cool, soft, silky crayons from Crayola. I can't recall the product name but will find out and update this post later. Then the kids made a cone hat, covered it in glue and rolled it across a tray of feathers and pom poms. This class will definitely be a weekly activity for us.

I recently read online somewhere (I really must start taking better notes of where I find things online) about making up trays for art activities. It suggested putting the drawing paper in a tray so that your little one can not draw off the page and on to the table. Brilliant idea! So this week, I have made up several trays for Little Bean using crayons and stamps. The stamps were a bit hit. It also gave him ample opportunity to practice his latest word "Ewww". Whenever he got ink on his hand or the table, he'd point to it and say "Ewww" and ask for a wet wipe to clean it up.

Little Bean continues to be very ambidextrous. He was stamping with both hands at the same time.

Little Bean got very enthusiastic and had the tray sliding all over the place, so I would recommend placing  piece of rubber non-slip mat under the tray like we did. It worked a treat.

We will continue with the art trays for other activities such as painting and collages. We will also use the trays for play dough.

What we're doing this week

This week we've been playing with some of the art supplies and toys I bought online to keep Little Bean and his cousins amused on the holidays. LB got to make collages for the first time.

These are the single piece jigsaw puzzles I bought from A2Z Montessori online store in Australia. The previous puzzles I bought were too difficult and frustrated him so I went back to basics. He loves them.

This threading activity uses household items. Go here for more information.

He's worked out how to put the magnetic numbers on the fridge every time now.  He was getting mad because the wouldn't always stick. Once I showed him the magnets on the back and showed him they had to face the fridge, he understood and quickly got better at it.

Some of our art supplies: adhesive foam shapes, stickers and black art paper.

Little Bean's collages.

His 6 year old cousin's collages

 

 

His 12 year old cousin's collage and drawing.