Art Party

My daughter wanted to have an art party for her birthday but I did not want to have 10-15 young children painting in my house so I postponed till summer time.  Here are a few of the pictures I was able to get during the chaos.  We had 11 kids between the ages of 2 and 10 (and three under 6 months). 

I had four different zones set up that the kids could work their way through.

1. The splatter zone  I used magnets to hang a plastic shower curtain on the side of the garage and put a blue tarp on the ground.  I used pie plates to hold paint.  There were a few different types of squishy balls set out on the tarp.  I taped a paper to the curtain and the kids dipped the balls in the paint and then threw them against their paper.  We had a water bucket there so that they could rinse their ball off between colors.  This was the only area that required constant hands-on help and supervision.

Warning:Paint clothes are a must, not just an apron, as the kids wind up to throw they some how spatter their entire back, shoulder, and hair with paint.

Here are some of the master pieces!

2. The paper roll zone  I unrolled a large section of paper down the sidewalk and set out a number of different objects that the kids could use to paint a picture. There were pie pans full of paint, cotton balls, Q-tips, stamps, sticks, and a wide variety of paint brushes.  The little ones spent more time here then at the bigger areas.

Finished product

3. The sidewalk chalk zone  I made sidewalk chalk paint (equal parts water and corn starch then add a couple drops of food coloring).  We tried using some of our glitter water color paint instead of food coloring but it did not turn out well so we just made a variety of colors with the food coloring. 

We started out with only four bowls but as the party was winding down all the kids ended up sitting on the sidewalk wanting to paint just a little more.  I brought out four more bowls and ended up using up a large box of cornstarch (good thing it's cheap).

4. Water-color rag zone   My husband hung a low clothes line from our garage to our shed.  The kids each got a white rag (I could not find any cheap white handkerchief's at Target).  I made up a few bottles of water-color spray paint (water and food coloring) and the kids used the spray bottles to decorate their rag.

Bottles from the Dollar Store

The kids did leave all of the items at my house to dry overnight.  The next day I brought everyone their splatter art pages and water-colored rags.  My daughter handed out small packages of crayons with a note attached thanking them for coming to her art party.

This was an awesome party.  All of the kids enjoyed it.  Having four different activity areas set up at the same time really helped.  We never had more than four kids at one activity at a time so it was easier for the adults to help the little ones.  Set up and clean up were not very difficult because everything was outside.  The supplies were cheap and we were able to use up some of the paint colors that my daughter rarely uses.  This is definitely going to be an annual event!

Pool Fun!

Pool time fun with 3 year-olds! 

My daughter is lucky enough to live across the street from her best friend who is only 6 months older than her so we get to invite him over whenever we come up with a fun new idea.  I was filling up the pool for my daughter when she asked if she could have balloons.  I started adding water balloons and she kept picking out other things she wanted.  By the time we had everything together it looked like too much fun to enjoy it by ourselves so we went and got her friend. 

Different size water balloons

Scoops, spray bottles, containers, boats, and ponies (of course) 

Foam Soap 

(Sadly, I missed getting any pictures of them playing with this)

Scooping and Pouring

"If you hold your cup close to my pourer you get more water." 

Balloon drop

Conversation about balloon drop. 

"The big balloons make better splashes!" "Yeah and when you put them high at your head."

They stayed busy until it was time for daddy to come home.  When he called to say he was on the way we developed a plan of attack.  The kids hid the water balloons behind their backs and waited at the gate for the perfect moment.  The balloons were really tough but daddy was a good sport and stood there fearfully as they threw each balloon multiple times. 

Note: I did warn dad to leave all his electronics in the car because there was a surprise awaiting him.

Playdoh Sculptures

We have started adding playdoh sculptures to a lot of our learning themes.  If my daughter wants to learn about insects that day we will pull out her insect flashcards and give her some playdoh.  She can use the cards as a guide to copy insects that she thinks are interesting or she can use the cards to give her inspiration to create an all new bug. 

We do help her a little with her sculptures right now but she is gaining the fine motor skills to be able to roll out and squish her playdoh into the shapes she wants so in no time she will be able to complete these on her own.

Play is messy!

Sometimes play is just about making a mess!

Most kids love making a mess.  Scattering things across the floor, rolling in the mud, and painting on themselves is just so exciting.  Remember that while they are making these messes they are learning and having fun.

It really is okay if your child ends up with blue stained hands for a couple of days.  They will think its funny.  As a bonus you can use this time to teach them better hand washing techniques because they will easily be able to see the areas that they miss scrubbing.  Who says that you cannot learn about cleanliness while getting dirty?

If the thought of walking around with a child with marker covered arms scares you than make sure to only use washable markers and wash it off right away.  Tip- Keep baby wipes handy so that you can wipe off the marker while they are still working on their project.

Remember that kids will make a mess so prepare your space accordingly.  Most parents wouldn't dream of letting their child do a massive paint project in the living room but instead of having them miss out on big messy projects during the winter learn to relax a little.  Cover the floor with plastic sheeting or a table cloth and only use washable paint/supplies.  I'm sure that a little washable paint is not the worst thing we all have had to clean out of the carpet.

Growing Things

My daughter loves getting dirty so any reason to stick her fingers in dirt is welcomed.  Daddy helped her pick out some seeds at the store and then they planted them together.  She was given the job of watering them and watching how tall they got.  She was so excited when some of the seeds started popping up a couple days later.  The other day she was excited to announce that some of the plants were touching the lid so she had to take it off.

I loved this project because she got to spend some quality time with daddy but she also learned how to be responsible for something and is seeing her dedication blossom.

Pipe Cleaners, Pom Poms, and Free Play

It drives me crazy to have toys scattered across the whole room but I have learned that sometimes it is necessary for my daughter to use the whole room to create or act-out what she wants.  This week my daughter got out all of her pom poms and pipe cleaners; creating chaos in her bedroom.  When I saw it my first reactioon was to say "What a mess!  You better make sure you clean all of this up before dinner."  But I paused long enough to see my daughter in deep concentration building an imaginary world that I could not see. 

She was carefully twisting up one end of the pipecleaners and laying them out in a row that spanned the length of her room and then started wrapping around the edge of the wall.

I sat down next to her and asked her what she was making.  Like usual she said "I don't know".  So I asked what the pipecleaners were supposed to be and she said "Trees I think".  Then I asked about the hundred plus pom poms that covered her carpet and she told be that they were "bugs or maybe seeds". 

It is fasinating to watch a child create things.  A lot of time they are not even sure what they are creating till it's done.  Or, like with my daughter, one thing turns into something else which turns into something else.

By the time she was done playing (about 1.5 hours later) she had told me about trees and bugs (or seeds), flowers and rain, lollipops and M&Ms, snakes and eggs, and finally settled on dandelions and "the stuff you blow".

Painting with Ice

Painting with Ice Cubes

My daughter and I filled an ice cube tray with water and then added food coloring.  In the first four wells I let her put in just one drop of one color (red, green, blue, and yellow) and then let her mix and match colors and number of drops in the remaining wells.  We put them in the freezer for 1 hour.

I put a large piece of white paper in our plastic art tray and then let her dump the ice cubes into the tray (it is cold outside so we are inside using a tray during the summer we take this project outside).

It takes the ice a while to melt and it stains her hands for the rest of the day but it keeps her busy and she loves it.  Next time we do it inside I am just going to give her a few ice cubes instead of all 12 because the paper gets saturated before all her ice cubes have melted.