Posts Tagged ‘Painting’
We love maps and we need wall art for the playroom in our new house. So we made some. I would love to say this project is easy but that would be a big fat lie. The painting is easy but the cutting is not. As you may notice below our contact paper on our Canadian one wasn’t pressed down perfectly and now Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are islands . Ooops. It was still a chance to talk about geography , look at maps and cover the poor beaten up kitchen table with paint .
- Gather your materials. You will need some pre prepared canvases ( we got ours at Walmart), some paint, dishes for the paint, sponges or bath poofs for painting, sharp fine scissors, painters tape, vinyl letters , contact paper, print outs of maps and patience if you are the one cutting.
- Start by talking about borders and why countries have them. For really young kids use your yard as an example of borders, for older ones try adding in how each country has it’s own government who governs only within those borders. If you have ever crossed a border with your kids talk about that. Choose which country to turn into art ,and print out an outline .
- Cut your contact paper So it’s slightly larger than your map. Tape your map to the paper on the backing side. I the taped it to my table with painters tape so it was stable when I cut it. I left one side not taped and rotated as I cut.
- When it’s all taped I peeled and stuck it to to canvas.
Press hard.
- Add the vinyl letters.
I asked my son “How do you spell USA?” and I got the sassiest teen eye roll as he pointed out the letters on the sheet. Not sure if I am proud or appalled. - Add paint to a dish or dishes if you are using multiple colors.
- Start painting.
I have discovered that when painting a resist painting like these with stickers, contact paper and vinyl you want to use sponges, bath poofs or other painting tools that are soft and unable to get under the stencil and lift it like a brush could. I use washable paint for this because I have kids doing it, but to make the finished product last longer you could use less kid friendly paints too. - We made Canada too – although the cutting was harder and I took some unintentional creative license with the borders , especially in the Maritimes. I turned it into a lesson as we compared our finished product with a real map. It ended up being a fun compare activity.
- Let dry, peel and reveal!
- These will be fantastic in the new playroom!
Books About Travel
Rooster’s Off to See the World 
Dodsworth in New York
How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World 
We love bugs and during the summer spend many late afternoons flipping over rocks and seeing what creepy crawlies scurry past. This activity is a great one for families with different abilities and ages because it’s the same supplies but everyone can participate. Of course my son had an elaborate story about an evil spider and super bee to go a long with the painting but my daughter was content with the simple task of making a mess.
- Gather your materials. You will need some plastic bugs , our little ones are from Lakeshore Learning and our big ones are from Dollar Tree. You will also need some paper , plate and paint.
- For young toddlers I would also suggest some painters tape to hold down the paper so they don’t make an even more amazingly big mess!
- Start by pouring the pain tin the plate.
- Dip your bug in and make some prints.
- My daughter was skeptical at first.
- My son not so much.
- I thought the big bugs would be sought after but both of them liked painting with the smaller ones best I think. This also let me sneak in a little exploration about big and little for my daughter.
- As well as allowing her to touch and explore the bugs we shelter her from in the garden .
- I also unintentionally let her explore cause and effect when she grabbed her gleaming white head band with a paint covered hand. Ooops. Still a few girly things to adjust to.
Books About Bugs
An Ant’s Day Off
Buzz
I Love Bugs!
Painting with an infant is messy. I don’t like using paint brushes with tiny kids because paint flings everywhere, they look like spoons so they tend to go straight in the mouth and even ones with thicker handles are hard for little hands. Instead using easy to wash plastic toys like these blocks are a great way to paint and explore .
- Gather your materials. You will need some paper, paint, blocks, plastic plate, painter’s tape and an eager baby.
- Start by using the painter’s tape to secure the paper. This is a must for us, for whatever reason my daughter has a serious fondness for paper. This keeps it as art instead of food.
- Pour some paint on the plate.
- Dip the block in and go for it.
- She examined it for a long time.
- Then started moving it around the paper. I took the other block and tapped it on the paper but she wanted to roll . It’s tempting to show babies and toddlers how to do things by holding their hands in yours and moving them, resist that urge when it’s a free exploration like this . Show them by example and then just narrate what they are doing. *( ETA – reader Brooke asked for an explanation about this and I want to make it clear that it’s not wrong to help your child do tasks by holding their hands , I was referring to free art explorations like this. My reasoning being that by letting them explore with their own motivation that they will direct their own play. I hope that clears it up ! Thanks Brooke!)
- She managed to get it up to her mouth but because the blocks are big not much made it in and was easy to wipe off.
With toddlers and preschoolers you can make fun shape prints with the blocks by slamming it down so if you have multiple ages this is a fun easy project for a rainy day.
Are you trying to get your kids outside as much as possible before the rain, snow and cold weather sets in? Or maybe you live somewhere warm that has just now burned off the heat of the summer and you are ready to enjoy the fall weather! I brought together some of our favorite outside activities for kids for you to try and enjoy while the weather co-operates!
Despite the warning to never play with your food I say PLAY! And learn of course. These are some of our favorite kid friendly crafts and activities with food we have done over the years. Yogurt painting below was a perfect introduction to finger painting for my son and years after first posting we still play grocery store in our kitchen!
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