Must Love Babies

Valentine's Heart Resist Painting

Looking for a cute Valentine's painting project for your preschooler? I saw this project originally at Hands On As We Grow and thought it was perfect for our kids. So while I certainly can't claim originality for this idea, I did try to expand on it as part of our homeschool preschool curriculum.

Now lest anyone frown at me for using a technique like resist painting with preschoolers (some say it inhibits creativity), let me say that I am a process over product person. The main point was to explore painting with different non-brush materials and helping my girls get over their fears of getting dirty! At the same time, we had talked about making some decorations for the upcoming Valentine's Day holiday, so when I saw this project, I figured it could kill two birds with one stone. This project underscored the idea of heart shapes and the colors pink, red, purple and white being representative of Valentine's Day, which we had previously discussed. We also discussed the difference in paper orientation (Josie chose landscape and Caroline chose portrait), and we talked briefly about the term "negative space" and that white is the absence of color. Those were pretty much above their heads but I wasn't worried about mastery, just exposure. So although some people think the resist technique gives too many parameters for a creative preschooler, I happen to think it is a fun project on its own merits and can be a great part of a well rounded art curriculum! The basic questions I ask myself about preschool art projects are:

1) does it encourage creative thinking or practice?

2) does it teach a skill or concept?

3) does it expose the child to a new material or technique?

4) is it challenging, yet not frustration-creating?

5) is it tactile?

6) is it FUN?

If you can answer yes to most of those, it is probably a green light!

Anyway, here are the materials we used. Just use whatever you have on hand. I didn't have fancy rollers or rods but I did have a paper towel roll waiting to be recycled, so I cut that in two and used it. I also added Q-Tips, cotton balls, a skewer broken in half and an old rag as vehicles for the paint. We used painter's tape for the resist portion.

Obviously I did the hearts. There is no way the kids could have done this without becoming completely frustrated, which defeats the purpose. They used the leftover bits of tape to stick around the paper where they wanted.

The rag proved to be the most effective in covering the paper in paint.

Using the skewer to scratch the paint before it dried

The finished painting, before removing the tape...

... and after. We "framed" the paintings on their choice of colored contruction paper. They both chose black. :|

Now that they have gotten some exposure to the resist painting, I think I'll remove the parameters and have them do it again, letting them rip the tape and create their own design one hundred percent. Then they can choose their own colors... I am excited about how those will turn out! In the meantime, the girls are very proud to have their paintings be part of our Valentine's Day decoration!

Rainbow Party, Complete with Rainbow Cake

This sudden warm burst of weather we are having in this part of the country has made me long for spring. Not just wish for it, L-O-N-G for it. Both my kids' birthdays are in the late spring, and last year we did it up for Josie's birthday. It was my first attempt at doing a "theme" for a kids' party, and it was actually really fun!

We chose 'rainbow theme' because at the time, Josie was majorly into rainbows:

The balloon rainbow needed a little tweaking but guests were arriving, so it had to do. You could also skip the helium and hang them from the ceiling in an arc formation. I made the banner from cardstock with 2 holes punched in the top, rainbow themed scrapbook papers, and some twine.

You can kind of see some of the decorations we used on the walls in the background. We got most of our decorations at Birthday Express.

The food was by far the most fun part of the planning! Here are some of the things we made:

Rainbow Chip Cookies, using the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and mini M&Ms instead of chocolate chips. (Yeah, these were gone in no time!)

 

Rainbow Fruit Skewers (strawberries, mandarin oranges, pineapple, kiwi, blueberries and red grapes).

 

Rainbow Rice Krispie Treats. For each layer, just melt 1/2 tbsp butter and 3/4 c. mini marshmallows in a nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. When it's melted together, add drops of food coloring, one at a time, until it is the color you want, then stir in a cup of cereal. Mix until well incorporated, press into a lightly buttered square Pyrex dish using a buttered spatula (or your buttered fingers, which is what I did). Repeat with all colors, spreading each layer as evenly over the last one as you can. Let cool and cut.

 

Rainbow Tinted Ice Cubes, just a drop or two of food coloring in the water, stirred with a toothpick.

 

Rainbow Party Gumballs, 99 cents at CVS for a bag.

 

Rainbow Party Straws. Got these at our grocery store. There was one odd tan straw in there.??

And then, the Piece de la Resistance, THE CAKE. We lit the candle...

... and Josie got nervous and cried. She hates the birthday song.

But she settled down once we switched gears and just wished her a very dry, nonmusical Happy Birthday.

The thing I loved most about this cake is that it looks like a giant, regular old white cake, but the rainbow sprinkles hint at what's inside...

The RAINBOW!!

 
 

Between the strawberries, the rainbow surprise and the sheer size of the cake, Josie was in awe!

(If you would like the actual directions, complete with some indispensible tips on getting a perfect rainbow cake, click on How To Make a Rainbow Cake.)

Our rainbow party was a big success, and really not hard to do with a little advance planning. Give it a try!

Down By the River

What's fun, free and something that the dog can be in on, too? Playing in the river!

We live off the Rappahannock River, and in all our time here, we have never gotten over there to hang out. We think about it all the time, we drive by and see people tubing, sunbathing, cooking out, swimming, etc. but I don't know -- we just never have actually made it over there ourselves somehow.

Today we wanted our dog Stevie to be in on the fun since we feel like she is left out a lot lately. So the five of us headed down to a popular spot on the river and had at it. The girls instantly found rocks to throw and see how big of a splash they could make. My husband took Stevie off her leash and let her splash around, chasing rocks he threw. She was in heaven.

Until the lifeguard came over and ruined her fun by insisting she be leashed. It is hard to run through the water chasing a rock when you are tethered to a five-foot leash. I understand the kid was just doing his job, but almost no one was at the beach, and the couple people who were there were far away. Really, he couldn't have looked the other way for a few minutes? Ah well, at least she got a bit of time and some time outside the house.

The girls got soaked in their clothes -- I didn't pack any extras since I doubted they would even venture in ankle-deep. They kept squatting down to dig up rocks in the river bed, and before we knew it, their shorts were soaked. It was a lost cause so we just let them go for it. We decided to embrace the -- uh -- country-ness of it all and we let them ride home in only a diaper. Josie is really a nudist at heart (and Caroline's not much better) so they were really loving the breeze on the trip home.

The girls have talked about the river all afternoon, so we know we'll have to go back -- this time in bathing suits. Maybe we can find a secluded spot with no lifeguard to let the dog off the leash for a little bit. And maybe Mommy will even venture in past her toes (I have a thing about slimy river beds). Maybe.

Glow Stick Bath

It has been insanely hot outside these last several days, like stupid-hot. As a result, we haven't been able to hit any outdoor playgrounds, play for very long out back or go for a walk. The girls have been going a little stir-crazy, and so has their mom. We needed something to break up the monotony.

I saw this post from Play at Home Mom, a website devoted to some very hands-on learning play ideas. I really like the website a lot, but be prepared to get down and dirty -- it is not for the faint-at-heart! Many of their ideas involve paint, tarps, sand, water, food coloring, tarps and more tarps. But this idea was so easy and not messy at all, and thrilled our girls to no end.

GLOW STICK BATH

Ingredients:

• Glow Sticks
• Bath
• Kid(s)

(I got my glow sticks in the Target Dollar Spot, a pack of 2 for $1. Play at Home Mom claims though that you can get them even cheaper at the dollar store or Michaels.)

Step 1 - Bathe children as usual

Step 2 - Fire up the glow sticks

Step 3 - Throw them in the bath with children

Step 4 - Enjoy the fun and smiles

Both our girls really liked the Glow Stick Bath! You can totally put the glow sticks in before bathing your kids... Josie can be funny about these things, so we saved the glow sticks until the end in case she freaked out. At least that way, she would have already accomplished the 'cleanliness' portion of the bath. But she didn't freak at all, in fact she totally loved it! She was all about that blue glow stick, whereas Caroline was all about quantity -- she held on to the other 5 glow sticks like they were buried treasure she had discovered.

This made the bath portion of the night such a relaxed, cool experience for all of us. They held on to those glow sticks until it was time for bed. We put them in the freezer (the glow sticks, not the children) in the hopes that they would have a little glow left tomorrow. I can tell you one thing, if I can get those glow sticks at an even lower price, we'll be having Glow Stick Baths on the regular!

It also occurred to me that this might be a way to help kids overcome a fear of the dark. Neither of my girls have struggled with this (knock on wood) but we did turn all the lights out for them. There was plenty of light with 6 mini glow sticks that they could see everything that was going on. This might be one way to help a child with a fear of the dark adjust and be exposed to dark rooms.

Such a cool idea, cheap and SUPER easy with a big payoff... try it, you'll be glad you did!

Side note: make sure your child is always supervised with the glow sticks. Not sure what chemicals make them glow, but I am certain they don't belong in a child's mouth!