Process over Product

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It was a lovely late Winter’s afternoon, the sun was out, and it was much too nice to stay inside. So I set up some paper and challenged my daughter JJ (3 years and 2 months) to find a few things that we could use to paint with from the backyard. Here’s what she came up with.

Two pebbles, two big sticks, a twig, a piece of bark, three types of dried leaves, a gum nut, a seed pod, and ummm, a pink peg.

I used a few tablespoons of green finger paint, which is a little bit thicker than normal paint. Because we are fairly new to painting with unconventional tools, I kept to just one colour, so she would be able to focus on the process rather than the finished art “product”.

Nature comes in all shapes and sizes, which can make it a bit tricky manipulating each object: choosing what part will be the “handle”, whether something should be pressed or rolled. All excellent natural learning opportunities.

We kept a box of wet wipes handy to clean JJ’s fingers as we went. It’s not that I don’t like her to get dirty, but rather JJ’s a bit sensitive to putting her fingers into goo-like substances. She likes to clean her hands as she goes. This is one of the reasons why we do a fair bit of sensory play in our house – frequent exposure helps her to explore these sensations in a non-confronting way. I gently explain to her that we’re cleaning her hands because that’s what she wants to do, but that Mummy doesn’t mind if she gets her hands all dirty.

When JJ had finished painting with her collected items, she looked at her hands, then looked at the paint, then looked at the paper.

And then something fun happened…

Mess, mess, glorious mess!

Doesn’t JJ look happy?!

And here’s the finished masterpiece! Hanging up on our fence to dry…

You can’t really see the effects from all the collected objects – mostly because JJ finger painted over all the imprints. But then we never set out with this end in mind.

Instead it was all about having fun in the late afternoon sunshine, painting with tools that we don’t normally use, and getting a bit messy. Just playing. Just because. Because #playmatters.

Would you like some more backyard painting inspiration? Then you might like to check out these posts:9 Reasons to Gather Natural Art & Craft Materials

Painting with Nature by Laughing Kids Learn
Love Rocks by Laughing Kids Learn
Nature Art by Danya Banya
Five Fun Activities to do with Ten Tiny Things – book by Meg McKinlay by My Little Bookcase
Painted Leaves by A Little Learning for Two
Leaf Art by A Little Learning for Two
Outdoor Fairy Tree by A Little Learning for Two
Nature for Kids: Painting Seed Pods by Wildlife Fun 4 Kids
Using Nature as your Canvas by Wildlife Fun 4 Kids

 

And we’re always pinning fun ideas too:

Follow Danya Banya | Go Science Girls’s board Nature Art, Craft and Play for Kids on Pinterest. Follow Danya Banya | Go Science Girls’s board Art for Kids on Pinterest. Follow Danya Banya | Go Science Girls’s board Danya Banya on Pinterest.
 

xx Danya

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This is a simple Easter activity for toddlers – Easter Egg painting!

But I thought I’d change it up a bit and provide a different tool to our usual paint brushes.

Paint paper Easter Eggs with cotton tips

This time I offered cotton tips. Or depending on what country you live in, they could be called cotton swabs, cotton buds, ear buds or Q-tips. You know – the things that are perfectly shaped for sticking in your ears even though that’s exactly what you’re not supposed to do with them….

So I set out an invitation to play – three colours of finger paint (which is slightly thicker than normal paint) with a cotton tip in each colour, and some colour paper that I’d pre-cut to a rough Easter Egg shape. Then I asked JJ, my 2 year, 9 month old daughter, to have a look.

JJ loves to paint, so she came straight over, and let out a “ohhh” when she saw the cotton tips. It’s amazing how one small change to the tool or medium instantly intrigues toddlers.

At first she painted how I’d imagined she would – with just one cotton tip at a time.

Toddler Easter Egg Painting
But very quickly progressed to one cotton tip for each hand. Ambidextrous!
Painting with both hands

Which morphed into two or three cotton sticks being bunched together, back in her dominant hand.

Cotton tip painting

Once there was sufficient paint on the paper, she started to notice the texture that the cotton sticks made in the paint. Pretty!

Making textures

When she moved on to the next egg, JJ put her fist into the paint, and declared that she was “knuckle painting”. Which is all good, as the cotton tips were there as a prompt, rather than a restriction. And of course, knuckles turned into fingers which then turned into whole hands. Nothing quite like the sensation of oooey gooey finger paint smearing is there…

Knuckle, finger and hand painting
get messy!

And are her finished Easter Eggs, drying on the balcony. Beautiful!

Painted paper easter eggs
Easter eggs painted with cotton tips, knuckles, fingers and hands using finger paint

xxx Danya

 

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Are you looking for a quick and easy activity that will entertain your toddler?

Patty Pan Wall

Pasting may just be your answer. This keeps JJ (our 2 year 2 month old) entertained for about half an hour each night, several times a week. It still requires some supervision, but it’s the kind of hands-off passive supervision that is lovely at the end of the day. When Mr Banya has had a busy day at work, he’s quite happy to sit down with a cup of tea and watch over JJ while she pastes. And then I can grab half an hour to myself!

The key is to spend 5 minutes in advance gathering supplies, and then have these supplies always readily on hand. Even better if your toddler can access them themselves.
  • A small toddler craft table (with optional plastic sheet / table cloth under the table)
  • Toddler chair (optional – my daughter tends to stand)
  • Stack of old recycling paper
  • Container of about 15 or so small cupcake patty pans, pre-separated
  • Container of cut up bits of colourful paper (I like to upcycle old wrapping paper)
  • Glue stick or pot of clag glue (or both)
  • A couple of books of little stickers from the $2 discount shop.
Then all you need to do is ask if she wants to do some pasting and help take the lid off the glue stick / pot of paste. She can get the rest of the supplies out herself and start gluing away!

That’s a Muesli Bar Cake in her bowl. Oh and yes, she is sporting a tie “tail”. 🙂

Of course, do watch out that your toddler isn’t eating the glue / paste. Even though it may be non-toxic, you still don’t want it consumed in large amounts! But don’t worry if she gets some glue / paste on the table, on her clothes, on her hands, etc – it is easy to wash off. It’s better to let her make a bit of a mess, than to be hovering over her with a wet wipe and stifle her.

And you know what the best bit is? She gets to play independently, explore her creativity, exercise her fine motor skills, and feel proud of the “art” that she’s produced all by herself.
 
(This stash intentionally doesn’t include things like textas, markers, crayons, paints etc, because I like JJ to have to ask for these.  She requires more attentive supervision when using these things at the moment, lest she starts to draw on the walls…)
xx Danya
PS: Fun fact: Those with keen eyes might notice that this art is the faded image behind the words Danya Banya in my blog header.

 

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