Mommy, Monet and Me! Letter D, E, F

 Dot Art, Easel Painting, and Fingerpainting

We are catching up after missing a few weeks of MMM.  So today we did art that started with the letters D, E, and F.  Our activities were really simple today, but so fun.  We had a lot of sweet kids making a lot of art!

Dot Art

Materials: Bingo Markers, Paper
This is a simple activity for a rainy day.  I love bingo markers.  They are easy for kids to use.  Children of almost any age can enjoy stamping and creating designs using these markers.  Another option if you don't have bingo markers is to use pencil erasers on a stamp pad.  This creates a similar effect, but is smaller.  If your child is working with a small tool like a pencil eraser, give them a smaller piece of paper so that their work will fill the space.

Easel Painting

Materials: Easel, watercolors, water, paper

Children love to paint on easels.  It seems so grown up!  You can find inexpensive table easels at thrift stores.  This is a great open ended activity.  Simply teach your children how to dip the brush in the water then paint and let them paint away.  Watercolor paints are a great option for young artists.

It is important to let your children paint freely.  You will be amazed at their creativity, and how much they love being able to choose their own colors and experiment with the paint.  Let them learn through trial and error about mixing colors, and using the water. 


Fingerpainting

Materials: Purchased or homemade finger paint, paper

Not all kids love to finger paint, or to get their hands messy, but make sure that you give them a chance to try.  Often kids will be more willing to try finger painting when they see their parents try.  If your child loves getting messy save this activity for the summer and let them finger paint outside windows, or sliding glass doors.  Finger painting is also a great way for children to learn about color mixing and to see the color change before their eyes. 

Next week the letters G, H, I!

Thank you so much for all the love and support that has been given to us at the loss of our sweet son, grandson, and nephew Jonah Hall.  We are grateful for the love of the wonderful moms and children that come to Mommy, Monet and Me!

Mommy, Monet and Me! Letter C

 Crayons, Carpet, and Corn Syrup

This week at Mommy, Monet and Me we had such a great group of toddlers learning about the letter C!  We created art with color changing crayons, made carpet prints, and painted with colored corn syrup!

Color Changing Crayons

Materials: Old broken crayons, muffin tins

Making your own color changing crayons is really easy. You basically just take old crayons and melt them down in muffin tins or any other kind of heat proof mold.  Once the crayons are melted you let them cool and they become solid again.   Here is a link to the specifics on time and temperature for melting.

TIP: Soak your crayons in hot water to remove the paper, instead of trying to peel each crayon individually.  I don't know why I never thought of this before, but it worked like magic. 

TIP: Find an eager little helper to help you smash the crayons!  I put the crayons in a thick plastic bag and then let my niece do the smashing. She loved it.

Carpet Prints

Materials: Carpet pieces, paint, rollers, tray, paper.  

Kids get really excited when you tell them they get to paint on carpet.  It seems like they are breaking all the rules.  You can get carpet scraps or samples from local carpet stores.  This activity is more fun when you have a variety of kinds of carpet.   We used paint rollers to apply the paint to the carpet squares and then pressed the painted side onto our paper.  The results are pretty cool.  When you are done you can wash the carpet squares in the sink and leave them in the sun to dry and use again.



Corn Syrup Painting

Materials: light corn syrup, food coloring, paintbrushes or q-tips, cardstock

To make corn syrup paint simply combine a small amount of corn syrup and food coloring in a container.  You can use a paintbrush or q-tip to apply the paint to a thick paper like card stock.  The paper needs to be thick to handle the syrupy paint. 

Why paint with corn syrup?  When it dries it stays shiny.  It swirls together beautifully without getting too muddled and brown.  It is totally edible...for those little ones who like to put everything in their mouth.  It washes off surfaces and hands pretty easily with a little warm water.  The food coloring can dye clothes so better to wear a smock or strip them down and let them get messy!

Hope to see you next week for the letter D!