Easy Christmas Sponge Stamping

This is a fun Christmas themed Painting activity and if you have some large paper you could re-use the child's beautiful Christmas Art as home made Christmas wrapping paper.
There are many benefits of making art from a young age but the most important thing is the process of creating.  These Easy christmas Stamps are reusable and provide lots of fun!

All you need are some washing up sponges, I didn't have a pack handy but I did have these scourers with sponges on them so they did the trick. Cut them into Christmas Decorations and provide some trays of paint to dip into. Then you can create and learn while having fun, discuss Christmas and what it means to your family or to the child and get them into the spirit ready for the happy holiday Season.

We did a Candy Cane, Christmas Tree, A present, A star and a circle as a Bauble.
Then we Dimples finished he rinsed them out, splashed them around in a bucket of soapy water and squeezed them clean, all ready to be re-used another day.
Cleaning them is part of the messy fun as well so dont forget to assign the little ones to that task as well.

 

Dimples enjoyed squishing the sponges into the paint and did some good disposition matching once he got into it, he used the star to go on top of the tree and the presents to go underneath.

I love doing this kind of fun with him because there is no right or wrong way to create. It is very personal and self soothing so it fosters independence and confidence; It is all about the process and how he wants to create. It's all beautiful in my eyes and its the fun making it that is most important.

 



Creating Art and Painting is a fun and easy young childhood activity, it allows the child freedom to create and use their imagination, it is a wonderful tactile experience, it strengthens their little hands and fingers, and did you know it enhances neural connections in the right hemisphere of the brain which is responsible for emotional regulation, intuition and creativity.
So grab some paint and have some stamping fun.

Happy Adventures :)

Extreme Outdoor Free Painting

 

This was an Outdoor open ended free-Paint activity that was stacks of FUN.
All You need is cardboard, a large flattened box or left over packing cardboard is big enough, Paint and a bucket of miscellaneous objects that can make prints with.

Dimples gathered some bits and pieces including cars, trucks, plastic animals with good feet for foot prints, some plastic tool pieces (bolts and spanners), Some duplo Lego blocks, plastic play dough/cookie cutters and a rolling pin. 
Experimenting with shapes:  Anything will do really, as long as it can get covered in paint & then soaked in water after the fun.

Prepare for mess!
It was a lovely day so Dimples got down to an old singlet and underwear, I put the cardboard out in the open on the grass with some plates full of different coloured paints knowing well and good that it would get messy and let him go.
If you are prepared for an easy clean up, then an easy clean up you will get.
He was very enthusiastic about his Art work, using his entire body to make the Art Piece.

Give complete control with a smile on your face.
He Started with the rolling pin, running it across the cardboard and experimented with the different items he had collected. Lego, tire tracks and a teenage mutant ninja turtle were the favourites until he realised HE was covered in paint and Mummy was smiling about it.
Then he decided it was time for some body painting.

As usual Hand prints and foot prints to to begin with. Dimples tried on different colours and I asked him to do different types of movements like the animals he has collected.
Experimenting with mixing colours, printing, stamping, body painting and large Gross Movements as he painted was the most fun with Paint that Dimples has had in a long while.

Stomp like a dinosaur, tip-toe fast like a lizard, crawl sideways like a crab, Hop like a Kangaroo, Slither like a snake.
It was physical fun painting as he got right into it jumping, prancing and dancing his way around every corner of his canvas which is what made his Art work even more beautiful in my eyes.

The Best painting is Extreme painting with No limits and with No Brushes.
I gave Dimples complete control of the paint and he found that he could squirt the glitter glue right across the cardboard like an "explosion"he told me. He enjoyed smearing it in and trying to splat more out over his toes.

Once he discovered the body Painting he didn't go back to the Lego prints or cookie cutter shapes.
He rolled around, crawled around, spun around, danced and hopped all over the cardboard then laid in it painting up his legs telling me that he too was changing colour.
With No restrictions he really expressed himself and enjoyed himself.

 

The cardboard became a rainbow of prints and shapes, smears and splat marks. Dimples did as well, almost camouflaging into the work of Art.
After all the mess, it was too easy to just put his still wet with paint clothes in the washing machine for a rinse and him in the bath (which turned a lovely crimson shade).
For the hour or so of fun he had and the delightful expressions on his face as he enjoyed himself I can handle a bit of paint mess, even if it meant getting splatted a bit myself.

Do you think your child would have this much fun rolling around in paint?
How do you take ART & CRAFT outdoors?

I'd love to have you share your answer to that question and any ideas you have with me on my face book page.
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Happy Adventures  :)