Salad Spun Solar System - Extreme Paint

Apparently Pluto isn't important any more?
I know I learnt this stuff at school but my memory has failed me.
When Dimples got his Tag reading system on his 4th birthday I also got him a solar system booklet, he loves it and often plays, well "reads" by himself so it shouldn't have been a surprise when he told me that Venus was the hottest planet.
Silly me jumped in and said "isn't Mercury the one closest to the sun" well yes but Dimples was quick to tell me Venus is hottest because its cloud keep the heat in.

This conversation lead to my 4 year old teaching me all these things about our solar system that his tag reader had taught him. Fancy That! Then this lead to putting together a large floor puzzle we had and pulling out a space poster with matching stickers then some extended learning through Extreme Painting; The Salad Spinning technique.

Using a salad spinner, some circle paper and paint. We put the paper in with the right colours on top, shut the lid and spun. Dimples though that was the best part, he was rapidly spinning the planets around with wide open eyes telling me this one is going to be awesome! This one is going to be the best, I am spinning it so so very fast. Its a pretty easy painting technique and all the mess is confined in the salad tub making for easy clean up. We went through pointing out the planets on the floor puzzle, the tag reader diagram, the poster and then the ones we put in the salad spinner reading all the facts as we went. Dimples really engaged in the process, even to the extent of repeating anything I read to him.

All the Salad Spun Planets were put out in order and he set out his own solar system drawing rings around Saturn and the asteroid belt between Mars & Jupiter. Saturn and Earth worked the best in the salad spinner, it works best with running blobs of paint and with some even spread over your planet otherwise the paper can end up flying up the side of the salad bowl.

I think I learnt more doing this then I did at school, or my memory has failed me. One thing I noticed was the Pluto wasn't even on any of the solar system info anymore, apparently it is a dwarf planet with several others.

Happy Adventures

Window painting - washable stained glass

I love to paint.
Dimples not so much, but he loves to make mess.
I'd much rather sit calm and focused while doing a painting as a means of relaxation but that is not on the cards with Mr. Dimples.
His idea of painting is all (mainly splatting or hand printing) or nothing.

To satisfy his messy play urge and my love of painting, in the past I've intertwined the two into some pretty fun activities, we've done

Splat painting

Extreme outdoor painting

Bath painting

Glowing bath paints

This time it's window painting,

I made some washable window paint by mixing together paint (kids washable) & washing liquid.
I then put masking tape over the glass sliding door, on the outside of course, to create a tape resistant stain glass look.

Using green, blue, yellow and orange dimples sponged, splatted and painted the sections of glass with the window paint. Yes, his messy play urge was satisfied.  It was lots of fun, but don't worry it will all wash right off.
Once dry you peel the tape away and have your different coloured sections, it looks nice and bright in the morning with the sun shining in through it.

Our window painting was left on for 4 hot days and admired by visitors, then Dimples had lots of fun with a watering can, a sponge, cloth and a window washer getting it off. As soon as the water covered the paint it bubbled up and was so easy to simply wipe clean. The window actually looked cleaner then before!

Happy Adventures :)

Raised Foil Prints for Christmas

Hello Lovely blog readers.  I hope you're all getting in to the Christmas Spirit.

I am very organised this year, which is extremely unusual for me, I am loving the feeling.

Dimples created some Raised Foil Prints for Christmas gifts this week.  Here they are:

 

 

Since most of the Christmas shopping has been done, wrapped and is ready under the tree (I know! Fancy that!)  these are some extra bonuses that are a gorgeous, very special label for some special peoples gifts.  They make the gifts look unique and wrapped with love or would like great as a DIY Card.

They're really simple to make. We havent used foil as a material before and it was so easy to work with.  The Raised foil Prints are made from cardboard base, with tacky dried glue pictures. I used a tacky clear craft glue to drizzle on the pictures and sat them up to dry.

Once the glue prints were dry I covered them with a small, thin layer of glue (not enough to dry bumpy) and covered them with Foil. Using a paper towel on top, I pressed down and rubbed the print so that the foil stuck down around the raised glue prints. It worked well.

Dimples had fun painting them. He did some red and green to match our Christmas theme and then sprinkled glitter over them. With the paint over them, the raised glue print isn't as noticeable, so as they dried I used the paper towel again to softly rub over the raised foil only, taking some of the excess paint off so the silver can shine through.  Then I stuck the final creation on some coloured paper, punched a hole, decorated with ribbon and tinsle and Dimples picked which gifts to add them to. We wrote a special message on the back of them.

I love the way they turned out.  They are beautiful and such a thoughtful gift topper. They were also a new and fun way for us to be creative with our Christmas Decorating and wrapping.

Happy Christmas Adventures

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.
 Follow Adventures at home with Mum on Facebook

Happy Adventures  :)

Family Tree: Our Land-mark

A Real Family Tree in the Outdoors

 

Dimples has decorated a few of the rainbow trees with his handprints. There is one blank tree that will be Purple very soon.

 

Once again, we have been in the outdoors painting trees on our property.

This time we did a family tree.  Something a little more meaningful and fun.

Painting the tree

 

Last year some time we Painted this tree, you can see it here: adventuresathomewithmum painting-tree it lasted the weather, lasted through Summer and didn't fade. It wasn't until autumn that the tree started to shed its top layer of bark and most of the painting came off with the bark.

 

Its tough work, we used exterior paint left over from our Backyard Balance stumps and we only needed one coat.

Here we are again, painting big trees, Beautiful rainbow trees.  This time with something more meaningful and bright.  Ofcourse it wont last but for a year or so it will make the property look bright and be a family reminder of the fun things we do together.  

 

Once it was dry we put Black handprints on it and I named and dated them. It didnt take long to dry in the sun.

We have even done a foot print Family tree.
 

Dimples has a funny very vocal cow 'cackle' who had to come see what we were doing (and lick the paint) 

 

Happy Outdoor Adventures  :)

If your after more outdoor activities, click on my outdoor tab under my header at the top of the page.

Mixing prime colours

Colour Exploration Stage 2: Mixing Prime Colours.

Dimples has known his colours for a while now, his lights and darks and all the colours in between!
I guess the next thing is to learn how colours mix together.

This is a Clean and Easy Lesson in Colour mixing for children of all ages. All you need are your Prime colour in food colouring, shaving foam or hair Mouse and some seal locked sandwich bags.

    RED                              YELLOW                                BLUE  

I stuck a small Coloured sticker on the plastic bags to help the learning process so that after the mixing was complete Dimples could see which bags started with what colours. 


What you will need

We did our Secondary Colours; Red/Yellow,  Yellow/Blue,  Blue/Red & I did an unmarked one so that Dimples could mix his own colour, knowing that he would choose all 3 prime colours.

First squirt your shaving cream in down the centre, leave small gaps on either side so your colours can get right in.  Do not over fill it, you want to be able to seal shut your bag easily without getting shaving cream into the sealing lock grooves. If this happens you could end up with an explosion of food colour and shaving cream all over your child's face, then it will be neither a clean nor an easy lesson in colour mixing.



Dimples makes green as the Red and Blue bag waits.

That's it! Seal it closed and one by one let your child mix the colours together. It was a success, Dimples was so enthusiastic as he mixed and mushed the bag around saying "I can see a bit of ..... Green! It made green mama"



Our mixed colours, showing what Prime colour was added to begin with.

 

Not only did Dimples watch and learn colour theory but he got a work out mixing the shaving cream. This is a great activity to strengthen the muscles needed for writing with all the pushing, scrunching, grabbing, pinching, squeezing and moulding. The shaving cream in the bag feels great as well, like a fluffy pillow.


The experimental mixing bag turned out into a light baby poo brown. I didn't get a photo but mid way through mixing it looks delicious! Not kidding, it looked like a rainbow paddle pop . So from a rainbow paddle pop to baby poo brown Dimples learnt that some colours mix well and some not so well.





The rainbow paddlepop colour with all 3 colours.

That turned baby pop brown!?

It was an interesting experiment and he loved it. We had a great discussion about colour, how there is only 3 prime colours and we went through the house pointing out colours as Dimples thought about what colours would be used to make it.

Happy Adventures

Glowing Spaghetti

Glowing Spaghetti Messy Play in the Dark Fun Under the Black light.

I have been wondering whether spaghetti would work if I attempted to make it glow, Just as we do with glow water (Highlighter Ink & Water), Glow Paint (UV/Neon Paint) & Bath glow Foam (shaving cream & highlighter Ink).

So I thought, theres nothing to lose, I will attempt it & if it fails.... Well its just a bit of spaghetti.

I combined 2 methods: I cooked the Spaghetti in glow water, as I thought most of the water retention would be in this process. Then I put the cooked spaghetti in a zip lock bag, with a bad of neon green paint, a little more glow water and a drop of oil. I left it soak for a hour or so and...........

IT WORKED. Success!

Dimples had a ball with his mini tractors and dump trucks digging around in the glowing spaghetti under the black light. He mushed it around, made piles, scooped it up into the trucks and made tracks through it. He even put his hands in and buried them under the "glowing worms".

Through our experiments with glow water, I have found that Neon Green and Yellow highlighters always work best. This may look green, because I added some fluro neon paint but the glow water I used was ink from a yellow highlighter.
Dimples loved this type of play and was very inquisitive with the spaghetti, threading it through his fingers and exploring it by holding it up to the black light, then hiding it behind the box so it stopped glowing.

If you have missed our glowing Adventures, click on the Glowing Fun Tab under my header for my ideas.

If you have never tried using black light play, start here glowing-bath-play where you will find a link for how to make & use it :)

First you will need a Black light globe that you can get from your local hardward or lighting store. You can purchase fandango ones online that are enclosed but they are costly, we got our Black light globe for $13 and use it in a lamp with the ahde taken off. While in the Bath, I replace the globe on the ceiling light and it works just as good :)

SPLAT Painting

Splat painting was probably the funnest thing we did this week.

We got to get outdoors, let off some steam & Splat paint EVERY where.

I lined the brick wall outside with large paper, sticking it up with blue tac.

I then got 4 large cups and mixed up some water colours with some water, so that it was a smooth yet runny consistency.

Using some water (pool) sponge balls, and some circular sponges dimples soaked them in the cups of paint and used all his might to throw them at the paper.

As the hit SPLAT they went, the paint effect was great, as was the sound when they hit.

He squeezed them, and practiced throwing them as hard as he could both over & under arm.

It was lots of fun and he got to burn off some steam.

The harder you throw them, the bigger the SPLAT.

I had a go & let off some steam pelting the balls at the wall, it was good Messy fun.

Happy Adventures :)