Art for Kids: Wet Paint

 
I made up mixtures of watery acrylic paint , placed them in squirt bottles and taped up some paper on our fence.
 
What a difference a year makes. A year ago, M could not get enough of messy play. Now he can’t stand the feeling of being wet. This experiement with water paint was a challenge for him. He had to have his towel close by and probably spent more time cleaning himself and his spray bottles than squirting paint.
 
N was fascinated with the effects of gravity on the paint. He would squirt paint just to watch droplets of paint drip.
 

 
Soon, N & M’s attention moved towards the paper and cups set up on a table nearby. Without a word from me, N & M proceeded to experiment with the tools they had at their disposal. In a cooperative effort, they engaged in mixing up various concoctions of coloured paint. (E had just woken up from his nap and wasn’t in the mood to participate).
 
Squirt a bit of this, squirt a bit of that. Pour this mixture into that mixture. Let’s see what we get!
 

 
They also found some leaves nearby and used them to swirl the paint around.
 

 
Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of the cleanup as I was involved. Surprisingly, that was also a highlight of this activity. I hosed down what I could, but some of the paint remained on the fence. The boys used their dustpan brushes to scrub down any stubborn stains left behind and then stepped back as we all counted three… two… one… fire! And with a strong jet of water from the hose, all was clean. Oh, how I love Spring.
 
Lesson learnt: give children space and time to experiment and learn about the world around them. By simply setting up the activity and observing, I could see:

• M’s change in tactile preferences and how he managed his surroundings so that it was more comfortable for him.
• N’s curiosity of the effects of gravity on watery paint.
• M & N’s ability to cooperatively work together without any adult guidance and intervention.
• M & N’s’ creativity in the producing new coloured mixtures of watery paint.

N: 3 y.o.
M: 3 y.o.
E: 15 months

Sept 2011

Looking for more art ideas? Check out our Things to Make.

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N & M armed themselves with water spray bottles. E with a plastic spoon. Air trapped in fragile, microscopically thin film of water didn’t stand a chance if they floated within reach of these three young boys.

It would have been good if I had thought of using the water spray bottles as part of the bubble popping frenzy. I could have written a wonderful play blog with a well sound rationale behind the use of such implements in play. This, is better. Because they had space to play, my three year old twin boys used their creativity, and I appreciate the creativity shown.

This play idea is brought to you by two three year old boys.

Babbalicious Spring Greetings
Equipment needed: spray bottles and bubbles.
How to play: pop the bubbles by squirting water from your spray bottle.

A variation of the above is brought to you by a one year old boy.

Babbalicious Spring Greetings for ones
Equipment needed: big plastic spoon and bubbles.
How to play: pop the bubbles with your big plastic spoon or your hand, head, arm or gorgeous pot belly.

 September 2011

Check out our other bubble play ideas.
DIY Bubble Mix
DIY Bubbles & Dancing Yarn Discovery Bottles

 Look at how these blogs have played with bubbles:
All for the Boys: Bubbles!
Look at my Happy Rainbow: Bubbles!

This post is part of the “It’s Playtime” link up.

The post Bubbles Play: Bubbalicious Spring Greetings by Pauline appeared first on Lessons Learnt Journal.