Finger Painting

May 25, 2011 by

Cornstarch + Water + Food Color = Fun Messy Art Time

Icky, gooey, squishy, ooey…we had our hands sticky and messy this morning!  It was our first time to try finger painting for our Wonderful World of Wednesday and Jade had so much fun.  She finished painting after painting after painting.  She didn’t stop until she run out of the paint mixture.  Jakei didn’t like getting his hands sticky and messy so all he has to show for this morning’s art session is a sheet of paper with a few scribbles on it.  Oh, but he did enjoy scooping and spreading the paint mixture from the cup to the sheets of paper.

I don’t have pictures of the toddlers at work though.  You see, my hands were full of gooey paint and could not possibly hold the camera.  I’ll be posting pictures of their finished art work instead.

If you would like to try this activity with your toddlers or preschoolers, all you’ll need are

  • cornstarch
  • water
  • food color (we used red, blue, and green)
  • paper
  • newspaper (to make clean up time less tedious)
  • great imagination

Heat the cornstarch and water in a pan until you reach the right consistency.  It should be a little runny but still thick enough to adhere to paper.  Separate the mixture into small containers, add a drop of your choice of food color to each, and mix thoroughly.  Spread the mixture evenly on a sheet of paper.  Get your fingers ready and paint some pretty pictures on the paper.  Lastly, make sure you have lots of fun with your kids!

Filed Under: Arts & Crafts, Family Fun, Kids At Work, PLAYhouse preSCHOOL Tagged With: , , , , , ,

WWW: Leaf Imprints

May 5, 2011 by

For our first Wonderful World of Wednesday art activity, we made leaf imprints on paper.  This activity was inspired by an episode in Special Agent Oso where his special assignment was to help a little girl make some leaf imprints. Their three special steps were:

  1. Place a sheet of paper on the table.
  2. Place the leaf on the paper with the bottom side facing up. (the side where the veins can be clearly seen)
  3. Place another sheet of paper on top and make the imprint using crayons.

The materials were inexpensive and easy to acquire.  Bond paper is a staple in our home, crayons are aplenty, and leaves abound Lola’s potted plants.

materials: assorted leaves from the garden, bond paper, and crayons

 

Once we had all the materials, the toddlers were all set for their very first leaf imprinting.

arranging the leaves on her paper

first attempt

best work (with mama's help though)

I found out though that Jade was still a little too young to make the imprints as she couldn’t manage to properly hold the crayon and place just enough pressure to make the imprint appear on the paper.   It was still a great turn out for our first attempt on making leaf imprints.  With plenty of practice wielding the crayon, Jade would soon be creating marvelous leaf imprints all on her own.



playing with the leaves

leaf imprint sans the leaf ^_^

Quite expectedly, Jakei’s work was missing the leaf imprint.  He is after all barely two years old.  He was actually more interested in putting the leaves inside his mouth than in making imprints of them.  I finally took the leaves away from him and just let him scribble with his crayons.

See the star on the left side of the paper?  He unintentionally drew that while scribbling and when he saw it, his eyes lit up and he said, “Star!!!”.  My little boy wasn’t able to make a leaf imprint but he was able to draw a star.  That’s all in a day’s work for a toddler.


Filed Under: Arts & Crafts, Kids At Work, PLAYhouse preSCHOOL Tagged With: , , ,

All About Scrapbooking: Scrap ‘n Tell

March 21, 2011 by

When my son was born, I bought two scrapbooks and scrapbooking accessories and had pictures of him and my older daughter printed. I had in my mind this vision of pages oozing with creativity, teeming with memories, chronicling my toddlers’ first years of life. If you are interested in starting a scrapbook, then one thing that you might want to consider is getting something like these svg cut files to really help improve the way your scrapbook looks.

Now my daughter is turning 3 and my son is turning 2, yet the scrapbooks I bought are still in the storage box – unopened, unused, virtually brand new. The vision remains as it is. Well, all that is about to change! Inspired by the Scrap n’ Tell: Bloggers’ Scrapbooking Event, this Mom has resolved to turn that vision into reality.

I was fortunate enough to have scored an invite for this event through Jennifer Aspacio of Pinay Mommies Community. The event held at the Filstar Distributors Corp Office at Kapitolyo, Pasig was truly a delightful afternoon. The organizers prepared well for it as everything was oozing with their creative juices, from the invitations, to the name tags, and the demonstrations and the hands-on activites. Here are my fun memories of this awesome scrapbooking event:

I never got to actually starting my scrapbooks for my toddlers mainly because I knew how time-consuming it would be. Let alone, the mess I would have to clean up after I’m done. But after experiencing scrapbooking, I found it to be a very relaxing activity, somewhat therapeutic. I didn’t mind cleaning up the mess at all when I was done. I still have much to learn as my creative juices are equivalent to that of a five-year-old. But I do know one thing, Scrapbooking is an art and to be good at it, you must have the passion for it.

(*pictures courtesy of All About Scrapbooking Facebook Page)

Filed Under: Mom's Corner Tagged With: , , ,

Jade’s First Masterpiece

February 25, 2011 by

Our typical morning usually includes a variety of activities to develop different skills.  We play with building blocks, smart stacks and shape sorters.  We tinker with tool sets and puzzles.  We create music with their toy drums, xylophones, maracas, tambourines and recorder(which Jade insists to call a flute).  We watch Playhouse Disney and Nick Jr. We pretend to be chefs, Handy Manny, doctors and whatever else we like to be.

We do a host of different activities but the one that my toddlers really love is our MESSY ART TIME.  Oh, yes, it wouldn’t be art if it wasn’t messy!  I’m glad I started our messy art time this year because this morning, my two-year-old Jade created a masterpiece.

photo jadesfirstmasterpiece.jpg

“PARROT”
by Jade
at age 2 years 8 months

Jade is basically left to herself when we’re doing our activities as I focus mainly on keeping Jakei from eating his crayons, putting toys in his mouth, and ensuring that he never runs out of things to do (bored toddlers can be very very very hyperactive). Imagine the surprise on my face when I saw her working on this painting.  Her paintings so far have consisted only of straight lines, uneven strokes, and circles.  I exclaimed how wonderful her painting was and asked her what she painted. She looked at it for a little while and said, “A parrot!  It’s a parrot, Mama.”

She’s far from being Picasso,Van Gogh, or Monet.  This “PARROT” could even just be a chance painting.  But what if she was blessed by God with very skillful hands and a creative spirit.  And even if she’s not, well, messy art time is fun anyway!

photo jadepaintingat2.jpg

her first painting activity when she was 1 year old

Filed Under: Kids At Work, PLAYhouse preSCHOOL Tagged With: , , ,

Typical Toddler Morning

February 15, 2011 by

Most of my friends are career women enslaved by the corporate world that require more than half of their weekdays and sometimes even robbing them of family time on weekends.  Although there are times when I do envy their lifestyles,  I am grateful to have a husband who is able to provide for all our needs which enables me to stay at home and be with our children during their formative years.

My children are growing up at lightning speed and when before I could just confine them inside the playpen while I do my chores or prepare worksheets for my tutorial sessions,  now it is impossible to keep them penned.  And so, while they are awake, everything else has to be put on hold.

Toddlers can be a handful as they are very inquisitive, curious, and impatient.  They can be totally fascinated with a toy when you hand it to them, but a few seconds later, will be clamoring for a different one.  Oh, and they can be REALLY hyperactive when bored.  So, what does this mom do to keep her toddlers occupied?  She plays with them and makes a whole lotta mess every time!

We READ together

photo hungrycat2.jpg

We have messy ART TIME

photo 2011art.jpg

We have fun with lots of ordinary things around the house

photo 2011fun.jpg

We also have MUSIC time but it’s just basically singing and dancing to whatever CD we’d fancy listening to and playing with their musical toys.  Oh, and, of course, like any typical parent,  I do let them watch Playhouse Disney and Nick Jr for a couple of hours.

How about in your home, what’s a typical toddler morning?

Filed Under: Arts & Crafts, Kids At Work, PLAYhouse preSCHOOL Tagged With: , , , ,
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