Mini Art Exhibit and Workshop for our Mini-Me’s

July 2, 2011 by

My toddlers’ birthdays are only two weeks apart so we’ve opted to celebrate both at the same time.  Last year, they had a Jollibee-day with several of our relatives and friends to make the little boy’s 1st birthday special.  This year though, we decided to just invite their friends who live next door for some cake and sandwiches.

Since the year started, my toddlers have accumulated quite a number of artwork. I’ve been meaning to hold an art exhibit to showcase their work but have not found time to execute my plans.  With my husband’s and my sister’s help, we were able to display some of their best artwork on our wall in time for the toddlers’ birthday celebration.

there's no place for Picasso or Monet on this wall

I prepared only four activities for our mini-workshop.  We had sandpaper art, fish origami, leaf imprints and dog origami.  I didn’t include anything that entailed the use of paint or watercolor as I didn’t want them to become too dirty come snacktime. The toddlers’ friends requested a painting session so we’re scheduling another mini-art workshop this month.

For snack time, we only prepared baked macaroni, bologna mini-buns, cheese sticks, hotdogs, and cupcakes.  We were supposed to serve carrot sticks and celery sticks along with the cheese sticks but I wasn’t able to prepare them in time for the party.  We also had three different juice flavors to match the toddlers’ colorful artwork. We had purple grape juice, red strawberry juice, and orange juice.  The mini cupcakes were bought from Shoppersville Bakeshop whose sugar icing my sisters and I love to bits.

sugar-high with mini-cupcakes

After the mini-workshop and snack, we voted for the best work for each art activity and gave out tokens.  Instead of a candy-filled lootbag, our guests went home with an envelope full of art materials so they can hone their own creativity in their own homes too.

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

Art Fun with Old Medicine Droppers and Homemade Paint

July 1, 2011 by

For our Wonderful World of Wednesday activity a few weeks ago, we tried using old medicine droppers and food coloring to make colorful paintings. Again, it didn’t exactly turn out the way I envisioned it but the toddlers were able to create their own unique artwork. Aside from enhancing their creativity, this activity is also a great exercise for developing their fine-motor skills. Jade turned three years old this month and is already quite adept with her pinching skills. She was able to handle the medicine dropper quite well. Jakei needed more practice but was able to use the dropper with minor assistance.

If you would like to try this activity with your little ones, make sure that they are wearing frocks or old clothes and that their work table is covered with a thick stack of old newspapers. Prepare the following beforehand:

Used medicine droppers. We used the ones from their empty vitamin bottles. If your kids have long-said goodbye to medicine droppers, you may try using drinking straws.

Homemade paint (blue, red, yellow). I made ours by adding a few drops of food coloring to a mixture of water and vinegar. The vinegar makes the color more vivid. You may also add some cornstarch to make the paint thicker.

Oslo paper.

Old newspapers for covering the work table and cleaning up spills.

Once you’re all set, instruct the kids to use the dropper to drop paint on the paper and create whatever comes to mind. The paint I made was a little runny so we ended up smudging and slushing the paint around instead. We tried blowing on the small puddles of paint that Jade “accidentally” spilled on her paper but she still couldn’t blow hard enough. I think it might work for bigger kids though.

This was (again) a pretty messy activity but the toddlers had lots of fun the entire time. We also mixed the colors together and they had fun watching the colors change.

Artwork by Jade

Artwork by Jakei

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

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: , , ,

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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