Rainy-Day Fun
One rainy morning a few weeks ago, I got the brilliant idea to do a major finger-painting project with the boy. (“Who knows where thoughts come from? They just appear!”) I called our friend, Tracie, to see if she wanted to bring her son over to join in the fun. She accepted the invitation, and I started making preparations for fun.
There used to be a children’s resale store down the road from us. It was called The Pig Pen, and Tara, the owner, had half the shop set up as an art studio where you could take your child(ren), pay a small fee, and do arts and crafts for the day. During her going out of business sale, I scored a HUGE role of butcher-type paper and a bunch of finger paints. Until that day, I had only used the butcher paper up on the counter. There, Jude could stand on his Learning Tower
I ended up with a palette that was approximates 5′ x 5′. I put down two layers of the paper, and taped down the edges to stop it from shifting. The next thing I did was pour six different colors of finger paint into small plastic containers for easy access.
Then, shortly before Kainoa and his mom showed up, I stripped the boy down to his diaper because honestly, clothes just get in the way of finger painting, ya know?
The boys painted for about half an hour. They painted their bodies and ran across the paper. Tracie and I did a fair amount of painting ourselves. I mean, we had that HUGE palette and all that paint ready to go. When you’re surrounded by that much fun, you just can’t help but dive in.
When the boys’ attention span was well surpassed, Tracie and I pulled up their masterpiece and moved it into Jude’s room to dry. She took Kainoa upstairs for a bath, and I wrangled Jude into the shower.
Now that the weather is turning cooler, I’m gearing up for some indoor fun. I would really like to stock up on all different kinds of art supplies for the winter months, but don’t know where to start. Do you have a favorite arts and crafts store you like to patronize? Any suggestions for online stores where I can get supplies on the cheap?
did you just quote Empire Records? AWESOME!
oh…great painting fun too!!! I am hoping that at some point Elliott will stop eating everything and we can do something fun like paint or color…the kid takes huge bites out of crayons and then smiles at me with colored wax stuck in his teeth…
I *did* just quote Empire Records. And I agree, AWESOME!
Jude (thankfully) never put crayons in his mouth (play-doh is another story), and he’s doing well with the finger paint. It’s really likes painting, but it’s a fair amount of work on my end to get it set up, keep him on task-ish, and then get him cleaned up before he paints the walls.
…but I guess that’s all a part of this job they call “Mom!”
We got Hannah a Parents Mini Monet art easel a couple years ago and she still plays with it (and now Sarah is trying as well). It has a dry erase board, a chalkboard, and can hold paper, and it folds up into a box. The boards are magnetic and it comes with different puzzle shapes as well. I couldn’t do a link, but if you search for Parents Mini Monet on Target’s website it should come right up.