Gabe is at the age now (3 1/2 almost 4) where he can handle a variety of art supplies without trying to eat them (most of the time) and so art projects have become a part of our daily routine around here.
For awhile I was giving him wooden picture frames I had picked up at Ikea and basic craft paints and letting him go to town. The results are pretty stunning, I have no idea if he's actually creating good art because I am totally biased, but I think his creations are fantastic.
To switch things up I went through my stash and found some old laptop shells I had picked up at a garage sale a few years ago. I had ideas about turning them into clocks or something but they also make great canvases.
Gabe likes to experiment with the way the paint slides on the plastic so it became more of a process project rather than an end result. I took an early childhood education class in college and one of the things I remembered about art time is that you can't limit what the child is doing, you just let them enjoy the process. Even if it looks beautiful but you can tell they're on their way to this:
I'm not an expert, this is just stuff I think about when I'm assisting
Gabe during art time, because a lot of it is contrary to what I want to
do! (Stop, it's beautiful! Ack! Now it's brown!) Another bit of advice I remember is to never tell the child what you think their creation looks like, you ask them to explain it to you, but never say "What is it?" rather "Could you tell me about your painting?" Sometimes a child has an idea of what they're making, other times it's just about the process.
I bought him some watercolors at Target a few weeks ago and his watercolors are beautiful. (Even when they're on his or his brother's arms and head. I kid you not.) The last one, according to Gabe, is a picture of his baby brother Forrest. I like the rainbow hair.
We've also done a few salt dough ornaments, a great project because it counts as art time for a few days, one day for the salt dough, another for the painting and yet another for the gluing on of stuff. (But now I'm out of salt!)
I'm loving the water colors though, they're easy to clean up, don't require as much supervision, and we have even used them on snow!
What projects do you do with your little ones?
Be blessed.
