I find that when you are a stay-at-home mum it is pretty easy to loose yourself in monotony. You begin to live for the times when you can go out and meet your friends, even if the outing involves screaming children, spilt food and snatches of half-finished conversation. It gets serious when a drive to the supermarket is the day's highlight. You are out of the house. Your child is strapped in to the car-seat. And, although you can hear the screeching, the little clawing hands cannot reach your heels. It is good.
Am I alone? Recently I have been thinking (or rather hoping) that it must be possible to find myself, rather than loose myself, in the midst of intense motherhood. So, all you mums out there, that is what I am on a mission to do and this blog will help me get there. I am going to seek out the things that make me happy when it's just me and my daughter at home on a rainy day. I don't want to waste these years. I want to cherish them. I'll be a better mum (and have a happier household) in the process.
That was a rather long winded introduction, sorry, but I'm setting the scene for this new turn that my blog is taking ;). Painting. I love it. Painting at home with toddlers? So easy for disaster to occur. But it can work well. Can even be enjoyable (for you as well as your toddler) and it can give you awesome pieces to decorate their rooms with in the process. My daughter and I make it work and, as an ex-teacher of littlies, I thought I'd share a few of tips for anyone out there who might be reading (and because writing about it is half the fun for me) :).
TIPS FOR FINGER PAINTING WITH A TWO YEAR OLD:
Tip 1: go the cardboard! Paper just doesn't work as well. Little fingers wear holes through it and it warps like crazy as it dries. Save a few of the boxes that come through the post or ask for a couple of packing boxes at the supermarket. We are in the process of moving house so there are boxes for Africa around here. Chop one up into pieces with a stanley knife. You will need lots of pieces of cardboard per child for one painting session (if you want the art to look any good).
Tip 2: be armed with a box of baby wipes. It's the easiest way to keep everything clean and avoid a finger-painted lounge suite or carpet. Set out a mess mat in the kitchen with the cardboard, the wipes and paints, and a plastic bag to dispose of the wipes.
Tip 3: use an old magazine as a palette. Avoid paint pots and plastic paint palettes they are messy, involve a lot of washing up, and they are big paint wasters. Squeeze a little of one colour on to the magazine palette and your toddler can grab that paint with her fingers and spread it onto her cardboard canvas. When she's done (which is usually after twenty seconds) tear off the page and stuff it in the rubbish bag beside you then wipe those little fingers before they go anywhere. Put that canvas aside and grab a fresh one for the next colour.
Tip 4: if you want to avoid a brown mess of mashed colours stick to one colour per canvas on the first round. That way by the time you get back to the piece of cardboard you started on it's near dry and you can sort of build up layers. On the second round try to encourage your two year old to chose colours that blend well. White blends beautifully with any colour and makes the paint thick and rich. Opposite colours (ie red and green or orange and blue) don't blend so well. Stick to similar shades for blending, but throw in some contrasting colours (in patches) for interest and encourage your child to vary what they do with the paint: draw lines and circles, dot, scratch and smush.
Once you've added and blended and mixed and matched to your toddler's heart's content. Wipe those hands and let them run off to play while you give the mess mat a wipe down and fold it up. This set of six paintings took about twenty/thirty minutes for my daughter to do. It was totally worth it. They look great and all paint disasters were easily avoided. With this method clean-up is easy.
Tip 5: hang the canvases to dry on a string with pegs. Up and out of the way while wet.
Tip 6: use them to decorate your child's bedroom. There is something to be said for making a downright mess with paints, but if you can have fun and get them to look good too, not only is your child learning how to work with colour, they have some pieces to be proud of. My daughter experiments more and more each time we paint and loves to talk about and show off her pictures. When you execute it carefully it's really not more effort than it looks.
If anyone is reading please share any other tips that work well for you. I love to keep adding to the ideas bank.
Happy painting! :)
