summer painting

This blog has been a little neglected due to the busyness that naturally comes about with a 3 year old and eight month old.  The sad part is I have a ton of pictures and projects, but no time to post them!  I haven't knitted a row in a month.  Oh well, enough about that.  Onto some fun/messy (I'm sure you expect nothing less from me at this point) outdoor painting.  

I gathered some different "brushes" from the dollar section of Target.  BTW, the Target I can see from my bedroom window opens in four days - eep!  When thinking of using something other than a brush, the possibilities are endless.  Here is our fly swatter (splat) painting Abby loved so much.  

Mesh and metal scrubbers

Pink Spiky Ball (My personal favorite).  Another side note, children at the pool cut a small opening in the top and were filling them with water.  So much fun.  

Cookie Cutters

I can't get enough of paint in rainbow order.  The container is from the Dollar Store and is good for so many uses.  

 Painting with cookie cutters

Finger Painting

Whenever Abby paints outside, she always wants to paint her body.  If I have the wear with all, I go with it.

I bought a piece of plexiglass from Home Depot to use as our outdoor easel (clipped to our super fabulous lattice on the back deck - ensures babes do not fall through).  Here is what I love about painting on plexiglass - nothing is permanent... and to a three year old who expects perfection from her emerging fine motor skills that creates a lot of freedom to keep trying without ripping up paper.  Anyone know what I'm talking about?  

A daddy

With lots of teeth

Not happy with the teeth.  Smear it and try again.

And when she's all done painting on plexiglass, she can spray it with a spray bottle and wipe it clean.

 Painting with the pink spiky ball

 Painting with the mesh scrubbers

More daddy with great teeth and ears

Clean up time

When using a bigger/vertical surface for painting/drawing, children get to use more (or maybe just different - anyone want to weigh in on that discussion?) large motor muscles and core which is so very important for developing their fine motor muscles. 

  

And not to leave Eleanor out of the painting experiences:  Bells had her first experience with paint at seven months.  She seemed to enjoy the feeling of paint on her feet.  My mom held her while she kicked around on the cardboard.