Painting Activities for Kids {The Sunday Showcase 11/2/13}

Do your children enjoy art? Today, I have some fun painting activities to share with you.

Check out each idea by clicking the links below to take you directly to each blog.

Oil Pastel Resist Fall Leaf Art

(Little Wonders' Days)

Edible Kool-Aid Painting

(Sow Sprout Play)

Painting with Gourds

(Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds)

Oil Pastels and Watercolors

(Buggy and Buddy)

What fun Painting Activities!

Looking for more ideas?

Here are some of our favorites 

Splatter Painting

Salt Watercolor Painting

Now it's your turn to share!

Do you have any fun art activities to share? 

Please share them with me in the linky, 

by commenting below or by visiting our Facebook page. 

Be sure to link up your child centered ideas while you're here.

I love to see what everyone is doing.

If you have been featured, grab a button you deserve it!

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The Sunday Showcase is hosted on FOUR blogs!

Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas
Here Come the Girls

Inspiration Laboratories

Learn Play Imagine

Each blog showcases their own features so be sure to check them all out!

If you are here for the first time please read this informational post for the full details.  Anything kid friendly and/or child centered is welcome!  You are welcome to share more than one post,  but we don't accept links for giveaways,  shops, or downloads for purchase, etc.  They will be deleted.

If you're linking up we encourage you to visit other links 
& our Pinterest board!  

*Important* 

Please note that by linking up you are giving us permission to use a photo (with proper link to you!) in our featured section and on our Pinterest board!  

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Link up and share your child centered ideas with us!

Bern

An InLinkz Link-up

Fun Painting Activities for Kids - Sunday Showcase 4/6/13

The Sunday Showcase  
featuring..... 
Fun Painting Activities
for Kids!

The Lil Divas love to paint and create. I try to fit it in whenever we can because their days are so filled with school and learning. They need that creative outlet. This week, I have featured some awesome Painting Activities for kids that were shared on last week's linky. These particular activities caught my eye because they ditched the typical paintbrush and really turned painting into an "experience".  These painting activities are sure to thrill your children and/or students. 

If you're looking for even more artsy inspiration check out our Painting Activities,  Kids Art Project Ideas Pinterest Board, Kids Get Arty and our Fun with Famous Artists Pinterest Board. 

<a href="http://www.momto2poshlildivas.com/"><img border="0"src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhprF8IjC0dTiFiH618BgolG0r9NI3Ge6zX_thLmfI72KoHLyurLJBIhKq6yP8y_KQsBWUR7Ur-T2OBIeiRFf1-QUbF_12X0M9-Iq1UfjYfkfYtHROSyFvTec9fvJfOc5oyiskZw8bGFkc/s1600/sundayshowcase.jpg" /></a>

The Sunday Showcase is hosted on FIVE blogs!

Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas
Here Come the Girls

Inspiration Laboratories

The Iowa Farmer's Wife
Train Up a Child

Each blog showcases their own features

 (from the previous week's linky) 

so be sure to check them all out!

If you are here for the first time please read this informational post for the full details.  Anything kid friendly and/or child centered is welcome!  You are welcome to share more than one post,  but we don't accept links for giveaways,  shops, or downloads for purchase, etc.  They will be deleted.

If you're linking up we encourage you to visit 

some of the other links & our Pinterest board!  

*Important* 

Please note that by linking up you are giving us permission to use a photo (with proper link to you!) in our featured section and on our Pinterest board!  If you prefer not to be featured simply comment below or e-mail me to let us know.

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The Showcase Features:

If your children and/or students enjoy painting
you'll have to let them try a few of these fun ideas:

Painting with Rocks (Fantastic Fun and Learning)

Craft Pom Pom Stamping & Painting (Craft to Art)

Boing Painting (Making Boys Men)

Free Panting with Toddlers (Two of Everything)

Chocolate Pudding Painting (An Idea on Tuesday)

Marbled Creations (School Time Snippets)

What fun painting activities have you done with your children and/or students!

Do you have a favorite painting activity? 

Please share in the comments below.

If you have been featured, grab a button you deserve it!

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From your Hostess:

Play to Learn: Spelling Hangman 
is a fun & easy way to review
spelling words, sight words and more with kids.

Have a favorite spring themed book?

Here are our current favorite 

Spring Books for K thru 2nd Grade

Thank You for sharing your child centered ideas with us!

Bern

Spin Art and Blotto Paint Shamrock Art for Kids

Looking for some last minute St. Patrick's Day Art ideas? I have 2 fun and easy ways to paint and decorate shamrocks - Spin Art Shamrocks & Blotto Paint Shamrocks.

This was our very first foray into Spin Art and the Lil Divas are enamored. They quickly became addicted to the salad spinner and how cool the art looked as a result of using it. So fun!

In order to achieve this spin art look we used this IKEA TOKIG Salad Spinner that I bought on sale specifically for our art projects. I have had it tucked away for months and I'm so glad I remembered it. The Lil Divas had a great time creating Spin Art Shamrocks.

I drew a large shamrock template and cut out the shape on card stock. I got out all of our paint in various shades of green and let the Lil Divas get busy.

We placed the shamrock template into the salad spinner and the Lil Divas squirted paint in various shades of green onto the paper. I let them do this freely so they typically ended up using lots of paint.

Once they were happy with the paint, we closed up the salad spinner and got spinning. This was by far their favorite part.

The results were all unique and each one was pretty fabulous. I see lots more spin art in our future.

We also decided to do some Blotto Paint Shamrocks while we had all of our green paints out and ready. This is so easy and the results are always so cool to look at. It's a great art activity for kids of all ages as well.

Using our shamrock template, we folded them in half and the Lil Divas applied paint to one side. Once again, I let them do this freely so there was lots of different shades of green used and it got messy but that's where the fun comes in.

Once the Lil Divas were happy with the paint application, they closed the shamrock and squished, squished, squished to smear the paint. Then we opened the shamrocks to reveal our blotto paint design.

We ended up with lots of fabulous looking shamrocks to decorate our house with.

If you're looking for more St. Patrick's Day inspiration check out our St. Patrick's Day posts and our St. Patrick's Day Pinterest board.

Happy shamrock painting,

Bern

Kids Picasso Style Portrait Art (Kids Get Arty)

It's time for another Kids Get Arty. I really enjoy our art explorations with famous artists. So far we have explored Romare Bearden, Jackson Pollock, Henri Matisse, Andy Warhol and Vincent Van Gogh.

Today, I am excited to share our artistic exploration of Pablo Picasso. Wanting this to be fun and kid friendly, I chose to focus on his more abstract art and had the Lil Divas make self portraits.

The Lil Divas began with a simple pencil sketch of their portraits.

Here's a breakdown of what they did:

1. Make a large circle (face).

2. Cut the face in half with a line down the middle that turns it into 2 faces.

3. Add eyes and a mouth (or two).

4. Add hair and any other features as desired (neck area).

Then, they traced the sketch in black permanent marker and began coloring with oil pastels.

They decided to get creative with their coloring, using bold, vivid colors and lots of them.

The finished products were wonderful.

The portraits are bright, bold and unique -

much like the Lil Divas themselves.

I think Picasso would be proud.
I know I am.

Looking for some Picasso inspiration?

Try these -

Kids Get Arty is a bi-monthly link up which is meant to encourage exploration of the great artists! It is brought to you by  Red Ted Art, Imagination Soup, Imagination Tree, Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas & Tinkerlab  

Now it's your turn - share your recent exploration of a great artist with us.

I can't wait to see what you've done.

Farm Fun: Udder Painting for Kids

Last week we explored The Farm at preschool. We enjoyed many activities including making dirt paint pigs, chalk paint roosters and milk paint cows. We had lots of farm animal small world play, animal card lacing, counting and sorting of farm animal toys and animal stamping and writing.

The kids' favorite activity by far was our version of Udder Painting. It was lots of squishy, messy fun.

Here's what you need to try udder painting:
latex gloves
pin
paint
paper

You need one latex glove for each paint color you would like to use. Carefully prick a hole at the bottom of the fingertips of your glove. I used 4 fingers and left the thumb to help tie the glove together. In order to paint the children had to "milk the cow" - squeezing the paint out of the udders (glove).

I can not tell you how many giggles this activity caused. The children loved pretending to milk a cow as they painted. It was lots of sensory, squishy fun and a huge MESS!

This is not the kind of activity where you will end up with a particular finished product. It's all about the process.

We ended up with huge puddles of paint that took days to dry but it was definitely a fun and memorable experience for my preschoolers.

We also enjoyed lots of fun farm themed books over the course of our Farm Week.

Have fun udder painting!

Bern

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links for the books showcased. 

Kid Art: Painting with Cotton Balls

In my preschool class I like to change things up and give the children unexpected tools to paint with. It always makes things more exciting when you hide the paintbrushes and add something new.  During our Nursery Rhymes Week we were learning Mary Had a Little Lamb so I thought it would be fun to put out clothespins and cotton balls (lamb - wool, get it?!) to paint with versus paintbrushes.

Set-up for this was minimal. Provide paint, paper, cotton balls, clothespins and smocks. Then just let the kids explore the materials.

Some of the children used the cotton balls and clothespins like a paint brush. Others used the cotton balls with their bare hands - enjoying the feel of the paint right on their fingertips.

I encouraged them to try "pinching" the cotton balls with the clothespins because it was also sneaking in some valuable fine motor practice. All that pinching is actually fabulous pre-writing practice for those little hands. Sneaky, I know!

There is no wrong or right way to use the materials. It's all about exploring. There was no end product in mind. The children just freely enjoyed the process.

Of course we ended up with some cool looking paintings which we proudly displayed but most importantly - the kids just had fun and enjoyed using the cotton balls to create art.

If you enjoyed this be sure to check out our other Painting Fun ideas and our Kids Art Pinterest board.

Have fun cotton ball painting!

Bern

Wet Chalk Tape Resist Easter Egg Painting

My preschoolers love drawing with chalk - on our chalkboard, on the pavement outside, on our classroom writing table and of course on paper. I just knew they would enjoy drawing with wet chalk. So, when I was planning some Easter activities I decided to combine two (2) things they enjoy - chalk and tape!

Wet Chalk Tape Resist Easter Egg Painting

I cut out large egg templates from card stock. Then I provided the children with the template, tape, scissors, chalk and some water. The children used the tape and scissors to make a design on their egg template.

Once they had their desired design, they began using their chalked dipped in water to paint.

I loved all the colorful eggs that the children made. Some separated colors by sections using many colors, some used 2 or 3 colors and others just happily scribbled many different colors all over the eggs. Whatever their chosen method - they all enjoyed the process and each egg was unique.

We let the eggs dry before taking the tape off because with the wet paper and tape I was worried about rips and tears. Once the eggs were dry, the tape was relatively easy to peel off. 

Lovely! Isn't it?

Have you given wet chalk painting a try?

Bern

If you enjoyed this activity be sure to check out our other Easter activities, our kid crafts and our Easter Pinterest Board for even more fun ideas and activities to try with kids.

Kid Art: Painting With Toothbrushes

February is dental health month. Last week we had a great dental health week at preschool. One of the children's favorite activities was by far Painting with Toothbrushes.

I cut out a large tooth shape from card stock for the children to paint on. I also supplied toothbrushes and various colored paints. Then, I just let them go for it. 

The children had fun brushing the paint on, flicking it on and glopping it down. This art activity was definitely not about the end product (though they turned out really cool!). It was all about the process and exploring an unusual painting tool. 

One word of caution when doing with young children - be sure to tell them NOT to put the toothbrushes into their mouth. I mentioned this many times with my 3 year olds and still had 2 of them try to go for it. This is definitely best as a supervised activity - just in case.

Have fun painting with toothbrushes!

Bern

Don't forget to check out our Favorite Dental Health Books 

and our Dental Health Pinterest Board for even more fun ideas.