Blue & Yellow Easel Painting

We got the easel! I've been setting it up for markers, chalk, and crayon art, but haven't had the time/energy to do paint. I LOVE the easel. I especially love that it was $15 and I had a great friend who picked it up for me, so I didn't have to drive the 2 hours to the closest Ikea (my Ikea Kristin friend). There is only one thing I would change about the easel, that the cup tray is on the chalkboard side & I would prefer it to be on the whiteboard side.

Anyways, Corey had the day off, so we went for it. I am so glad to mention that the Ikea paper held up to the vigorous movements of a toddler! Wills had so much fun he nicely asked for another "peesh" (piece) of paper "peese" (please). 

He started off with the brush, got some paint on his finger (& was bothered by it), then started finger painting. When I suggested using the brush he picked up the brush & painted his hand. I thought that was clever. 

 Then we had a bit of leftover paint (I always put too much in), so I put it in a zippy bag & now Sophia has a Squishy Bag*. I'll let her use it at dinner time when she has highchair time.

*Squishy Bag- it is somewhat a sensory activity and in this case a science/color activity. I keep the bag closed & she can squish the paint around, somewhat feel its contents, and see what happens when you mix blue & yellow.

Sponge Art

Here's an idea I came up with when I found a large sponge I hadn't used. I knew exactly what I wanted to do. We are working on shapes. So I busted out the large kitchen shears & cut shapes. I tried to make them the right size to fit in his hands, not too big or too small. I'm actually a little suprised how many shapes I got out of it.

I chose to use only 2 colors of paint, because at this stage he still mostly ends up rubbing all the paint together; which if I had added blue we would've ended up with brown art.

I put the paint in one of those cheap paint palates. I already had it from college. You could use a plate, next time I will.

I used a heavy cardboard on the floor. I used to pin them up, but if Will was too fast it could knock the pins out. So the floor worked fine. It was easier to clean up too.

Here is the masterpiece! You can't really tell it's shape sponges, but that's to be expected at his stage. We did, however, get to talk a LOT about shapes. Even things I didn't expect to happen. When you hold the triangle on it's side, it now makes a rectangle shape. You can roll the circle & make a track.

The greatest part was Will helped with the clean up & it was a learning experience! I put him in front of the bathroom sink with warm water & asked him to squeeze the sponges under the water. I went to make lunch & I had to pry him away from the sink to eat lunch.

I already have more ideas for how to use these sponges.