Messy Art 2

Today I took Georgia to the second round of messy art class.  It's also the last one we are going to.  There is one on Thursday, but I have set that day aside as my grocery shopping day since I just have Georgia in the mornings.  Not so sure when the hell I'm going to grocery shop once Sonya and Lana are out of school, which is next week, but we'll deal with it then.  I just wanted to share with you a couple more cool ideas for art to do with or give to your kids during the summer.


Now, as I said in the last post about this, I think it best if you do these projects outside.  Sure you can do them in your house, but who wants to clean up that mess?  This way the mess is outside where you can't see it and where the hose or rain can clean it up for you!  Win win!  Or maybe just winning.  I'll check with Mr. Sheen on that one.  Anyway, today we did a good deal of painting, which doesn't seem all that different, but it's what the kids painted with that made it fun.  Instead of the same ol' paintbrush technique, they had trays of paint (one color per tray), with different things to use to put the color on the paper.  Things like little toy cars that you roll in the paint and then roll across he paper, loofahs, hairbrushes, kitchen utensils, plastic squeaky toys,  and just about anything else you can think of.  The kids love using something other than paintbrushes, and the pictures come out with a more textured look.  Plus it's a good way to put all those old Happy Meal toys to good use! 

Another painting project involved using salad spinners.  Get an old salad spinner, or perhaps just the one you don't use at home, like I have.  Then get some paper plates and paint.  Place the paper plate inside the salad spinner and drip different color paint onto the plate.  Then put the lid on the spinner and spin away!  The result is a "spin art" picture.  

The last thing I will share with you is probably my favorite one we did.  We made our own silly putty!  This one is super easy, but keep in mind also a bit messy.  You need, 1/4 cup white Elmer's glue, 1/4 cup liquid starch and paper or plastic cups.  Mix the glue and starch in the cup together.  Stir it until it starts to form a more solid consistency.  Then take it out and squish together with your hands.  It will eventually become a putty like substance that the kids can play with and reuse.  I believe it's best to put it in an air tight container when they are done playing with it.  You may also be able to add some food coloring to this one so it's not just boring white, but not I'm not positive about that, so do it at your own risk. 


Well, this concludes Kristi's Messy Art for Summer.  If I run across any other good ideas, I will certainly send then along.  In the meantime I hope this help all of you, as well as myself, to keep some sanity this summer!  Good luck! 

A Cure For the Summer Doldrums

Yesterday I took Georgia to a class in the morning called "messy art".  Oh and it was!

When I first walked into the class and saw the table with whatever that was on it, my first instinct was to keep her away from that particular art project.  Of course her first instinct was to go to that table first. Turned out that was the same instinct every three year old had walking in there.  I mean it looked like fun, but it also looked like a total mess.  I eventually let her instinct win because the clothes she was wearing were already ruined clothes and hell, I didn't have to clean up the mess afterward, so why not?  She had a ton of fun with it, as you can see.  

I'm sure you are wondering just what it is that is all over her.  Well, that is the point of this post today.  As she was playing with it and I was thinking I would NEVER do this at home, I  then thought to myself, wait why not?  That mess that you see is shaving cream mixed with a liquid food coloring that doesn't stain.  Now while I would not do this INSIDE my house, there is no reason I can't set up this fun little project outside on the girls plastic picnic table.  Afterward, I can hose down the table and the girls.   I'm pretty sure they would play with this for at least an hour outside.  This is a perfect thing to give them to do this summer when I'm ready to ship them off to another continent.  They get out of the house to play, and I get a little peace inside to clean, write or even poop.  

I just wanted to share this with all of you so you too can give this to your kids to do.  Get the cheapest cans of shaving cream you can find and liquid food coloring.  I think you can find that at an art supply store like Michael's.  I believe it says on the outside of the bottle that it won't stain most clothing.  

The other art room we went to  had a different sensory project that was also easy and just as fun.  Something else to put outside on the picnic table!  They filled containers with corn starch, water and food coloring.  The corn starch and water make this kind of quicksand type substance.  It feels solid and liquidy all at the same time.  It's really fun to squish through your fingers too.  I could have played with that for hours!

So there you are my friends.  A couple very simple although very messy things for your kids to play with to help out with the "I'm bored" whines this summer.  I would suggest putting them in messy clothes, and for sure doing these outside.  Otherwise it defeats the purpose of making your life easier.  

We have another class we are going to next Tuesday, so if they have any more good, fun easy ideas I will pass them along!  Here's to hoping we all make it through the summer alive.