The weather report had originally stated that the rains were coming with an 80% chance of rain beginning at 3am and not ending until at least the early evening. When we woke up this morning it was grey overcast outside so I planned a hunker down sort of day thinking that since the outside was going to be covered with water we could play inside. It was Toddler Art Day!
Sparkle Bottle: I had Lydia fill the bottle about half way with large sparkles and pom poms which she loved. It was likely her favorite thing all morning. Then I filled it up with water and but the lid back on it. She shook that thing silly. The inspiration was from Pinterest.
Paint with Water: It must have been over a month ago now, I picked this little book up at Target. It comes with a little water brush that you fill up and the end is a brush. As you paint the picture is uncovered. Lydia really liked it but I had to give her a toddler brush to grab because she smooched the tiny brush pretty fast. I can not decide if it's cool or a cruel trick on kids because once the picture dried completely it disappeared again. Great for reuse I suppose.
Play-Do and Pipe Cleaners: At first we tried to just squeeze the play-do but that was short lived entertainment. Then I shaped a couple of pipe cleaners into circles and Lydia thought this was a great idea. She would made little balls of clay and but them in the circles. We made some faces. She just torn up little pieces and filled the circles. Who knew the fun!
Painting: Lydia really likes to paint. Mostly she likes to blend the colors and occasionally taste the paint to make sure it's still good. This time I got a little smart and put down giant white paper that I have which has a sticky end to it, kind of like a giant post it note. This allowed for an easy tradition to finger painting and helped with her bottom brush strokes.
Finger Painting: She was curious on the feel of the regular paint as any toddler is so she put her hands in it. I thought let's finger paint! So I removed the top picture and put some finger paint on the bottom sheet for her. This time I decided to do one color at a time which I think was better. By the time, I got the camera ready this time she wanted the paint off her hands. It's very sticky stuff.
Coloring: Our cousin gave Lydia the cutest crayons. They can be stack on top of each other and some are in the shapes of little animals. I also have the triangle shaped chunky ones for her. She really enjoyed the sorting of things more than coloring at this point, but it gave me a chance to clean up a little and grade a couple of papers.
The traditional art portion of the day now complete we moved on to tents and tunnels. I put up the pop beach tent and set up the bubble machine my other cousin gave us for my bubble obsessed girl. She thought this was the greatest thing that has ever happened. It was handy for me because the bubble soap was contained and not all over the hardwood which can get very slippery. When the bubbles were finished we played with the soap inside the tent for a bit and then went on to the tunnel which was just elaborate peek a boo.
By this point, it was clear that the weather man was very very wrong. Not a drop of rain had fallen from the sky. It is a little cooler out but really beautiful. Feeling like we should get out of the house for a bit, we took a trip to the craft store. I thought that was appropriate and now we have all new ideas for our next art day!
