A Day of Art

liquid watercolors

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The other day when the Bit was home sick, I encouraged her to do lots of different kinds of art. It didn’t take much encouragement, because she loves to play with markers, paint and stickers.

But I thought it would be interesting to document all the different things we did, and I share it in the hope that it will inspire you to try some different things with your kids, embrace the mess, the creativity and the fun of creating with (and creations made by) your kids.

Coloring on the Floor

drwaing on floor
This kind of drawing on the floor is encouraged!

OK, this first one is cheating a little because it actually happened the night before the rest, but it’s too much fun not to mention. When the Bit first started playing with crayons we had a big pad of grid paper we weren’t using that we gave her to draw on. She loved it, but it had been a while since we’d had any big paper.

This is a pad made for using on an easel, but we don’t have an easel and it works just as well on the floor. (I mostly cropped them out of the picture but she also had her recycled alphabet crayons here.)

She’s getting good at lines!

Liquid Watercolors

The next day’s art exploration began with using liquid watercolors I’d made her the day before (and will share more about tomorrow). I wanted to try them because she has trouble with dry watercolors — she uses too much water and is always dipping the brush in the water right after putting it in the paint rather than painting the paper.

liquid watercolors
Painting liquid watercolors with a brush.

I gave her just a little paint and one color at a time to keep the mess down. She’d brush a little bit with each color before pouring the rest of the paint on the paper, which led to lots of paint soaking through the paper and into the newspaper below (so plan accordingly should you try these!).

pouring liquid watercolors
The project after pouring watercolors on.

But it was fun, and the results were pretty.

Dots and Stickers

star stickers
Any kind of markers and stickers are fun.

I already wrote about the dots and stickers project, but I just wanted to mention it again because dot markers are so much fun for kids. I got mine at the dollar store but I there are washable versions as well (as it is these wash/wear off pretty fast).

And of course stickers are a universal favorite, but I only recently added them to our art supply stash. It’s fun to see how kids decide to use them and with what other supplies.

Glitter Markers and More Stickers

glitter markers
More markers, more stickers. I love how this one looks like a (one color) rainbow.

She didn’t quite get her sticker fix (or her dot fix, apparently) with the dot project, so when the glitter markers came out she wanted to add a few more to that drawing.

The Bit loves the glitter markers, they are probably her favorite kind of marker. They’re so much easier for little kids to use than glitter glue pens, and though the end result looks more like a marker (it’s not raised like glitter glue) it still makes a pretty effect. And it’s nice with glittery stickers, too.

What About Paint?

painting
Actually using a brush to paint. Shocking.

Yes, we use plain old paint sometimes, too. This is regular Crayola washable paint. We also use the washable fingerpaint a lot, but that didn’t get out on this day. She doesn’t really care if the package says fingerpaint or regular paint, it usually ends up on her hands.

This was the first time I ever let her paint without a smock. I think she managed to stay clean. And she was in pajamas anyway.

Lest you think I kept my kid locked in her highchair all day, I should let you know that the timestamp on the first picture I took of her doing art was 8:09; the last was 8:47. She works fast!

Sidewalk Chalk

chalking the sidewalk
The Bit tries out a two-color chalk.

It was a pretty day, at least part of the day, so I thought it was time to break out the sidewalk chalk. I bought this big collection of sidewalk chalk and sidewalk crayons and other goodies last summer but we never used them for some reason (it was hot, probably, and the only suitable “sidewalk” we have for coloring is our covered deck, which means washing up by hand).

She loved it. Again with the lines!

sidewalk chalk
The chalked sidewalk.

At some point she discovered she could color on the brick part of the house, too. This was mostly while I was inside making lunch; I did not tell her it was OK to draw on the house. But really she did a fine job of keeping it on the brick instead of the siding, and the rain we’ve had lately has washed all that away.

chalk on bricks
I guess it's brick chalk, too.

And More

I’m pretty sure later in the day she got out some different markers (she also loves the “gel” markers, which look cool on dark paper), maybe some more stickers, etc., etc. There’s a lot of art happening here! I hope there’s some going on in your house, too. I’d love to hear what your kids’ favorite art supplies/activities are!

Thanks for visiting, sharing and commenting!

This post is linked to the Mommy Club Link Up at Milk and Cuddles and It’s Playtime, which featured my St. Patrick’s Day Sensory Box this week! Thanks, ladies! Check these sites out for more great crafting ideas.


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4 Comments

  1. Thanks so much, Deb! It was a lot of fun seeing what she’d do. We spent a long time last night doing art, too; I just love it when she wants to do that.

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