Our HEartworks!

We've been spending a lot of times indoors lately due to the extremely cold weather and snow!  I CANNOT wait until the spring!  At this point, I would take a sunny day above 40 degrees.  My boys NEED to be outside.  They NEED to run.  They MISS the dirt!  BUT, we're making the best of it.  Today for the first time, all three of my guys sat at the table doing an art project.  It was the sweetest!  They were all so into it and it was interesting to see how each of them interpreted the project.  It got us talking about COLORS and SHAPES and created opportunities for the boys to REQUEST, TAKE TURNS, and SHARE...

I started the day by using my Silhouette Cameo to cut some heart shapes for some other Valentine craft ideas I have.  Once the shapes are cut, you're left with their stencil.  I'm a bit of a hoarder, so I couldn't just throw them out.  Instead, we used them for our art project today!  And even if you don't have your own cutting machine, you can still use this idea by cutting a heart out the old fashioned way.  Fold a piece of paper in half and cut half a heart.  Open up the paper and you'll have a heart cut out plus the stencil of a heart.  Here's what you'll need for the full experience:

Paper

Stencil of a heart(s) - this should either be heavy paper or a foam sheet would be even better

Red paint

White paint

Paper plate

Paintbrushes

Tape

To prep for this project, I put a garbage bag on our work space.  This worked out great.  It caught the mess and when we were all done, I threw everything on top of it, scooped it up, and tossed it!  Also, when I'm painting with my little guys, I always keep next to the table: a roll of paper towels, a wet washcloth, and wipes (and I always end up using them).  The rule is: you can't get up from the table until you get your hands wiped.

Tape your heart stencils to a piece of paper making sure that the tape doesn't block the actual heart.  I used cardstock, but a foam sheet would be ideal because there wouldn't be the chance of the paint leaking through the paper.

I told the boys that we were going to make the color PINK using TWO paint colors.  Mikey actually remembered the Halloween project we did creating ORANGE from RED and YELLOW.  That made me smile!  Mikey (2 1/2) has finally mastered his colors.  I feel like we talked about colors forever and then one day... he just knew them!  I asked them to guess which two colors would make PINK and after throwing out some answers, Buddy (4) said WHITE and RED. 

I gave each boy a squirt of red and white on their paper plates and they got to work mixing them together.  I used finger paints so I encouraged them to use their hands to create more of a SENSORY experience as well.  At first they hesitated but in the end, Buddy and Mikey ended up using their hands and paintbrushes.  Mighty (16 months) was not having his hands in all that paint.  He touched it a little with his fingers but much preferred the paintbrush I handed him.  Mighty was thrilled to be sitting at the table with his big brothers (usually I keep him in the highchair for these types of activities). 

Once their colors were mixed and they each had their own shade of pink, I told them to paint the HEARTS on their papers.  I like doing art projects like this because they are free to paint as they wish.  The paint can cover the whole page and doesn't have to be confined, but in the end, they'll each have heart shapes.

Throughout the activity, we talked about the COLORS we used and HEART shapes.  The boys also did a lot of trading with the paintbrushes, which was great practice with SHARING and TAKING TURNS.  For Mighty, I made sure to have him request "more" when he needed paint.

Once they were all done, I cleaned them up and the table up, then we were ready for the big reveal.  I pulled the stencil paper off to reveal their HEARTworks and the were very excited.  I think they came our great!  You could even do it on a canvas to create a real piece of art to hang on the wall.

 

This was our first Valentine activity of the season!  Stay tuned for more to come...

Love & Language,

Marisa