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Art Attack

I finally got started on some art and craft activities for the kids. And by art and craft, I mean I got color pencils, coloring books and a bunch of stickers for the kids. You see, a few months back, I attempted chalk on the corridor but it didn’t turn out quite so well. Tru was more interested in doing a leopard crawl on the sidewalk most of the time and Kirsten was busy eating the chalk so I figured this time, I’ll go easy on them, start with the basics, you know.

Surprisingly, they took to it a lot better this time. Tru is like an expert on coloring these days because he’s been doing a lot of that in school, I reckon. And baby girl is trying to imitate everything her brother does so she observed him intently, then picked up a color pencil and got cracking as well.

Being the domineering big brother, Tru took it upon himself to educate her on the fine art of coloring. Mostly he was all like “OH NO KIRSTEN, SO MESSY!” and I was expecting his to be some sort of a masterpiece but when I looked, it was EXACTLY THE SAME. Identical blobs of mess in different colors.

So of course I had to show them how real coloring was done. Behold, my magnum opus. When I was done with it, Tru stole my credit and insisted it was his by making me write his name on it. Way to go, thunder-stealer.

Then came the fun part – STICKERS! Every kid I know (and some adults too) loves stickers, even fugly ones. It’s like “Thundering typhoons this colorful plastic thing has got adhesive, you mean I can attach it to stuff and have it stay there? Then why am I using color pencils in the first place when I can just stick stuff, momma?” That should have been the point I explained the importance of learning fine motor skills and how to grip a pencil and artistic expression but I know they will just look at me like I’m a crackpot so I didn’t bother.

Seeing how successful this went, I think I’ll try something more ambitious the next round. Ideas, anyone?

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19 Comments

  • Reply Tin September 16, 2010 at 2:36 pm

    The colouring books in the pictures appeared to be a little too sophisticated for the little ones. Try bigger one item pictures like apple, tree, etc.. on each page? Yah, too boring, I know!

    BTW, my son who is 4 doesn’t know how to hold the pencil nor colour until recently…

    • Reply Daphne September 16, 2010 at 11:28 pm

      Haha i think i will go even easier like really basic shapes. Circles, bigger circles, smaller circles..you get the idea.

  • Reply Madeline September 16, 2010 at 5:11 pm

    Ambitious you say? How about fabric painting? You can buy some plain t-shirts and paint their names/nicknames on the front. Thats what I was planning to do one of these days… haha.

    Oh yah, and I love your current new blog skin picture! Fits the title “2 babies and counting” a little better.. =)

    • Reply Daphne September 16, 2010 at 11:32 pm

      Fabric painting sounds fun! Uh, i assume you get the water soluble paintings or wacchamightcallit?

      See I really need help.

      About the blog header pic – yeah I’ve been wanting to change it for a while but couldn’t find a nice one of them both together?

      • Reply Madeline September 17, 2010 at 4:35 pm

        It’s called Dylon Fabric Paint which they sell in Art Friend. After painting, iron the T-shirt when its inside out and you can wash the t-shirt. =)

  • Reply Ing September 16, 2010 at 11:00 pm

    How about finger painting? That’s kinda ambitious considering the mess. :)
    Like the new look of your blog… lovely pic of your two kids.

    • Reply Daphne September 16, 2010 at 11:36 pm

      Yeah I remember lazymummy doing facepainting with her girl and I freaked out when I saw the post. I was like THE MESS IT’LL KILL ME I HAVE NO HELPER OK??

      But I’ve come to realise that a contained mess is better than widespread nuclear destruction. Not the best analogy ever but you get the drift.

  • Reply Lazymummy September 17, 2010 at 2:38 am

    I was about to suggest hand painting. The mess is ok, just remember to get washable paints and let them wear old clothes. I get white t-shirts from Daiso and those are painting shirts for them.

    It’s really fun and you can join in as well!

    • Reply Daphne September 20, 2010 at 4:37 pm

      Ya i was inspired by your hand-painting post. Very nice…and indoors too, amazingly!

      let’s hope we get what I can consider a ‘beautiful disaster’..

  • Reply Jus September 20, 2010 at 12:12 pm

    I agree with lazymummy, try hand painting using food colouring, or get cheapo paintbrushes from Daiso for them. Use those plastic bibs… or if you dare, put mahjong paper out in the corridor, put food colouring (diluted with water) in a spray bottle and let them squirt it all over!
    Jus´s last post ..Monday made- Reusing egg trays

    • Reply Daphne September 20, 2010 at 4:39 pm

      Ah the expert speaketh! Thanks Jus. I’m actually going to start compiling some of your blog posts for ideas to entertain the kids.

      Food colouring is GENIUS. I have a bit of space to the right of my house (dunno what you call it – staircase landing since there’s no lift) so I might try it there as well. Still not psychologically ready for the house to be any messier than it already is.
      Daphne´s last post ..When life isn’t all sunshine and fairydust

      • Reply Jus September 24, 2010 at 1:10 pm

        Hey, am so honoured you’ll be using some of them posts!

        Staircase landing’s great for messes I guess! I can understand, cleaning up after art is usually a nightmare. Another thing you could try would be to get those paper punches from Daiso, punch out shapes and get Tru to glue them on another piece of paper (and help Kristen too?)? Might be cheaper than stickers. :)
        Jus´s last post ..Thankful Tuesdays- Grandparent greatness

  • Reply Yen September 20, 2010 at 4:30 pm

    Oh fun! I found some stickers in the shape of dresses, hats, hand bags and the works in popular the other day. I drew some stick figurines and Janice had a ball just dressing those stick figures up! I had a good peaceful 45 mins during a church meeting because she was so busy taking out the dresses, putting on hand bags and glasses!
    finger painting is fun with sand and sparkles because they absolutely adore the texture. BUT the mess is not for the faint hearted. LOL

  • Reply Daphne September 20, 2010 at 4:43 pm

    Janice is such a good girl, great attention span and she’s just under two years old. Truett loves stickers but his attention span for each is like, 2 minutes. I obviously have to restock like crazy everytime I come across a pasar malam. I’m going to try your method with Kirsten when she’s a little older

    Sand and sparkle can be easily obtained from Art Friend right? time to go there for a visit..
    Daphne´s last post ..When life isn’t all sunshine and fairydust

  • Reply erin morey February 13, 2012 at 9:38 pm

    I bought one of those give rolls of heavy brown package paper.tape the edges to the table making one fabulous giant canvas, strip the kids down to skivies and bust out the paint! So very fun!

    I also dyed plain white rice different colors using about 1/2 tsp of vinager and LOTS of food color. Let it dry on wax paper overnight. Then put down a drop cloth, and toss a ton of measuring cups, spoons, different shape containers and funnels. I swear I had TWENTY MINUTES OF BLESSED QUIET NO TANTRUM, NO BORED WHINES! it was amazing! Lol.

    • Reply Daphne February 13, 2012 at 10:05 pm

      Love the colored rice idea!! The kids will love them, will try them soon! :) Btw, how long can you keep it for? Like will the rice go bad or something?

  • Reply erin morey February 13, 2012 at 10:09 pm

    Honestly I’m not sure lol….its dry rice and I have BAGS of it all over the house. I guess the only way it goes bad is if it gets pretty wet and mushy. Btw I just found out that the dying apparently works with dry pasta (macaroni n such) gonna try it today.

    • Reply Daphne February 14, 2012 at 10:07 am

      Sounds fun! I’ve got some alphabet pasta lying around.. Let me know how it turns out if you do try it

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