Pinecone Art

Today we collected pinecones and painted them for Christmas and Thanksgiving.

Using a cardboard tray we rolled the pinecones in paint.  We had fun talking about the colors and using action words such as "roll".   

These will look nice on our mantel for the holidays.

Painting With Toddlers

We have been doing some painting recently.  Adeline really enjoys painting.  I think one reason she enjoys it is that it is easier then coloring.  To color with crayons she has to apply more pressure to receive color, painting give a easy quick color.

When painting with young child:

1.  always dress them is old clothing

2.  provide different textures to paint on  

3.  use washable paint

4.  use thick paintbrushes -- This is less frustrating.

5.  have a paintbrush for each color if possible  

6.  lay paper down on table and floor

7.  have wipes handy for messy fingers

 I like to provide simple pictures to paint and color.

Painting on foil.

Painting on bubble wrap.

Painting on a cardboard box.

Painting with young children can be a bit challenging at times but with a little planning everyone can have fun.

Painting Sand Castles

Oh, the weather here is just frightful, and I really planned to do this project outside but we moved it in.  We have had rain and tornado watches for the past few days so we needed to release some energy.   we are painting sand castles.  Not sure how this would work but it worked and it was fun. 


I started with some old jello molds that we found at a flea market. I added some wet sand and a little more water and froze for 24 hours.  We then started painting.

Adeline thought the painting was great!