Polka dot painting

My idea: 'A hand-painted polka dot cotton table cloth for the children's table.' 

My children's idea: 'Lots of paint mixing and smearing, handprinting, hiding under the tablecloth and a few random dots.'



Still like the outcome, though.

I don't want to paint! You do it mummy!

'I don't want to do painting! You do it mummy!' This is Mr A's typical response to most of my invitations to painting. I have figured out by now that if it is not on a big scale or it does not have a specific purpose or it is not incredibly messy or it does not include cars, then it will not work. 

The following worked for us recently :)

Window painting...

Feet painting, followed by rolling in paint...

Bubble wrap monoprinting...

Painting a bird house... 

Painting a garage for cars and then some wheel painting...

Sharks, manta rays, giant squids, mud skippers... (Project I)

For weeks Mr A has been carrying around a handful of magazine cut-outs of ocean animals and all the nature books that have anything to do with Sea Life (Project I). We even borrowed a book about sharks from the library, which he refuses to return back.

                                       'This is MY shark book!' 

Some of our favourite books:

- Maurice Pledger: Sounds of the Wild, Ocean (Miss R loves this one too)

- John Norris Wood: Nature Hide and Seek, Oceans

- Usborne Discovery, Sharks

Since then, we have been pretend playing sea animals on a daily basis. Daddy is really god at that - it gets a bit loud at times, but Mr A  and Miss R absolutely love it. 

We also watched several episodes of Blue World by Jonathan Bird. These are great for children; each episode is only 10 min long, discusses one animal and does not seem to be too scary for my boy.

We visited the local pet shop, National Salife Birmingham and then built a sealife centre at home.

                  
                                           


Mr A painted a whale shark and a manta ray (I should probably mention that painting activities only last for about 5 min and then he is off), while his little sister was happily munching on her art...


                            

We made the Atlantic Ocean in a glass bowl... This process took so much patience and focus; he was trying to stack all the large stones into some sort of tower and it kept collapsing over and over again.

  

  

We sculpted numerous manta rays, lionfish, hammerhead sharks and squids... And ate some playdough...

                            

I love how we are learning together. For example, I have never heard of a wobegong shark before.

My little girl...

My little girl doesn't wear white tights, glittery shoes and fluffy coats...

Her hair is rarely neat and tidy, and her fingernails aren't clean...

My little girl crawls in mud, eats sand, kisses puddles of water, paints her face and kneads playdough...

Her clothes are usually stained, her hair is tangled up and her fingernails reveal evidence of the most recent exploration...

But she is a happy little girl