Do you ever get stuck in a rut when it comes to activities with your little ones? Maybe you’ve colored your way through ten coloring books, or perhaps you’ve come to the end of your ever-loving Lego wits.
Yep, me too. I’ve got to confess that we’ve been in just such a rut lately. For some reason our go-to art activity has been play-doh for months. We made play-doh trains, bugs, snakes, letters, and shapes. We’re play-doh-ed out, thank you very much. So a few weeks ago I decided it was time to break the cycle, climb out of that rut, and try something new.
I love using everyday items in a new way for toddler art activities. I think recycling items in this way really encourages that creative, elastic thinking that I want to build up in my son. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that most of these activities are pretty inexpensive as well!
As I was scrolling through Pinterest, I saw lots of inspiration for painting with pom-poms. This is our little attempt at it! Since my son is a younger toddler at this point, I prefer to keep art activities more open-ended.
We weren’t aiming for any specific look to the end product. My main focus was to just give an invitation to paint, and let his creativity take charge from there. And boy, did it ever take charge!
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Take a peek at our pom-pom painting process art experience!
Materials: Pom poms, clothespins, paint, and construction paper. Also, I always throw down cheap plastic place mats so we don’t have to worry about messes! (These place mats from Melissa & Doug are super cute!)
Hey, there’s my little man! My sweet boy loved the process of dipping and dunking his pom-poms. This activity is fantastic for developing that pincer grasp. It’s perfect for building the hand muscles that lead to drawing and pre-writing.
We experimented with the painting process: adding new colors, layering colors together to make a new color, and testing out the difference between a dry brush and a wet brush stroke. This was so much fun!
Of course I couldn’t resist the opportunity to practice the early learning essentials. As we painted we talked about colors, numbers, and shapes. We practiced one-to-one ratio as he counted each dot. I had my little guy name each color as he chose it, and we also talked about circles and ovals. Early learning for the win!
I’m so glad we tried something new! Since this painting project was so much fun (and a lot less messy than I anticipated) it’s encouraged us to break out the paints more often.
I’ll definitely be trying out and testing a few new painting activities to use in my early learning Bible curriculum, too!
Keep an eye out for new curriculum packs, and be sure to grab the curriculum currently available from my resources shop here.
I designed my early learning curriculum packs to help any mom seamlessly integrate early learning skills plus Bible knowledge and discipleship. As a teacher, I’ve developed each pack to give you hands-on learning activities that will really hook your young learner in!
Each month-long study includes a step-by-step guide, three projects per week all laid out for you, and super helpful bonuses like recommended reading and theme related songs. If you’re a mama who wants to teach your child at home (yes, even if you’re not homeschooling!) these curriculum packs are perfect for you!
Alright, mama, here’s my challenge for you! Are you stuck in an activity rut? Rummage through your junk drawer. Throw together some sort of crazy makeshift paint brush. Then watch your kiddo create!
I’d love to know about the awesome art you create! Share your favorite rut-busting art projects below 🙂
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Love it! We’re going to try this today.