#4 of the $10 Toddler Time Series--Great Finger Paint Tip

Back in my old life (the one I had before I became a wife and mom), I worked at a preschool. It was a lot of fun for the most part and I picked up a lot of great ideas to use now that I am the mom of a 2.5 year old.
One good lesson was to go with the flow. See how that played out for this week's toddler craft time.

The conversation went something along the lines of this:
Me: Emily let's do some arts and crafts now so mommy can blog about it and share with the world. We're going to make super cute ladybugs.
Emily: No thank you.
Me: What?! You don't want to make ladybugs so we can count their spots??? (sounding a little disappointed)
Emily: Nah.
Daddy interjects: What about Christmas Trees?
Emily: YEAHHHHH
Me: Ummm, Christmas is over. What about Valentine's Day hearts?
Emily: No, I want to make Christmas Trees. Let's do that!
Me: How about we make a big sun and we'll do some painting?
Emily: Yeahhh and make snowmen?!
Me: Nooo. We are not making snowmen today.
(Had there actually been SNOW on the ground, we would have totally made real snowmen, but it was in the 60's today and sunny.)

Here's what you'll need to do what we did:

Paint--Already had ($1 each color to buy)

Paper Plate (I'm classy like that, ya know?!)--Already had ($1 for 10 or use some leftover birthday ones!)

Paintbrush--Already had ($1 for some cheap-o ones)

Paper--Already had ($5 for 150 sheets)

Liquid Soap--Already had ($1 to buy)

Not necessary, but nice to have for this and other projects:

Hole punch--Already had thanks to my awesome hubby! ($25 to buy)

Glue--Already had ($1 to buy)

Scissors--Already had ($1 to buy)
Smock*--Already had (used one of Matt's old t-shirts. See note at bottom)

So that's what we did. I broke out my new circle punch. It's a 3.5" massive punch that I happen to be loving right now! I punched out a yellow circle and got out some paint. Now you could paint a circle to start with, you can also cut a circle out with scissors...I wanted an excuse to use my new punch. I glued it down on a sheet of paper and demonstrated without paint, how we were going to do the project since I would need to be taking pics and couldn't guide her the whole time. I painted her fingers and thumb on her right hand and let her place her hand around the circle to make the sun rays.
 

Oh! The super awesome tip to share: Add liquid soap to the paint! It REALLY helps make clean-up a lot easier!! Just add a few drops to each color and mix. 

 So here's how it went..Pretty well, I'll say. 

After a few times of me pushing down on her hand, she wouldn't let me help anymore.
I forgot I was raising Miss Independent. 

 She painted a little more with a brush after the sun was finished.

       And it ALWAYS makes Emily happy when Daddy joins in on the fun :) 

Clean up was a breeze! 

Warm water took care of her hands, the brushes and our dining room table.
Now, let's hope that sometime this week she'll want to do those ladybugs!

*Easy Smock--Find an old adult sized t-shirt. I used one of Matt's old shirts. I cut about 4" out of the back of the shirt (lay shirt flat on table and eyeball a few inches to cut out. You'll want to cut from the collar all the way to the bottom seam--just cut it off of the shirt) but you can cut more or less, depending on the kid and shirt sizes, to make the opening. I use a safety pin to keep the collar tight.  I just throw the shirt up in the spare shower when it's not in use.