This summer we got creative with art! We were lucky to recycle turf and used it to create a textured painting. Finnigan said, “Look Amanda, the grass is wiggly.” Audrey laughed and began to imitate Finnigan by wiggling her grass like a snake. Abby and Ayoub asked for more paint as they found the activity calming and engaged quietly while focused. The grass allowed the toddlers to explore texture and different line patterns on their paper. We concluded that painting is more enjoyable when we involve the exploration of different tools. The following days we used wooden sticks to practice our fine motor skills. Audrey would make spiral circles, dipping her wooden stick into the black paint. Oscar was making straight lines. Anna said she was writing her name as she focused on her fine print, “Amanda, can you write my name?” she asked.
To end our painting exploration, we decided to create new shades of paint. Using all the colors we had we grabbed the big jug of white paint and poured it into every color. Amanda asked the children to assist her by mixing the paint. Finnigan suggested that the blue paint would turn into light blue. Ruby and Audrey guessed that the red would turn into pink. “I want pink paint, this will be pink” said Anna. “Look, Anna, I have purple” shared Ruby. Once all our colors were mixed with white we were excited to paint with the shades we created. This was a fun way to explore color theory by working together to mix the paint and create new pastel shades.
