Giant Autumn Tree - Child-Directed Wall Art

The other day we were having a lazy morning at home. It's been so busy around here lately with family and school commitments. I ran across this blog post on The Artful Parent that had a picture of a giant paper tree on the wall. I showed it to Meg and we both agreed we needed one of these on our wall. The one on the linked blog looks to be made of brown paper. We didn't have any on hand, so I gave Meg a few options. We could run to Home Depot to get some, we could use the plain white butcher paper we have in the studio and just have a white tree (wouldn't that be pretty for winter?), or we could paint our butcher paper brown. My girl heard paint, and all other discussion was set aside! :D

Meg told me which colors to squirt into the empty pie tin each time we filled it (yellow-brown-green, orange-brown-black, and brown-red-white), and she used sponges to paint a looooooong stretch of paper.

After it dried, we brought it inside, and Meg cut it into a trunk and branches (with a little guidance from me). We pieced everything on the family room floor as we went, then taped all the pieces together with Scotch tape.

I then taped the whole thing to the wall, again with Scotch tape, because it's what we had handy. That part was a little intimidating, but not too tricky once I got the trunk secured. Our walls aren't heavily textured, so the Scotch tape is holding fine. If you have more texture on your walls, you might try masking tape, push pins, blue tack, or staples.

We used faux leaves from Dollar Tree (50/$1) to decorate the branches. I also had some fake maple leaves with letters glued on spelling out Meg's name left over from last year's Little Bear party, so we taped those up too.

Overall, the tree may not be as pretty as our inspiration piece, but it's Meg's art from start to finish, and we think that's beautiful!

Painting Puddles

Monsoon season has brought with it some delightfully drizzly days to our desert home. Meg has been having a blast sailing leaves down the gutter, splashing around, and using her umbrella for its intended purpose. We've also been able to have some fun art experiences perfectly suited to this weather.

I offered her some cups of liquid watercolor and brushes, and she went to town painting on the rain-soaked concrete.

Meg loved using such an enormous canvas, and by the end of the day, the rain had washed everything away for us, making Mommy cleanup completely unnecessary.

Print-Making with Bubble Wrap

Another activity we did earlier this summer whose pictures I've dug up and am dusting off.

I laid out a few sheets of bubble wrap I'd squirreled away from packages I'd received. One with big bubbles, one with small.

We painted the bubbles with tempera paint, laid a sheet of paper over the wet paint and rubbed, then pulled it up to reveal a fun, polka dot print.

We haven't decided what to use our new rainbow polka dot paper for yet. Perhaps we'll cut it up to make collage materials or fold it into cards. It'd make lovely wrapping paper. Possibilities, possibilities...

Pretend Flower Arranging / Potting - Outdoor Sensory Play

Sometimes I'll do an activity with Meg, photograph our fun, edit and upload the photos for the blog, and then just let them sit and sit and sit. I don't know why it is that some blog posts just write themselves and others I'll just sit and stare at before clicking away to mindlessly surf Pinterest. But that's the way this one was. So enough of that. Here are some pictures of a fun, sensory, pretend play outdoor activity we did earlier this summer and have revisited a few times since.

The invitation: I filled her sensory table with a bag of organic "vegetable garden" soil. I wanted to be sure the soil I used was safe for her to be playing in. I offered a few potting containers from Dollar Tree and some stems of faux flowers, also from Dollar Tree.

She did some potting...

but preferred planting.

Her beautiful garden.

Toddler / Preschooler First Embroidery Project

My daughter sees me embroidering frequently, and she loves when I let her help, holding her hands to guide the needle where I want it, and letting her puuuuuuuull the thread taught on her own. I made this fun box activity with that in mind, after having seen it mentioned on many a preschool blog.

I used some rubbery shelf liner from Dollar Tree, an extra embroidery hoop, yarn, and a blunt yarn needle. I threaded the needle and knotted the two ends of the yarn together so it wouldn't come unthreaded. Soon I'll teach her to thread it herself, so she can switch colors on her own.

It was so sweet to watch my little one diligently working away at her embroidery, curled up in a corner of the family room. She even took the hoop to bed with her at nap time. It won't be long before she'll be ready for a sharp needle and some Aida cloth. Then the real fun begins!

(Do warn your child that if s/he pulls too hard, the backing can rip. Meg only had to do it once to figure that out the hard way.)





Other activities in the series:
Color Matching with Gift Bows
Magnetic Colored Popsicle Sticks
Magnetic Pom Pom Balls
Erasers and Suction Cups Activity
Paint Chip Matching Game
Uppercase and Lowercase Matching Eggs
Animal Matching Game
Pool Noodle Art
Button Snake Toy
Memory Matching Toy
Ribbons in a Bottle Toy
Clothespin Clipping Toy
Pom Pom Push Toy
Pipe Cleaner Poking Toy
Fun Boxes