Ice Painting is a fantastic summer activity for so many reasons. It is a great form of sensory play with all of the learning experiences that go with it – talking about how temperature, texture, colours etc. It is also another way for a little one to express their creativity. Plus, the really obvious fact that it is cold, which makes it a perfect activity on a hot day!
Hi everybody, Daddy here, aka Hubby.
It’s Mummy’s birthday today, and because I’ve been off with the Monkey and Mummy over Easter, and have a couple of extra days off as well, I thought it was time I put my creative juices to the test, and make Mummy a birthday card, with Monkey’s help of course.
Now, my day job is very much office-based. There’s more management in my day than there used to be, but essentially I am a keyboard warrior, and pretty much always have been.
I do love doing crafty things, and love gardening and making things, and cooking, but I really have never been that creative, so the Creative Challenge really is for me!
I always have an idea in my head of what I want things to look like, but it’s normally quite vague at the same time, and translating it into something actually in front of me is where I really struggle.
I can look at something and say whether its good or bad, the problem is that I rarely look at anything I have made and think it looks good!
So, onto the card making. Mummy and Monkey have been doing a lot of card making recently, and I decided to go with the “Monkey Random Painting Generator” technique.
As you bloggers and blog-readers have probably already seen, Monkey loves to paint, and he loves to mix the colours – a LOT.
He just can’t let those paints sit all nice and neat together.
It starts like above, and then very quickly gets to this (check out the Monkey-Eye-View below).
But it does make for some really interesting patterns which can be great for card making.
Check out those colour combos!
So Monkey has made all the ingredients for the card, it’s now up to me to make it. I’ve decided to make this a card from Monkey to Mummy, and the only thing I have had in my head is to try and make something with a birthday cake on it.
Throughout the day, as I have been waiting for the paintings to dry, I wondered if I could make a shape that looked enough like a cake, and tried to think about how to do some candles for it.
Note that at this point I have no idea what else is going to go on the card – I think I’ll wing it! For such a serious planner, there are times where I just “do it on the night”. Looks like this is one of those times.
Ok here’s what I have to work with.
Lots to choose from so as you can see I have cut out the shape for the cake, and also had what I hope will be a great idea for the candles, by taking that fiery looking bit to use the yellow for the the flames.
They don’t look bad!
Here’s the cake all stuck down.
One candle left, oh well.
Here’s where the wheels fall off the wagon.
Mummy likes hearts and stars, so I try to cut some out, and, well, they are rubbish.
After several attempts at hearts, I finally get something that does look half decent, and decide to cut out an “I heart U” style motif. Stupidly though, I write the message on the front of the card without thinking about where everything is going to go, so I have a choice of where to put the other bits.
So I haven’t cut out the star yet, and still aren’t sure which of the above designs to go with, but I’m pretty happy with both really. It will all come down to the star I cut out.
I thought the heart was difficult…
I started by reminding myself of the classic freehand, single-stroke star.
I then started cutting with scissors, and kept looking back at this star for guidance, thinking I should surely be able to do something that looks a bit like it (not that my drawing is very good).
But then, I have no idea how, but as soon as I have finished cutting it out, I realise that despite spending ages cutting carefully and looking back at the star above, I have randomly cut out a Star of David instead! WTF?
I mean how on earth do you accidentally cut out a 6 point star instead of a 5 point star? Hello?
Anyway, after several other tries later and a few swear words, I have something I’m happy enough with to go on the card.
So here it is. The finished card. Now, I know it’s not good, but I am just hoping Mummy can see that it was made with love, and see that it really took some effort (despite how random and slapdash it actually looks!).
I hope you enjoyed the first Daddy Post. I promise not to come back too often – Mummy clearly has more skills on the blogging and Creative Challenge front than me – but this has been great fun to write and to share my little attempt at creativity!
Happy Easter!! Hope you have all had a lovely relaxed weekend so far and eaten lots of chocolate? No? Well there’s still time!
We’ve had lots of Easter fun so far this year!
We’ve made Easter Nests, Easter Cards and been on an Easter Hunt, and Monkey has loved every minute!
Easter Nests
There is obviously different ways of making easter nests but I like to use Shredded Wheat, as then they feel a bit more nest-y.
So we used:
1 pack of Shredded Wheat 16s
400g Belgian Milk Chocolate (we are a little in love with the Waitrose own brand Belgian Milk Chocolate at the mo – seriously, you should try it, yummy!!) We actually used a little less than this as I had scoffed some beforehand, but it would’ve been better if we had the whole bars!
Mini Eggs
Basically you bash up the Shredded Wheat, Monkey helped with this, until it is really fine. I actually find using the end of a big rolling pin is the best bashing method! Lots of fun!!
Melt chocolate, we do it over the hob in a bowl over simmering water, but I hear microwaving is very easy too!
Mix, then scoop into cake cases, and add eggs.
Very simple, tasty chocolatey fun! 🙂
Easter Cards
After the success of Granny’s birthday card a couple of weeks ago, i thought we’d use a similar method for Easter cards and involve monkey with some finger painting! The first time we tried unfortunately Monkey just mixed up the paint and we ended up with some murky brown splodges, he had fun, but not very attractive or easter themed!
We tried again at the weekend with some different colours and had much more success! Once the masterpieces had dried I cut them into egg shapes and stuck them onto some cards. Monkey finished them off with some lovely colouring! Easy peasy Easter cards!
Easter Hunt
Because we would like to avoid too much of a sugar rush, we got some other bits in addition to eggs, to make this an Easter Hunt, rather than an Easter ‘Egg’ Hunt. I dotted the chicks and bunnies, signs and eggs around the front garden (the back garden still being mainly mud at the moment, with less places to hide them!) for Monkey to find. With the weather forecast for Easter Sunday a bit miserable we did the hunt on Saturday afternoon, in case it got rained off on Sunday!.
Monkey loved it, I mean it lasted about 5 minutes but he had lots of fun with all his bunnies and chicks, and putting them in his little basket. He obv loved eating the choccy eggs too!
I used to love Easter as a kid, Easter egg hunts, chocolate, but as an adult I didn’t really celebrate it much. Now we have a little man it is bringing the fun back again and I am loving all the Easter fun this year!
Have you had much fun over Easter?
It was Granny’s 60th Birthday on Saturday! I had been hunting for a lovely card but honestly really struggled to like one that was special enough. A lot of the ones I saw in the shops were a bit naff really. I saw a couple of lovely handmade ones online but honestly they were so expensive and actually inspired me to make my own!
I do enjoy being a bit creative, I made all of our wedding invites and thank you cards etc. so it’s not the first time I have made a card, BUT I thought I would get Monkey’s help. After the disaster that was the Valentine’s cards we tried to make, I thought I would keep his role a little simpler and in the realms of something I know he loves to do… paint! 🙂
It’s also worth mentioning at this point that my decision to create this card comes in no small part from being so inspired by so many of my fellow creative challengers! In particular Lorna from A little bit of our life and all of her various crafty offerings, and Michelle at Twice a Mummy Double the Fun with her finger painted easter activities!
S0 we started off with some finger painting! Ages ago I’d bought some paint pots that were in some nice pinky colours (Granny loves her pretty girly colours) so we used those. They are such a mash of colours now as monkey likes dipping from one to another! Squeezy bottles of paint squirted onto paper plates is definitely a better method of toddler painting!!
It went well though and he had a lot of fun.
Then I cut a 6 and 0 from his artwork to pop onto the card.
I’d also bought some lovely sparkly stickers to make it a bit more special!
An with a bit of fancy ish writing (I know I am no calligrapher!) it was finished!
I’d also bought some lovely special birthday teddy stickers and Monkey made a lovely picture for Granny with those too 🙂
Which he was dead proud of! He showed Daddy and I many times hehe
Granny was very pleased with her card and special picture, and she was very spoilt – as you should be on your birthday – especially a big one like your 60th!
How creative have you and/or your little ones been this week?
I recently posted about how I am challenging myself to be more Creative with Monkey. My aim is to come up with some more arty crafty things to do with him over the next month, and then report back on my progress and how successful I have been! I have decided that this kind of challenge is more fun done as a team, so….
Do you think you could be more creative? Do you shy away from messy play? Is there are a craft/art/hobby you’ve wanted to try but never quite got round to it?
I CHALLENGE you to change all that and give something new a try!
It could be anything you like as long as it’s a bit creative, such as:
Always fancied crochet/knitting? Now’s the time to try.
Do you shy away from sticky/messy play? It’s time to be brave!
Want to get more adventurous with cooking/baking? Do it.
Always fancied writing a short story? Why not start right now?
CHALLENGE YOURSELF.
Then come back and let me know how you’ve got on.
I’m giving us a month to give time to prepare and have time to make a good start.
The linky will open on WEDNESDAY 26TH FEBRUARY for you to share your creative story.
Please grab my badge, and spread the word! #CreativeChallenge
If you think you are going to join in I would love it if you could comment below and tell me how you are going to challenge yourself
Over the Christmas break, whilst out having some lunch with some friends, Monkey picked up a chip and dipped it in some ketchup (not to eat of course, don’t be silly ;)) and had great fun using it to ‘paint’ with. We haven’t done finger painting for a while because he’s generally not a fan of having things on his hands (nothing to do with the mess it makes hehe ;)) and I didn’t think he was anywhere near ready for a paintbrush, but seeing him with the ketchup and chip gave me other ideas.
So I found some non toxic paints that are supposedly washable. I could have made the home-made paints again but to be honest I was feeling lazy and I’m not 100% keen on the consistency. It’s quite jelly like and well who am I kidding, I’ve just been feeling lazy! So I bought some non-toxic paints.
Anyway so we got monkey to wear one of his old coverall bibs, which he was ok with once it was on. We gave up the fight over bibs at mealtimes a loooong time ago so it is a teeny bit snug on him! The paints say they are washable but I don’t really trust them! He sat at his little table in the conservatory (definitely my preferred place for messy play) and he loved it.
We didn’t get him any water to rinse off the brush between colours, which maybe we should have done, but then I have a feeling it may just have ended up being a very very watery painting! The result of not doing it though is that all the paints are now a bit of a mix of colours, but hey ho, it’s only him that’s using them and so who cares.
I tried to get him to do some hand prints when he inevitably got it on his hands, but he mainly just wiped it down his front – so thank goodness for the bib!
Daddy was around too to help with the clean up, which definitely helped! Will need to see how I manage the clean up on my own haha. The only problem with messiness in the conservatory is that we are a long way from a tap or basin, so I will need to be organised with a bowl of soapy water next time, to avoid any paint escaping into the rest of the house!
MumturnedMom introduced me to the idea of a ‘tuff spot‘ which looks genius to me and so one is on order! I am looking forward to trying out messy play in that when it arrived!
How do you contain the mess?
We recently moved Monkey out of his highchair and onto a booster seat at the dining table for mealtimes. He is loving sitting at the table and meal times have been a bit better so it was definitely time to make the move. One of the problems with this though is when it comes to messy, creative, activities. While he was sat in his highchair, the mess was basically contained to him and his tray. At the table it gets spread all over the place. Plus he used to sit so comfortably in his high chair but now is such a fidget bum (one of the reasons we made the change to booster seat) and once he’s eaten, he wants to get down. He’s not really happy sitting anywhere for any length of time really!
So what to do? I don’t want to stop doing all the creative, messy things, but my heart flutters when I think what those little hands can do with a load of finger paints in our lovely house! So I have been trying to work out what best to do. Obviously there is outside. We play with his chalk outside, which he loves, and he is learning that it doesn’t get any further into the house than the conservatory. We also play with sand and water etc. outside. But finger paints add a whole other layer of mess don’t they? If I get a bit of sand or water on me while cleaning him, then no big deal, but I don’t really want to get covered in paint. Also, where do I clean him? The outside tap is on the front of the house so it would mean running round the front with him, but let’s face it, that water is pretty darn cold! Do I try and carry him in the house, hands under his arms, dangling him in front of me trying to avoid paint getting on everything?
It is these things that have led to the finger paints staying firmly shut away for a while! Then after getting a comment from Gill last week (I hope you’re reading Gill :)) I had an idea! The bathroom! If I set him up in the bath with the paints then he can make as much mess as he likes and then I can just hose it (and him) down afterwards with the shower! Definitely worth a go,
Note: I do this with homemade paints where the colour is food colouring and so washes off things easily. I can’t recommend doing it with bought paints unless you want to do a tiny patch test somewhere first to see if it comes off!
I set aside some time at home one day to give this a go. Unfortunately though, because the finger paints hadn’t been used in a while they had gone mouldy in the cupboard (yuk). So whilst Monkey ate his snack I quickly whipped up some more. The recipe is here, sooo easy.
Anyway, I have to say it really was a success, as you can see in the photos! He only lasted in there about 15-20 minutes, but that’s about as long as he does anything for, so not too bad. I know it’s a lot of effort to go to, both before and after, but it was definitely a lot of fun. He also hated being cleaned afterwards, but then he never likes to be cleaned so nothing new there.
Most importantly though, it came off the bathroom tiles with no problem. There are some ever so slight colour stains on the grout but nothing that concerns me or hubby too much. I’m sure it would probably come off if I bleached it anyway but you can’t even see it unless you really look. I used a load of old towels for the rest of the bathroom and had to wipe my hands on those a bit but basically the mess was contained! Woohoo! Here is our little artist having fun with his paints in the bath! He ended up a bit blue afterwards but again it’s only food colouring so I’m not too fussed 🙂
I wrote this post in the summer, when Monkey was 14 months old, but it seems apt for the theme of ‘Play’ for this week’s The Theme Game:
Right it is time to be honest here, keeping a little one entertained for longer than a few minutes at a time is practically impossible. I was going to say 5 minutes but hubby felt (and I agreed) that 5 mins was too ambitious, so a few minutes is more realistic. If you have read much of my blog you will know that I am trying out a lot of different play ideas with my monkey. He is constantly on the go and looking for things to do so I try really hard to find knew ways for him to learn through play.
I spend a lot of time (in short bursts between looking after monkey and trying to keep the house clean-ish) perusing the internet, via pinterest, other blogs and baby sites to get ideas. I read books and was even given a set of cards with things to do. Many of the ideas are common sense, such as ‘go outside’. Honestly I spend so much time outside as there is free entertainment out there in the form of oh, daisies, stones, mud … anything on the ground….. But these places do come up with some gems that I like to try out but really you have no idea if your little one will be ready for it developmentally, or will get bored uber quickly, or like it, until their attention is taken by something else.
Because, in reality, to fill a day of playing at home, you have to try out so many different things. In the space of an hour yesterday, we did some finger painting, played with play-doh, danced around to some music, played with the clothes pegs (basically spreading them around the room while I tried in vain to get him to “put them back” which I know he understands but complies with intermittently) played with his new kitchen, used mummy as a climbing frame, went in the garden (even though it was starting to rain, I was getting desperate) and played in the very wet sand pit, dug in the dirt, played in the sand and water a bit more, then as he was now filthy and it was nearly nap time, had a bit of a play sorting bottles out in the bath while I washed off the debris from playtime.
Whilst all this is happening I’m also trying to clean up the mess made my some of these activities, scrubbing a potential stain from the finger paints on our lovely dining table (I hadn’t realised he’d got paint on the bottom of his drink bottle until after it had sat on the table for a few mins – thankfully it came off though), trying to pick up all the teeny bits of play-doh off the floor as he likes too tear it up and spread it around the room (we confine this activity to the conservatory thankfully so it doesn’t get walked through the house), pull play-doh out of my hair and pick up the clothes pegs (until he sees they are back in the basket and decides to up-end it again -this was the point that we went outside). I’m sure this is all sounding very very familiar to the other mummies out there!
An hour or so of this I am ok with, but when faced with an entire day at home is it any wonder I go wibbly at the knees? It is fun, don’t get me wrong, but oh, so, tiring. Hence, this morning when my friend text me at 7:30am (I know if I get a text at this time of the morning that it will be another mummy) and suggested we go to the park for the day, I jumped at the chance! I had been sat contemplating my options for the day ahead and was relieved to be able to go and entertain him outside on the play area, in the sand pit and in the paddling pool there. Of course I also take stickers, a ball and other toys for when he is bored of those activities! 🙂 Plus it is nice to have a good natter with my friend and talk about our ups and downs, much more fun than taking the monkey on my own. He is making lots of word-like sounds at the moment but as yet he is not much of a conversationalist.
My point, ah yes, I don’t really have one, other than to any other mummy who puts in the effort of making homemade paints, play-doh etc, only to have the little one play for a couple of mins at a time, you are not alone! I have found lots of places to find the ideas of things to do, but very few people realistically saying, that this may entertain them for a max of 5 minutes. Who knows, maybe it is just my Monkey, maybe he is going to grow up to have ADHD or something? Though I have read that a short attention span is normal so I hope not. Either way though I will continue to try things out as I know that eventually he will play longer by himself and be occupied by something for a slightly longer period. Bring on that day is all I can say 🙂
During the process of deciding whether to be a stay at home mum we went to look at a very lovely nursery, and while it was supposed to help me feel confident about going back to work, all it really did was make me think that I should be trying to do more things with Monkey.
I want to get creative with some of the things I do with him so again I turned to my trusty friend Google and started looking at other blogs with ideas for things to do. I particularly wanted to know more about finger painting and find a recipe I could make at home easily that would be ok if Monkey ate it. He puts EVERYTHING in his mouth so being edible was a key feature for me. I found the lovely blog of Rainy Day Mum and her recipe for finger paints, which can be found here.
Now as Monkey is only 9 months old I know that he would be unlikely to actually paint anything but I thought it could be a sensory experience for him, and if food or water spills on his highchair try he loves swirling around so I thought the same could possibly happen with paints.
To make it a bit more fun I decided to invite a friend over with her little girl who is nearly 2 – I thought then that if Monkey hates it at least someone will enjoy my efforts! I also had a day where I had to stay home to wait for a delivery of a lovely new dresser for the dining room so thought it would be the perfect opportunity. Hubby and I tidied up the conservatory (which has mainly been used as a junk room since we moved in 10 months ago) heated it up and designated it a messy play area, with a really old rug on the floor and an old table.
I made the paints with the following ingredients:
1 cup Corn Flour (Corn Starch)
1 cup Cold Water
3 cups Boiling Water
Liquid Food Colouring.
Mixing the corn flour with cold water first then gradually adding and mixing the boiling water before putting the mix into a pan to heat gently. (More details here) It starts off almost milky in consistency then as it heats up gets quite gelatinous until it is thick and gloopy. As per Rainy Day Mum’s instructions I then emptied it into some baby food jars and mixed the colours. you really don’t need a lot of food colouring to get bright colours (although as you can see the green food colouring I used was a bit of a swamp green!)
I did this a few days before the painting and I’m not sure if I made a mistake in making it (which is why I have no given detailed instructions – don’t want anyone else to get it wrong and repeat any of my mistakes) but it was very solid, I guess like the consistency of jelly after a few days in the jar…. maybe it just needed some more vigorous stirring but who knows. With two little ones chomping at the bit we just wanted to get them started, and it still kinda worked!
Monkey basically looked at the paints and prodded them slightly with a very cute but disgusted impression, then began begging to be let out of his highchair. My friends little girl didn’t want to use them as finger paints but was very happy to paint with them using the brush I was trying to stir the paints with. We decided to try monkey with a brush to see if that would help him, but that just went into his mouth and I thought as that was definitely not edible, maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all.
So monkey came out of his chair and after a bit of a cuddle (he is still very clingy at the mo) he was quite happy sat on the floor playing with some paper – basically just waving it around in the air. Simple things eh? My friend’s little girl however had a whale of a time and produced some wonderful artwork :).
Although the paints were not the consistency I thought they would be it was definitely worth a try and not a total wash out – will definitely try again when he is a little bit older. For now I’ll just let him swirl water and food around on his tray.. and occasionally give him a piece of paper to wave around!