Ah, finger-paint. We love to paint with it around here, admire our work for days, then cut it up to make other creations like these. We've learned a few things along the way too. We now know my homemade finger-paint has yet to turn out rich and colorful as Crayola's. We've also found that freezer paper can work in a pinch, but true finger-paint paper does allow the paint to move around the best. But we hadn't experimented with adding ingredients into our finger-paint until now...
Isia is a big fan of "school." She enjoys shape recognition activities and some tracing. Although we've begun integrating more Waldorf into our lives, a educational model that is not keen on this kind of book-work, I still include a few of the activities into our day. Because I think her enjoying them is quite different from me insisting on her doing them. So if she really wants to trace her numbers...
As I shared earlier, I had a borrowed half-gallon of chalkboard paint from a dear friend and some experimenting to do. At first I envisioned chalkboard animals in my mind, painted on the wall in the kid's hideaway...
"A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember."
I've just been re-introduced to chalkboard paint. While a teacher, a colleague used it paint some cabinet doors and I appreciated her craftiness. Then a Mama friend used it to repurpose an art table for her kiddos, and all of a sudden I was inspired. She even let me borrow her can of paint so that I could experiment right away. Which I did...
...and this is the the first thing I created. A repurposed applesauce jar with a little label of paint on it. My method involved painting a freehand rectangle on the jar, then applying two additional coats when dry. It's a little bumpy, but I think that adds to its charm. For a more refined label you could use any rectangular stencil- a label sticker outline, painting tape, etc.- and you could even sand each layer lightly with a fine grit of sandpaper. Be warned though, if you fill the jar with granola your label might be easily overlooked as all your kiddos scramble to get to the contents within! (wink)
ps. If you have many containers to label and little time, you might consider buying a "blackboard label" on Etsy- like these. There's even blackboard contact paper, here!
After a bout of very unseasonal dryness, and untimely with all of our growing garden vegetation, we finally had a burst of rain last week. What better way to celebrate than with some more rain art?
Once upon a time, my friend Holly, of Fat Rabbit Quilts, came over and showed me swatches of Aneela Hoey's Little Apples for Moda Fabrics. Well, this wasn't unusual. She always has beautiful fabric on hand... but this time the final product was meant to come live with me, yea!
