Art on 7 Different Surfaces

We love process art, where the focus is on the process and not the product. As a variation, we engaged in a week long project of painting on different type of paper or sheet everyday. Not just paint, but we used glue, and crayons too. Whatever felt natural! 

We used: burlap, plastic sheet, cork paper, metallic sheet, corrugated sheet, butter paper & aluminium foil

Bragging about 2015!

DIY Book Based Colouring Pages (+Book Recommendations for 4 yr olds)

Honestly , we don't use colouring pages. I've *always* encouraged open-ended art since my kid was 2.5 and he's used to that! Colouring pages are a bit like putting your creativity in a little box and honestly a bit boring too. He is so used to open-ended that he just tosses over a colouring page when given to him. Restaurants & birthday parties where they dole these out with cute little crayons - are completely ignored. So when I say 'he loves painting' I look like a crazy person!

Anyways, he just turned 4 and I'm a bit focused now on his pencil grasp and fine motor strength. So for once, I *want* him to some extensive amount of using crayons/pencils/paints for more than a few minutes at a time. So I started drawing pictures from his favourite books (read: those that were quick & easy to draw!) and started asking him about the story while he picked up his crayons or paints to add some magic into the paper.  

So this is not only a story telling + fine motor practise activity, it is also a great exercise for "parallel play", he can do his thing while I do mine, on the same table. 

Who says Glitter is only for Girls?

This is lazy parenting. I *love* lazy parenting. 

"mama! I'm boreddddd!"

"go paint"

"noooo... it's boring"

*mama adds glitter & sequins in the paint*

Voila. an hour of peace and quiet!

Who says glitter is only for girls?

DIY Activity Sheets (3-5 years)

We now have a wonderful tutor who comes home to teach my husband and I some beginners Spanish. So often we sit around with our notes all over the place, doing our Spanish homework. What parents do influences kids right? So one day when our 4 year old brought home his Maths bundle from school, he opened that too and started doing "his" homework (yeah, thats what he called it!). i.e filling up pages that weren't completed. 

That's when I remembered the tons & tons of used paper work that I had discarded before moving houses, of *awesome* printables created by *kick-ass* homeschooling mamas. (here's one I'd posted, when he was learning his alphabets) Although I felt guilty about the massive quantity of paper that I threw away, my son had learnt a *lot* and had spent many afternoons after school with them.

I don't have access to a printer now, so figured why not make some easy ones. All you need is a *very basic* level of drawing skills (I mean seriously, look at my drawings!) . The Practical Mom logic is  that creating an activity should take minutes, they  don't need to be high quality or artistic or anything, cuz kids don't care about that stuff anyways.

I use these sheets for "parallel play", i.e. he can do his sheets while I do my own work on the same table. 

How 3 yr olds can paint their first flowers

The title of the post says "3 year olds" but really it means kids in the age group 3-5. or 2-6! 

So amidst all the open-ended, process art sessions, I like to show my kid how to make thing or two. The best way to do it is on my own, innocuously, i.e. he is bound to jump in and say "I also want to make that!"

Pumpkin Solar System

This year we carved our first pumpkin to enter the Science Themed Pumpkin Carving Contest at my kid's school. We had recently visited Santiago's Planetarium and I wanted to teach him more about the Solar System!

So we used a pumpkin for the sun, uncooked salt dough for planets, *lot* of metallic paints & a *lot* of glitter! (You can find some other interesting Preschool Solar System Projects on my pinterest board)

Yarn Prints

Material Reqd: Few strings of yarn, a sponge roller (the bigger the better!), tempera paints, a plate sized palette & paper.

First we diluted some 'base' paint and spread it evenly on a big palette (Plates are better than any palette I've used!). Then I poured a different, vibrant color in a random, zig-zag fashion over the base paint. Then my almost 4 year old rolled his sponge roller over it. 

After I dropped a piece of yarn on paper, he rolled his sponge roller slowly over the paper. That's it! 

Didn't come very well the first few times, but he did get the hang of it! 

Teacher Appreciation Gifts: Let Little Kids add their Personal Touch

Gift giving is a specialised art, and more often frustrates the hell out of me. I'm really terrible at it. My go-to gift for kids is books, or any educational toy, regardless of their parents' parenting style (If they like dolls or robots, you can be pretty sure they have enough of those at home already!). Women are the second least difficult, cuz they cannot have too many bags or necklaces (although I'm pretty sure I'm way off the mark w.r.t their respective style choices!). Buying gifts for men is the worst . thing. ever. (Looking at wallets and cufflinks makes me want to die of boredom then and there!). Seriously. 

There are very, *very* few times gifting makes sense to me, and this was one of those times. My kid and I really like this teacher and I wanted to gift her these quotes since it seemed *so* apt! While leisurely strolling in a Bazar one sunny weekend, I stumbled upon these adorable wooden items on which we could write the quotes.  

"It takes a Big Heart to Shape Little Minds" on a wooden boy 

"Thank you for helping me grow" on a small plant

Both quotes are amongst some really cool ideas pinned on my gift & gift wrapping board!

There are a lot of ideas on what can be gifted to teachers to show appreciation, but I truly believe something made by the kids themselves can mean so much. My kid's almost 4, so I he painted these wooden items himself, while I made the quote cards (He can write, but it wouldn't fit in such a teeny tiny space!)

Halloween Lanterns

So I'm jumping on the  bandwagon. Not that I'm too thrilled about Halloween per se, but seriously, there are *so* many things that can be done w.r.t. kids' crafts! To check out some cool ideas I've pinned from around the world, click here!

We haven't yet painted or carved a pumpkin. This may be because I'm in the southern hemisphere and it's spring here? But I got these super cheap jars and cute little confetti from the party & costume store. Just pulled out some orange paint and an invitation to paint was ready! They look cute with tea lights lit at night! Here are some pictures. 

Halloween Books & Crafts for 3+ yr olds

This is the first time we are living on *that* side of the world which celebrates Halloween (i.e. without sounding like a total wannabe!) So it's the first time I've introduced this concept to my kid. Well technically they did have a Halloween costume dress up party in his earlier preschool in India (I stitched him a cute little Fred Flintstone Costume) but he was only 1.5 yr old then. 

Buying English books in Chile is difficult. There are gorgeous bookstores full of Spanish books with only a teeny tiny shelf with English ones, if at all. So I've resorted to a lot of begging and borrowing from anyone and everyone I know *and* buying e-books from Kindle. I'd already stopped buying paperbacks for my reading purposes four years ago and now I don't mind making the subtle shift for my kid too. My latest obsession is with Kindle Unlimited, which allows you to 'borrow' up to 10 e-books at a time for a monthly fee. Want a 11th book? No problem, just 'return' one of the earlier 10! Obviously only a limited number of books are available under Kindle unlimited, but I'm still pretty kicked about the wide range of options available! 

So here are the books & crafts we're indulging in this Halloween month.

Practice makes multilingualism perfect! Teaching our preschooler 3 languages, in our lives as expats.

India with her twenty-nine states, each speaking a different language with various dialects, is like a mini Europe with all those countries and all those languages. The common thread is the language Hindi, which is most widely spoken across the country. And owing to two hundred years of colonialism and euro-centric education, most of the people from the middle & upper classes have the privilege of going to English medium schools, hence it is normal to come across Indians speaking fluent English. 

So most of us are fluent in at least 2 or 3 languages. A combination of English, Hindi and a regional language that is spoken at home. If there is similarity of your regional language with another regional one or if you’ve been exposed long enough, its common to understand that language too. We are also taught Sanskrit or Urdu to able to read and understand our religious books and scriptures. Over and above this, there could be an option of a Foreign language (usually French or German, I selected French) in high school. 

Travel & Quiet Time iPad Apps for Ages 3+

I completely agree that excessive screen time can be harmful, simply because it forms a habit very difficult to break. I have been extremely careful with ‘habit-formation’ in my kid’s early years. 

For e.g. We made sure we read a few books to him at bedtime, and over the years it has become such a deep rooted habit, that when it’s late and we’re exhausted, he still stubbornly insists on reading at least one book. Or I made sure he had oatmeal and broccoli ever since he started eating, and those are now his comfort foods. 

Similarly, we’ve *never* put on any cartoon channel on our television and since he is simply not used to watching YouTube videos on a daily basis, he himself gives the iPad back after the 20 minute timer goes off.  

Having said that I think it is ridiculous to cut your cable connection and never open your laptop in front of kids. My almost 4 year old has access to my devices at all times, which is a good thing! 

He sends voice messages through WhatsApp to his grandparents everyday (which is the cutest thing!). And when he gets back from school, he checks what voice text they’ve sent back. He FaceTimes with them on his own and he even sends text messages with the few sight words he knows! He can connect the iPad to the Bluetooth speaker and play his own music. He answers calls and even makes calls when he wants. He takes pictures with my camera phone, compact camera *and* SLR. And when getting dressed every morning for school, he checks the weather and temperature on my weather app and announces it to all- so we can dress accordingly. 

He even uses his pretend google maps while cruising around with his toy truck! So technology is good thing! It’s teaching him so much!

The following apps can be given to kids to keep busy when travelling or when you need some peace & quiet while you nap. I'm dividing them into 

1. easy peasy, non-frustrating, i.e. can be solved w/o adult supervision, i.e. great for adult "me" time. 
2. Medium level, where a little adult supervision is required, but great for exercising their brains!
3. Difficult, mmmmaybe for 4 or 5 year old kids!

Shaving Cream Fiesta ! (Art Studio Diaries # 9)

Have you ever tried mixing shaving cream in your kid's paint? Its absolutely delightful!  It has that delectable, fluffy texture that you cannot resist dipping your brush into! 

I brought out some cans in one of our Art Studio sessions with the aim of offering the ultimate sensory experience. i.e. spraying all over their plates, mixing in paints and digging their hands in! 

Here are some pictures!

Paint with Ice, Salt & Sugar (Art Studio Diaries #8)

We just recently moved to Santiago, so while we're busy settling in & soaking up  everything thats new to us, not much art is happening. Hence I pulled out some pictures taken during our Summer Art Sessions! 

I had frozen a coupla ice slabs in pots and pans a few nights ago. I also froze coloured water in ice cube trays with a craft stick in each cube, to make coloured ice popsicles. And I bought a pack of sugar cubes. I laid out paints, pipettes, and paper. 

Sensory Bins: Keeping em Simple!

If Pinterest pictures of gorgeous, themed sensory bins make you nervous, you needn't worry at all! You DON'T have to color grains and DON'T have to bother with themes! You can keep it simple and it will still work wonders. In fact the Practical Mom logic is that the children's enthusiasm is inversely proportional to the amount of effort you take to build the activity! Yeah! the more intricate and the more attention to detail--ed it is, the least interested they are going to get! So keep the effort to the minimum for the set up and maximum for clean ups! Big clean ups are usually good cuz they mean the activities worked! 

Child friendly Chile: Restrooms, Creches, Parks & Zoos in Santiago

We moved to Santiago, Chile and although we haven’t done *anything* remotely touristy yet (unless you count flapping your hands, pointing, sighing & sheepishly smiling to bridge the language barrier with an exclusive non-english speaking population we’re dealing with here), here are few things that WOW-ed me from a mother of a 3 year old point of view! (i.e. things *other* than the majestic snow capped Andies that you can see every time you look up, from almost anywhere in the city!) 

Shaving Cream Puffy Paint Art

I have posted earlier on how we used shaving cream as messy play on glass doors and mixing paint in a baking dish full of foam. Well it was time to use brushes. So we mixed in some paint in bowls full of creamy shaving foam to make 'puffy paint', and painted some drawings! 

I recently posted on how my 3.5 y.o. had started drawing, so I teach him simple stuff every day, such as draw a watermelon slice, ice cream cone, trees, houses, cuz they all boil to simple shapes, don't they! He was thrilled to 'color' his creations with puffy paint! 

17 Airplane & Hotel Busy Bags

We moved to Santiago, Chile! 

i.e. travelled a thousand miles all the way from India, 3 flights and over 30 hours! Which also meant barring furniture that we stored, and some useful stuff that we could take with us, we gave away almost everything we owned! including the few toys & art material! (I did carry 25 kilos of children’s books though!!) 

And I finally succumbed to busy bags! They’re basically ‘activity kits' stored in small zipped baggies (or boxes!) that can be pulled out of your handbag (or shelves!) and given to your kid to play with. They are light weighted, and small and the contents can be spread over teeny tiny tray tables. I made 17 of them! But eventually used only a few in the plane (as we slept a lot, and he watched Ice Age while I caught up with Hunger Games's Mocking Jay… which was all about rescuing the most boring character in the history of cinema, peeta). But these bags were useful in the first week in Santiago too! 

The only caveat for using these in airplanes is that small pieces tend to fall off the trays! *Not* fun trying to wriggle your way to retrieve a puzzle piece under someone’s chair! But it is def better than your child screaming with boredom! 

Sticker Drawing Prompts

Sticker Drawing Prompts are easy to prep *and* non messy! Most parents will have sticker and chalk/crayons/pencil/pens handy. It’s great to boost kids imagination, drawing skills blah blah…..It's totally fun to witness what goes on in your kids minds! 

Putting a sticker (or a few of them) on their drawing sheet prompts them to draw something else. You may need to give em a few ideas at first so they ‘get' the concept. But after a few tries, it free flows like a charm!