Snow Painting

Here is a great way to get the kids outdoors for some fun in the wintertime. If you have snow on the ground, you have a blank canvas just waiting to be painted. Pick up some spray bottles from a dollar store. Fill them with water and then add food color to create a variety of colors. Head outside and let the kids create wonderful art creations by spraying the snow. Your yard will be beautiful!

Note: food coloring has been known to stain clothes, so supervise younger kids when they are painting.

You can also use this to create a painted "obstacle course." Spray a path that will take the kids all around the yard, around trees, zig-zag, hopping from spot to spot, etc. Then paint an S for the start and an F for the finish. Have them run the course... ready, set, go!

Playdough Pizza Parlor

We had a blast having a pizza parlor on our kitchen table today. Break out the playdough and give it a try. My girls have a play kitchen, but they really weren't interested in using it. Instead we had an old Mt. Dew cube box which became the pizza oven. They did like using some of the accessories though - a spatula, a tray, and a couple of plates.

First you have to have them knead the doughball. (playdough) Then roll it out. Next come the toppings. Get creative. We made pepperoni pizzas with lots of cheese. They can put it in the oven to cook, then slice it up when it is done. Fold the pizza in half and they can bake a calzone.

Dad was home today so he got to consume many pizza creations! I didn't think those kids were ever going to stop playing with the playdough!

If pizzas don't catch your kids fancy, try having them create and cook some other food they enjoy - cupcakes with sprinkles on top, cinnamon rolls...

Contemporary Art for Little People

This is a great project for any age because it does not require staying in the lines. Buy a small art canvas for your child to paint. Get a roll of painters blue tape. Lay out strips of tape on the canvas. You can stick to all straight lines to create series of rectangles and squares or put them on as random angles and lines. Now your child can either paint over the whole canvas or just fill in the spaces with color. Once the paint has dried, remove the painters tape and you have a contemporary art piece.

Variations on this would be to give only certain colors to your child for painting - cool blues, greens, and purples or a warm set of oranges, yellows, and reds. Do you want them to create art work for their room? Use the colors from their room for creating the art.

Playdough Fun

Using playdough, have your kids make shapes. You can give them direction and make it a teaching opportunity or just let them freestyle. Young kids will enjoy using cookie cutters to cut shapes out of the pressed playdough. You can find playdough cutters at the dollar store, or make some basic shapes out of old cardboard tubes or boxes. You can also work on color recognition with your playdough time.

Ideas for themes:
Learn parts of the body - make all the body parts - feet, legs, body, arms, head - then assemble them.
Learn shapes - make circles, squares, triangles, rectangles
Zoo animals
Pets
Farm animals
Learn sizes - long/short, big/small

Sponge Painting

Cut shapes out of sponges - circles, squares, triangles. You can use old ones or buy new ones at the dollar store. Wet the shapes but wring out the excess water. Dip the sponge in paint or use a brush to apply the paint. Press the sponge onto canvas or paper.