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My son is not a “crafter” or “painter”. If I ask, “Do you want to paint today?!” He will say, “No, let’s play Legos — or let’s be pirates on the ship!” So I have to create an invitation to paint!
So if I want him to paint, I have to set it all up first, without him knowing, and then he will come out, get a huge smile, and decide to paint :) This worked well for Valentine’s Day, so I decided to try again to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
Every child is different.
Invitation to Paint
- I cut shamrocks out of construction paper and set them down on top of a paper bag table-protector.
- I squirted many shades of green Tempera paint on some box tops (= easy clean up and easy to toss out).
- Then I gave my son 3 painting tools: q-tips, paint brushes, and cotton balls in clothespins. This gave him a choice on what to paint with — but within boundaries.
- We added green glitter at the end, which John loved!
He began his work with the cotton ball.
And then made some decorative dots with a q-tip. He loves having paint choices and utensil choices — it helps him to be creative on his own.
Now the paint brush!
The cotton ball became a rocket ship.
We hung his creations over our kitchen window, with some string and my favorite conspicuous 3M hooks. A perfect display of his artwork!
And for the baby….
We painted with water (like our Baby Valentine’s last month!) and also tried out some baby-safe finger paints. She wasn’t too thrilled about painting.
We will definitely be setting up monthly holiday painting expeditions like this again!
Here is our Valentine’s Day Invitation to Paint!
For more ideas, please visit my St. Patrick’s Day Pinterest Board!
Happy painting,
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Hi there! So I have been reading your posts for a few months now and noticed you have stated a few times that your son is not a painter, he’d rather play Legos :) I have one if those too!! But then I read an amazing book called Boys: changing the classroom not the child. It’s awesome. There are pages of art activities for boys and science ones too! He explains why boys generally pass on these activities and how to make them boy approved. It really opened my eyes to all the possibilities. Art is about the process, not the product, like crafts are. Some ideas he had were to make art larger than life. He says boys need their full arms length to really get into it. They also prefer to stand rather than sit in a chair. One activity that I thought was awesome was called bombs away! It obviously would need to be done outdoors or in a area with a drop cloth, but more or less, you fill pantyhose with sand or rice, tie them off, dip it paint and drop from on top a step stool or ladder (with your help of course) and then shout BOMBS AWAY!! It is uber fun! And now art is one of my preschoolers favorite times of the day! He still thinks crayons are boring, but it’s progress!! I highly suggest you pick up a copy of his book. It rocked my socks!
Thanks so much for the suggestions, Amanda!! That Bombs Away painting sounds PERFECT for this spring :) When we do the ABCs again, i think I will focus more on activities than crafts….