arts & crafts

(click it for bigger)

as fall arrives and cooler temperatures hit us, i'm starting to think about things to occupy us in the house. soon the standard head to the park or beach won't be an option for long periods of time. i've been on pinterest watching for toddler activities and pinning things i know finn might like.

i'm pretty artsy so i tend to gravitate towards those activities and it seems finn doesn't mind :) i had collected some non-toxic paint on clearance (29 cents each!), a plastic paint try, and some plaster dog and cat figurines for a painting project and was surprised to see him totally "get" it.


to prepare, i stripped him down to his diaper, taped paper bags to the surface, and slid an intact one over the back of our chair. he's now at a ($10, made-from-receycled-materials, fully dishwashable, from walmart) booster seat so this was easily done at the table. not that this is rocket science, but i showed him the materials first. i squirted the paint and demonstrated brush strokes on a figurine. i gave him a brush (he's painted before but it was a mess and he ate most of it) and he put it into his mouth, so i told him no and he seemed happy not to do it again. (who is this kid?) his favorite part was dipping the brush into all of the colors repeatedly. this made for some cool swirling and when he did paint his cat figure, the paint remained uniquely swirled. a true visionary, i'd say. my budding artist sat and painted for about 25 minutes before he took to his ear (no, he didn't chop it off) with the paint brush and i called it quits. he was upset to finish but enjoyed the subsequent (extended) hand washing.

and now we have this lovely hand painted cat figurine to display on our bookshelf. bring on the cold weather crafts!