I’m dabbling into art and paint projects with Veronika, and one fun idea for young toddlers is to paint with a sponge. The sponges are easy for little hands to grasp, and there’s not (too much!) mess.

I taped a thick piece of paper to her high chair, and set out a few sponges. Cut these into slightly smaller piece or even fun shapes like triangles.

I put two blobs of washable paint on the paper. To my surprise, first she wanted to dip in with her fingers, since she’s resisted finger painting in the past.

Then I showed her how to dip the sponges into the paint and dab back down. She was a quick study!

We varied the way the marks looked by sliding the sponges across the paper instead.

What a pretty final product!

As a bonus, she loved playing with leftover (clean) sponge pieces in her playroom afterwards.