Veronika is so into painting these days, but all too often she drops the brush and decides to smear with her hands instead. I wondered if using a few novel tools might distract her from doing so!
For this project, you’ll need anything your toddler can squeeze paint out of. We used two versions: an old infant medicine syringe (for pushing) and an empty cosmetic bottle (for squeezing).
I filled each with a little paint, and showed Veronika how to either squeeze or squirt blobs of paint onto the paper. As it turned out, both methods were a little advanced for her muscle development, but she loved seeing the blobs that appeared!
I folded the paper in half over the blobs we had made, then opened back up to show her a big smeary picture. As an alternative version, place another piece of paper over your blobs, rub firmly, and then lift up.
She loved the way both versions came out!
We continued squeezing and blobbing the paint, and she started to use the medicine syringe tip more like a paintbrush.
For extra fun, we tested out blobbing onto different surfaces, like coffee filters or paper towels.
Did this project keep her from painting with her hands?
Not entirely, but it definitely mixed up the art experience around here!
joyful parenting 