Artprenticeship Day Two

After last session, Manahil and I spent the whole week missing our friends and how lively the house had been last Saturday. So as the weekend approached once again, we couldn’t contain our excitement. We bought chocolates for everyone, hauled and moved furniture to make space, spread plastic all over the floors and fairly hopped in anticipation. Then the bells began to ring as one by one the eager toddlers trickled in.

The first thing we did was warm-up. Because warm-ups are essential to getting those creative juices flowing! The toddlers absolutely loved it and it geared them up for the activity. Honestly, I had as much fun as they did, hopping, clapping and jumping.

Then we dove right into our first activity. We took some brown acrylic paint and painted our palms and our wrists, then we pressed them down on a piece of paper, fingers spread out, to make a tree! Then we used our favorite colors and dotted them on with the paintbrush to make leaves. Sure, some of us forgot that little boys and candies don’t grow on trees and made those too, but then imagination is the best part about this summer camp!

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Then, because toddlers don’t appreciate sitting still for too long, we took a short break. We washed our hands, we ate our snacks,  we pretended to be mechanics and doctors and make-up artists and singers.  We read ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ and some of us pitied the poor embarrassed wolf, while some of us loved the kind and courageous Little Red Riding Hood herself! Then we regrouped for a massively entertaining painting project. It began with only one kid being able to tear herself away from the toys to sit down with me and try it out. And within a few minutes, as everyone saw what she was up to, the toys, the crying (for some of us missed our parents) all was forgotten and they were begging to be allowed a chance to paint. Any guesses as to what this mysterious and exciting activity was?

Why spray painting of course!!

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We pasted some sponge shapes in the middle of the paper so that when we were finished with our painting those shapes would be left imprinted on the paper. Here’s a step-by-step video if you want to try this with your toddler at home:

And here’s how much all of us enjoyed doing this at summer camp:

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So, if your toddler happens to be dancing on your head at this very moment, take out a spare piece of paper and an old toothbrush and get started. You are guaranteed to have an hour full of happy memories!

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Until next time folks!

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