hands on : as we grow

A Big, Big Art Collection

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If you've been around for awhile, you already know I'm a fan of Big Art.

For those of you that are new to this term that I've made up.

Big Art is art that makes you be involved in the process.

[Because I believe the early years its all about the process, and not the product.]

Its big.

It gets you moving.

Generally, using those gross motor skills that are ever so important in the early years.

How to create Big Art:

Make art bigger
Create it with movement
Use big objects

Here are 40 examples of what I claim to be Big Art!

Outdoor Activities : Yet to do this Fall

With the weather getting cooler each day, I've found that we're not getting outside nearly as much as we were this summer.

The weather is still plenty nice to play all day outside, just with a jacket on instead. [Though that jacket seems to have bugs crawling in it or something, Henry just doesn't want to keep it on!]

To get us in the mood to play outside, here are a few activities that we can still do in this cooler weather.

Jump in the leaves, an obvious one, but you can't forget it either! Raking up the leaves as well as jumping in them can provide an entire afternoon of entertainment for children.

Art : Frozen Painting

Beating the Heat has been fun last week.

Even though it was miserably hot, we used lots of ice to keep us cool.

So far, George has played with ice cubes [a simple sensory activity for babies] and Henry discovered a healthy snack of fruit in a frozen ice excavation.

We even managed to keep cool while creating art!

I've seen a lot of ice cube paintings out there,

where you color some ice cubes with some food coloring.

It often gives a watercolor effect, often very pastel.

For this paint project, I was looking for a something a little more... vibrant!

So we got artsy with some frozen paint.

Art : Homemade Window Paint Take 2

I love when Henry chooses the activity for the day.

This time he wanted really, really badly to paint the big window again!

When we made window paint last time, it was super sticky and goopy.

This time, I looked up a new window paint recipe from Home Spun Threads.

Outdoor Play : Homemade Sidewalk Paint

Inspired by Quirky Momma's fizzing sidewalk paint,

I made some of our own sidewalk paint and Henry and I painted the driveway.

[Don't miss the homemade sidwalk paint recipe at the end of the post.]

Art : Window Paint Creations

Paint on a large window, outside?

It doesn't get much better than that!

We've finally had some nice weather lately, and getting outside has been much needed!

I quickly made up some window paint.

I googled the recipe for window paint and ran across a recipe that included dish soap.

I looked under my sink, no dish soap? So, I substituted with hand soap.

Without really measuring, I mixed together:

Art : Ribbon Painting

Ribbon Throw Painting, that is.

Henry, what three colors would you like to paint with?

Blue, Green and White.

I was shocked he named three colors. I didn't have to correct him to only choose three, or coerce him into saying another color. He simply just rattled off three colors.

Add some ribbon [or cords, or tinsel, whatever you got on hand] and dip into the paint.