Painting

We sometimes have painting at home – perhaps not as often as if the children were older. I have a section of wall in the dining room which I tape up with newspaper and then the A2 paper over the top. The disadvantage is that only one child can paint at once. All the little girls enjoy painting very much, and it can get frustrating for them having to wait a turn, so it's a good thing to do when one is still asleep.

Well, because I have been getting some books delivered from Amazon.com, I have got some nice squares of cardboard packaging which I have carefully removed the staples from and unfolded. Yesterday I took the paints and two of these panels out to the grass for E and I(child) to paint on. This was met with huge delight, particular by E. Lots of poking around in the paint pots, and paint applied (often to the same place over and over). The fingers and hands went in the paint a bit too, so I encouraged them to make marks with their fingers, and they enjoyed this texture also, experimenting with fingertips, nails and palms.

As E is talking a bit more, later in the morning she said 'painting' and we went back to the painting activity, two or three times. As it wasn't windy at all the paintings could be left outside, so they dried in time to go home the same day - often I have paintings stored on the fridge for a week until I remember to send them home.

I would have loved to get a photo, but it is one of the (many) times where you can't encourage the play and exploration AND get the photo - the act of going for the camera spoils the event.