When E woke up she wanted to paint, of course. I had had the paints on the floor - and she immediately sat down beside them! (We had been painting outside on the grass last week, so sitting down is how you paint, naturally.) I had to get a stool to put the paints on to get E to stand up and paint at the easel.

painting with the new easel

This afternoon I got out the paints using the easel I bought at the weekend. It still needs a cabin hook, or something similar, to keep it rigid. (Dad, maybe you could fix that up when you come visit!) But it worked out very well today just as is.

I(child) got first go as she was the first up from her sleep.

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.

Painting was magic for G.

Today was the first day for G (aged 20 months) at my house. She was a little unhappy with mum leaving at first, but easily distracted, and she 'warmed up' to us over an hour or so, until I would say she had an excellent first day. After her sleep she was singing, dancing, jumping and clapping with us, and with Sophie and Elanor after they got home from school.

I took the Little Kids to our local playcentre for a visit. At first they were both a bit shy, and I led G around by the hand, looking at different activities, for a while. Then she saw the painting! This must have really struck a chord with her because she painted several pictures, and kept coming back to this area. After that she was away, exploring and playing in a number of areas, both inside and out.

Meanwhile, I(child) had become very independant, exploring and generally getting 'stuck in'. Lots of time with the playdough for her, squeezing, patting, poking - and checking out what the other children were doing.