In a former life I was an aspiring artist. I intended to attend an art school in Philadelphia and live the life a starving artist. I have always excelled at things that require creativity and thinking within the grey area. That is also why I write. I feel it goes hand in hand with a right brained individual.
I did not take that path and instead went into Educaiton and Sociology, but all of tht things I have studied have belended well in the careers that I have chosen, especially the most important one: Parenting.
Since day one as a mother, I have implemented my education in all things in molding my children. We sing, we play, we do crafts and educational acitivites that tend to lean towards a more hands-on, visual and creative interpretation. Not all of my children learn best that way, but luckily I do have some experience in other learning styles and my husband is an excellent source for those that appose my own. We are a testament to the theory that opposites attract.
So this was a really long introduction to a technique that I use when my toddlers want to paint. I prefer watercolors for both asthetics and the fact that its much easier to clean up.
It is inevitable, that the cup or bowl of water that is placed by the paints will get knocked over. Every.Single.Time. That, or something equally messy.
I'm sure that, like me, you have at least a few medicine syringes sitting around. Turns out they make an awesome dropper for water to go direcly into the watercolor pallets :)
The kids don't really care about colors mixing and I will rinse the brush or give them a few to choose from.
You can also paint a design in plain water for them and when they run thir paintbrush over the wet paper the color spreads. Like this...
How do you encourage creativity in your children? Please share your tips!
