Paint Prep and Organization

The children are finally understanding the concept of needing to keep their paint colors separate in order to not end up with everything a muddy shade of brown. They are trying to clean their brush in between colors. I decided to celebrate by finally splurging on a wider variety of paint colors and not depending on mixing our own every time. It's pretty easy to get a decent green/orange/purple that way, but other colors are harder.

I ordered enough of these paint trays so that we could have a full set of 12 colors for each of us (mom, Ava, and Michael) of both washable liquid tempera paints and washable liquid watercolor paints. Then I stocked up on 12 colors of each. Now that I can save the paint in between uses in the paint trays, I should have enough paint for the next decade.

When everything arrived I dispensed the liquid tempera into the trays. Isn't it pretty? We have three trays like this.

Then it was time for the liquid watercolors. (Tip: Instead of peeling off the entire plastic seal that keeps it from spilling during shipping, just stick a pin through the hole in the lid to puncture the seal. So much less mess.) I quickly realized that the children were going to have a lot of trouble figuring out which colors are which with the liquid watercolors (kind of like food coloring, the color of the liquid in the bottle doesn't always match the color when used). My husband helped out and painted strips of watercolor paper with each color. When they dried we cut them in triangles and used mod podge to glue them beside each pot of paint. Hopefully the picture will make it clear. Now the kids will be able to tell which color is which.

I've been scouring the internet for projects using liquid watercolors and I'm planning to do liquid watercolor projects with the kids for the next few weeks. Consider that a warning - be prepared for lots of posts on liquid watercolor projects coming soon.

Pretty.

Nothing profound today. Just a pretty butterfly to brighten your morning (or afternoon, or evening).

Cut pretty design in contact paper (I used clear contact paper and my cricut) and stick design on construction paper, cardstock, or canvas. Then paint over your design. Let dry and then pull up the contact paper. It worked beautifully.

The Weekly Review: Week 68

SLP Idea of the Week

Nest 3 styrofoam cups (click here for pictures and original post) and then turn the stack on its side with the bottoms to your left and rims to your right. Write targeted initial phonemes on the rim of the cup on the left. Write vowels on the rim of the cup in the middle. Write targeted final phonemes on the rim of the cup on the right. Rotate the cups to form a wide variety of real and nonsense CVC words for practice. Simply remove the cup on the left to practice VC syllables. Remove the cup on the right to practice CV syllables.

Blog Posts of the Week

I had no idea hatching chicks was so complicated and exciting.

Ava this Week

My husband and I switch off every night. One night he'll put Michael to bed (brush teeth, read stories, sing songs, etc.) while I put Ava to bed and the next night we'll switch. Ava has taken to sneaking out of her bedroom on the night her Daddy puts her to sleep and coming to find me. She'll sweetly ask if I'll just come sing her "two more songs, please Mama?" How can I resist? I always go. It just takes a few minutes and it really settles her down.

Weekly Michael

I used to have to beg and plead to get Michael to leave his legos, erector set, marble run, or other indoor activity and go spend some time outdoors. Ever since we installed our DIY water park on the deck he's begging to go outside and will often disappear for an hour or more at a time. The deck is a mess. There's water in the sand table and sand in the inflatable pool. The ground under the deck is mostly mud and buckets of mud are scattered about the deck. The children dig up weeds and "plant" them in the buckets. I don't mind the mess though and I love seeing them play happily and independently outside this summer.