Toddler Time: Watercolors

 I picked up a small set of watercolors for less than $3 because I thought it would be fun to let Olive paint.  Turns out that the water was just as much fun for her as the color!

You'll need:

a small bowl of water

watercolors

a few paint brushes

blank sheets of paper - I used printer paper

I explained a few "rules" to Olive before we got started...

the paint was for the paper and not her mouth,

no dumping the water

and try to accept some help from mom.

We also painted in our pjs so we didn't have to worry about making a mess.

I learned that she wanted to do everything herself, she wanted to use every single paint brush without my help, painting any surface was fun and dipping the brush into the paint and then making a burst of color appear in the water evoked some WHOAs and OH MYs.

I changed the water often and changed out her paper when it got too wet.  She loved it so much and painted 7 different works of toddler art.  I let them dry and have a fun Thanksgiving project in the works for you later this week.

The only meltdowns we had were when 

I stopped to get new water or clean the brushes.  Oh toddlers...

I just cleaned her brushes and she was anxious to taste them...

 We had a great time making art together.  I learned that toddlers are capable of more than I give them credit for and it's got me thinking about other things we can try together - play dough, sensory activities and other art projects.

Clean up was really simple.  I just ran the paint tray under a little water to restore the colors, dumped the water, rinsed the brushes and wiped off our coffee table.