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Cute & Easy Crafts for Kids

story + art = great stART – Matthew’s Dream & Painting with Kids

 

During Summer Get Crafty, I was reminded to not forget the “babies amongst” us and that they too are budding artists.

As part of this, I decided to do some “permanent” canvases with both Red Ted (2.5yrs) and Pip Squeak (8.5mths).

matthews dream


 

 

But first to our book:

Matthew's Dream Matthew’s Dream, by Leo Lionni.

Reading Age 5yrs – 7yrs. Read together age: 2.5yrs – 5yrs

Many may know Lionni’s little mouse Frederick – it is often used in art classes for primary schools. Leo Lionni obviously loves colour and one book that really represents his passion for art and colour to me, is one of his slightly less well known books Matthew’s Dream. Matthew is a little mouse setting out to discover what he wants to be when he grows up. A trip to the art gallery helps him discover his passion for colour.. He also meets another little girl mouse and that night he has a dream. And unlike many of us who leave dreams as dreams, he follows his dream and becomes a successful artist. Inspirational. Lovely. I love all Lionni’s little mice stories – beautifully illustrated and for me “classics”.

Nurturing the Budding Artist

So. What did we do? I decided that the little mouse Matthew was the perfect role model to “Nuture the Budding Artist” within my children. We used acrylics as they last better and are actually easy to get off the children (though not clothes, wear old things).

Painting with children

Red Ted helped me do some background colours – he chose blue for him and, erm pink for Pip Squeak. Not wanting to gender type my children so dramatically, I mixed in some yellow to get a nice orange. We had toddler meltdown. Goes to show – don’t interfere with their craft. Or don’t “ask them” and then “don’t give them”. I learnt my lesson.

Once dried, we then got painting. Red Ted insisted on pink for his canvas, which I was absolutely fine with, so I also gave him a little yellow to add variety. He started off very detailed, even did some leaf and hand printing and then it got messy..! But he had fun! And I love the result.

childrens artwork

Pip Squeak on the other hand, being only 8months, was confused. She tried to eat the paint brush, which none of us were happy about, least of all her. Then got painting. I gave her two different greens. My recommendation: do this with children 14 months +. A friend of mine did and their results and experience were much more positive (though I am still happy to have done this).

Ta-daaaaa:

childrens artworkFor more Kid’s Craft, look here.

Filed Under: Father's Day, Kids Craft, Summer 79 Comments

Comments

    • Red Ted Art says

      Thank you Theresa! Yes, the results were worth it… the journey a little harder! But lessons were learnt and all in all everyone enjoyed it!!!!

      Maggy

      Reply

  5. Michelle says

    Maggy these are amazing…I love this idea and will have to do this with the girls. I was just thinking that I wanted to frame some of Emily’s pictures for her room this would be a wonderful addition too! I can’t wait to check out this book to we have never read it before.

    Thank you for sharing you ideas and linking up to stART!!

    Reply

    • Red Ted Art says

      Thank you Michelle, appreciate your lovely comment!! You must do a post with your finished art gallery, I bet it will look fabulous. I need to start an “art folder” for Red Ted very soon, before i keep giving his artwork away (i.e. all those greeting cards we make!!!) x

      Reply

  6. Jen C. says

    Oh, that looks like a really neat book! I think I’ll check it out when I get a chance to 🙂

    Wow, I love the activity you did with your kids. I’m still so unsure about giving my daughter crayons to play with and here you are giving Pip Squeak paint! Maybe I should think about doing a painting project with E when we go back to the States. We just don’t have the space here to do something so messy 🙂 Thanks for the inspiration!

    Reply

    • Red Ted Art says

      Oh my daughter would eat crayons too… but I am sure we can start off soon. Under supervision of course! Just be brave! And if it doesn’t work, try again in a few weeks time!

      Reply

    • Red Ted Art says

      We are going to have a another go with Red Ted soon, as helping a friend with her kids and there is no way he will “just watch”. Can’t wait to see what he comes up with!!

      Reply

  8. Mummy V says

    Awww I love them! This is just one of the things I wanted to do with Baby V this week, I’ll have to get some supplies sorted and get started! 🙂

    Reply

    • Red Ted Art says

      Oh fabulous! Enjoy!!! Do be warned though, that I think it works best with children 12mths + pip squeak was a LITTLE young… I still think it was worth the effort, but she may have enjoyed it a little more if she was a tad bit older!!! Go for it though!!! 🙂

      Reply

  10. Carmen Henesy says

    What fun. My three sons are all over 25 now but I hope I get to try this with grandchildren.
    Since I’ve only had one wedding in the family ( three months ago ), they’d better get busy!
    The art is so special.

    At 65, I’ve done it! My poetry book – Life’s Journey by Carmen Henesy – is out on Amazon!
    ( Poems about the things that have been important to me in my journey through life, some humorous, some sad, some that may have meaning to you as well )
    http://www.amazon.com/Lifes-Journey-1-Carmen-Henesy/dp/1451547366/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274652997&sr=1-1

    Reply

    • Red Ted Art says

      Oh perfect! Love the idea of yearly canvases!! Have you got them all on display or do you give some to relatives?

      Reply

  12. nimblebee2 says

    Fabulous post about the art work. Thanks again for sharing your idea of using canvas rather than paper. We had such a lovely time and will def. do it again soon. xx

    Reply

    • Red Ted Art says

      Thank you Naomi! So chuffed that you guys had a go too and that it yielded such excellent results!!! xx

      Reply

  13. Karen G says

    I love watching my kidlets paint! And I’ve enjoyed seeing yours paint too! :> Though you handed over actual canvases…I haven’t gotten there yet. lol I did pick up a really inexpensive pad of acrylic board paper….way thicker than cardstock, but not gessoed canvas (can’t think of the name off the top of my head) that I have them use. My kidlets are older, but my youngest is still young (gee, I’m being really descriptive here, huh?!), so they can paint indoors now….on the coffee table, over carpet and not have a disaster. But, the cardstock/board they paint on is thick enough that they can lay down a lot of paint with only an 11×17 sheet of regular paper under them to catch brushstrokes that go right up to the edge without any bleed through. I do think your kidlets’ art came out fantastic and now I want to run out & get some cheaper canvases (than the ones I have) and let them at it. I’d love to hang it up! :> I’m off to check out the rest of your blog….looks like you have some really interesting, creative shares!! Have a great day! :>

    Reply

    • Red Ted Art says

      Oooh, the board paper sounds fabulous though! Great idea!!! I buy my canvases in bulk (as I do children’s artwork), so it was ok to “sacrifice” a couple of canvases… and not too nerve racking!! 😉 plus if you keep the colours simple, not too much can go wrong!! Glad you like the blog! Do come back 🙂

      Reply

  15. Little Wonders' Days says

    I think it’s wonderful that you did painting with both the kids! Their pictures turned out great. I love how they look on canvas. My 2 year olds still do a taste test everytime we paint! I found vanilla pudding with food coloring was a good edible sensory play when they were infants.
    You left a comment for me regarding featuring our project next month. I’m flattered and would think it was great if you did. Thanks!

    Reply

  17. Janelle says

    For the past two years, my daughter has painted a few small canvases and has given them as gifts to her grandparents. They love them and it is a fun way to see how her skills progress each year. We always paint a base color like you did. It does make it look more finished. Your paintings turned out quite lovely.

    Reply

  20. Amy says

    I we always paint on paper I never thought to do this.. I will have to go and get one of those to paint on. What fun and a great idea. Thanks for linking up today.. Yeah. twice and with great ideas. I hope you come back next Friday and share more..

    Reply

  23. Tina "The Book Lady" says

    Wow! You were brave to do 2 kids at once. I used to teach and when we did the toddler – we had one to hold the kid while he/she did their thing and then hold the kid in a bucket of water while the other teacher washed their hands or feet – which ever we were doing. Team teaching in action! LOL

    I’m not sure I belong on the linky above, but I’ll add my website – family literacy and you! Maybe someone will enjoy it.

    Tina “The Book Lady”

    Reply

    • Red Ted Art says

      Oh I would love to accept that “bravery” comment, but my husband was ON HAND. I had the baby and he had the toddler… 🙂 Def would have been a bit much – toddler does not yet understand “do not move, do not touch anything” – he always moves and always touches everything… Or at least he chooses not to understand!!!!

      We did have fun though!

      Reply

  25. Michelle Twin Mum says

    Gosh they are lovely. I must let my kids do something like this. We have a playroom just done and it is all white at the moment, some dramatic colours would be fab. I wil have to be careful not to interfere too much though. Mich x

    Reply

  26. Lea the Lion says

    What a great idea! And they came out great! Thanks for this post, I think I will try this with my 18 month old today!! I have a bunch of acrylic paint in the basement and I also have 2 blank canvases!! I’m excited! Thanks again for sharing!! 😀

    Reply

    • Red Ted Art says

      Oh fabulous! Would LOVE to see a photo of it.. do send a link or a tweet photo or something! Good luck! (PS we are making another set with friends and Red Ted got painting the backgrounds this morning.. he’s very excited!).

      Reply

  27. Jenny Matlock says

    Do you know what I love about this link?

    You are letting your kids get messy. You are letting your kids “do their thing” with the art rather than you “helping” them in the direction you want the art to go.

    This is a fantastic link to Alphabe-Thursdays Rainbow Summer School.

    You are really a nifty Mom and an inspiration to us all.

    Thank you for linking.

    A+

    Reply

    • Red Ted Art says

      Jenny, thank you so much for your fabulously kind comments!They are wonderful to receive and make me all the more determined to continue all this crafting and painting with my wee ones! Thank you. And thanks for Alphabet Thursday and taking the time to visit everyone! Maggy

      Reply

    • Red Ted Art says

      Thank you! Sometimes I do wonder… but overall they are so happy doing it that the extra mess is worth it! But it isn’t always “all mess”…

      Reply

  32. min says

    I love all of Leo Lionni’s books! The painting came out marvelous! Our daughter did a large canvas painting when she was 17 months old. It took a month for her to finish and now it hands on our wall. I haven’t asked her to paint on a canvas in some time but I think we’ll have to try it soon!

    Reply

    • Red Ted Art says

      Oh yes, you must! My now 12mth old would love it. 8mths was a tad keen on my part, but 6weeks later she would have been fine. Do have a go. It is fun and they do enjoy it!!

      Reply

  42. Red Ted Art says

    … I am beginning to think “crazy” to let them use acrylics… but it does keep so well!

    Reply

  43. Aimee says

    My little man loves to paint- he just turned 13 months! I use acrylic paint ALL THE TIME. I am insane and suggest using tempera in my crafts but acrylics work so well. When I taught art to preK-8th grade students, I had tempera in my classroom- they collected dust. We used good ole fashion art smocks 😉

    I love this project!

    Reply

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