Sunday, November 04, 2012

Painting Rocks with a Toddler


 It was a cold and drizzly morning and Mr SH was between night shifts (which is to say, asleep).  Wonder Baby had decided to start the day at 5 am, which left both of us a bit cranky, and Toddler Girl wanted attention.  I mean, she wasn't being any more needy than normal, but I had less to give.  All the makings of a miserable morning.  Or?  Time for a project!



First we needed some rocks.  I'd like to say that we went on a Nature Walk, but in fact we wandered around in the driveway for a few minutes looking for the largest bits of gravel.  This qualified as outside play for the day, I hope.  I decided to be awesome and take photos with a DSLR and a baby on my hip while helping hunt for rocks (I tried to take a photo of said baby, got most of her face).  I would recommend a bucket, but all I could find was a shoe box lid.



The rocks took a bath and I dried them off in an old tea towel while prepping a palette for Toddler Girl.  I used poster paints and found a variety of old paintbrushes for her.



Some of the rocks got a lot of attention, and some just got a few dots.  I loved watching her concentration; she whispered the names of the paint colours as she dabbed her brushes around.  She was happily distracted for maybe 20 minutes while I gave the baby a late breakfast, prepped soup for lunch and then nursed the baby (none of which made her any less cranky).  Then she decided that helping with soup looked more interesting than painting and the art project was done for the day.  I'll save the rest of the rocks and let her at them another time.  Or maybe I'll paint some myself; it did look like a lot of fun.



 Rock painting, it gets our seal of approval.  Try it with your toddler!