Magntic fun!

Magnets are Fasinating!

Who hasn't gotten sucked into a slightly meditative state by the push and pull that is possible with magnets? I bought a set of magnets from amazon, after seeing someone paint with magnets on plexiglass! (I'm sorry, I can't find the inspiring picture now!) Seeing that activity sparked a memory from when I taught pre-k. I had hung a piece of plexiglas from my ceiling in the science center for the children to use while exploring magnets. So I quickly adapted that idea to the home. I duct taped a piece of plexiglass, that is usually the painting surface on our homemade easel, between to chairs and told M to slide under.

I put the magnetic balls on top and gave her one of the wands. She had them rockin' and rollin' in no time! A few days later we added paint to the equation. For this project I created edges around the plexiglass to contain the paint covered magnetic balls! This time she sat in front of the plexiglass, while working the magnet under it. This position gave her greater control.

We tried it a few different ways. I squirted paint directly on the plexiglass and she made designs in the paint, that we then made a print of. Then we put down the paper first with a squirt of paint, a circle works well. They are almost guaranteed to move enough paint with the magnets to feel successful.

Magnets are not just for the refrigerator any more! What ideas do ou have to extend magnetic play?

Does it squish?

I have been having children paint with their feet since I first taught kindergarten, and we read The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss. I always did it the same way until earlier this week. I used to have the children sit in a chair, I would sit on the floor, and I would use a paint brush to paint their feet. It was always fun, and the new sensation of the brush on their foot was giggle inducing. But boy oh boy was it labor intensive, and messy! I was always covered in paint by the time we were done. The the smart ladies over at Play At Home Moms posted a picture where the child stood in a small tub of paint. Brilliant!

A few days ago this is just what we did. I had it all set up and waiting for M in the kitchen when she woke up.

I put down a waterproof table cloth, covered that with a twin sheet that our Homegrown Friends splatter painted, in September, a la Jackson Pollock. The final layer was a large sheet of paper that I cut from the 'end roll' from our local newspaper. (free! One company's trash is another mom's endless supply of painting paper!) I taped the paper down, so as to lower the frustration level. The paper never lifted up, tore, or got crinkled. There were also some "art towels" set out. I set out 3 small bins and let her choose her paint colors. We used our washable tempra paint from Discount School Supply, that we use for most of our painting.

M had a blast stepping into the paint and squishing paint between her toes. She Requested some 'grooving' music' so that is what I picked out on Pandora, a little 90's Pop.

She danced and twirled her way to a masterpiece. We filled the bucks a few times with the same colors, and then rinsed, washed and repeated with a new set of colors and a fresh piece of paper. It evolved into hand painting, which was quickly followed by tummy painting. I drew the line at hair painting and making 'paint angels'. All of this squishy fun was followed by a bath.

I am happy say that I was much cleaner than usual after this activity, and M was WAY messier! She was pleased to have been in total control over color choice for her feet, she often double dipped her feet. It was a very enjoyable way to create outside the box.

~Note, the paper right near the paint buckets gets very saturated and becomes very slippery. After M fell once we used more caution, especially in the 'paint loading zone'. Moving the paint buckets to the other side of the paper half way through the project helps to cut down on the slip and slide aspect.