Painting the hall

I've been painting the hall lately, as it is covered with grubby handprints and marks. 

I was painting and Lanie asked me, "how it felt?"

We talked about how it was sticky and wet and not nice to touch. 

Next time I looked, I saw this: 

I was completely surprised for some reason and she immediately ran upstairs and hid. Vivian went up to tell her that I wasn't mad, just surprised and to help her wash her hand. She came back down to report that Lanie's hand was clean and that she had talked to her. For days I couldn't figure out where she had wiped her hand and eventually figured I'd find it at some point. Yesterday I was tidying up her room and found my glove in her toy basket. I looked at it wondering why it was so dusty and then realized it was covered in dried green paint. 

Mystery solved.

Toilet Factory

Yesterday at dinner Sam started telling me about his day at school.
"And guess what?  I painted a painting!" he exclaimed.
"Oh, you did?" I asked.
"Yes.  A painting of a toilet factory," he told me.
"A what?"
"A toilet factory," he repeated.
I thought about how to respond to this appropriately.
"Why?" I asked, trying to figure out whether he was doing it to make his friends laugh.
"Because I wanted to," he replied.
"Did your teacher want you to?" I asked.
"I don't know," he shrugged.
"Well it seems like a strange thing to paint."
"No, it's what I wanted to paint."
"Did your teacher like it?" I asked him.
"Oh yes," he told me.  "And mom the good news is that it's for the art show, which is the same day as my birthday!"
I tried not to choke on my coffee, "great!"
He leaned forward and whispered, "I didn't tell my teacher what the painting was of."
"Good plan," I whispered back.  "It can be our secret.  We won't tell anyone at the art show either."

Vivian's First Painting Project

Sam had to decorate a shoebox for school and asked if he could paint it.  So Vivian got to paint for the first time.

Painting

Pure concentration.  Another snowy day and super windy.  I have no desire to be out there!  Keep hoping the wind will die down at least, so we found lots of indoor activities to do.  I retrieved the easel my Dad made me from the basement and got the paints out.  The easel is the perfect size for Sam now.

Painting is very serious business.  We also painting egg carton caterpillars.  Not very seasonal, but it took a while.

Paint in a Bag

Found this idea on Pinterest also.  Instead of a messy painting experience, you put two or three colors of paint in a zip lock bag, then tape it onto white paper.  The idea is that the child(ten) will mix the paint in the bag with their fingers and hands.
Sam was having none of it.  He kept trying to rip the tape of the bag and open the bag.  We ended up with the messy painting experience after all, which led to a bath.