Friday, June 10, 2011

Paint Party Friday:Carpe Diem


Carpe Diem!
 (Seize the day!)

What a great boost of inspiration Paint Party Friday was for me last week!   I thank you all for your notes of encouragement!  You will never know how much your comments mean to me!

All of the posts last week for  PPF were very inspiring to me.  I enjoyed them all so much and I have looked forward to participating again this week.  I hope it was as much fun for you! 
 Paint Party Friday

Kid's Paint Party Friday
I had my own little Kids' Paint Party Friday in my yard  with three of my grandchildren!

We set up our paints in the yard and everyone grabbed a brush and enjoyed a beautiful evening, cool weather, a gentle breeze and focused on art.  Even the youngest got involved.  However when Blakely ended up with paint on her clothes and we decided she could paint naked (with her diaper) older sister was concerned and wanted to know if she had to also.  We had about an hour of total focus on painting!
At completion we hung the show!

A few tips for painting with children:
  • Aprons! Old shirts! Expect messes and spills and getting paint on themselves. So prepare for it.
  • If partying outside expect wind. Use masking tape to secure to a board or cardboard so the artwork does not blow away.
  • Wide masking tape or duct tape (loop a piece of tape with sticky to outside) attached to the bottom of plastic water glasses to secure to the table top helps control spills. No guarantee but certainly helps.
  • Limit color selections otherwise you end up with mostly brown paint because red, yellow and blue make brown but do use the opportunity to teach color mixing.  Red and Yellow make orange.  Blue and red make purple.  Yellow and blue make green. Tell them they forget. Let them discover and experience it, they learn.
  • Card stock paper or freezer paper (waxed side down) works great.
  •  Crayola water-based markers can be used as paint by painting clean water over applied color to blend colors.  Put down a little red with a little yellow next to it then apply water lightly and sit back and watch it blend itself together.  Results are spontaneous and can not be totally controlled.  Great introduction to watercolor painting. When all is dry a black Sharpie can outline for added clarity is necessary or display as is.  Other paints will work as well, tempera paint, acrylic paint or trays of watercolor. 
  • Kristin Dubish...Art & Stuff has featured some great ideas on her Sunday Sketches.  ( Paint Party Friday people know Kristin has her hands in numerous projects.)   I loved Kristin's monsters she created from Steve Loya's  Splotchmonsters .  Steve generously gave me detailed explanations of how to work with kids creating splothmonsters.  Thanks, both Kristin and Steve.
  •  Steve recommends having examples of body parts arms, legs, noses, eyes, etc. to give the kids to have something to see while drawing.  I agree.  The more examples and demonstrations the kids see the more successful the kids will be.    
 Happy Painting!
Happy Paint Party Friday!
 post signature

    26 comments:

    1. This is so adorable. Good tips for painting with the kiddos.

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    2. Our biggest problem when we did this last week was the water jar. I wonder if muffin tins with water in the "cups" would work? It is certainly flatter and wouldn't tip. It might be that because it has a lot of "cups" the water would stay a little clearer for longer.
      The munchkins are looking so good!!!

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    3. I think the wide masking tape or duct tape under the glass of water (or should I say plastic cup) should control that. I had three, five and under and a strong wind and we did not have any problem with spills.

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    4. Yes, I think muffin tins or little custard cups would work well, I would assume.

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    5. Great idea! The kids are so cute, they sure love getting messy!

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    6. Thanks for your wonderful comment on my post. It looks like you had such a great time with the kids, and that picture of the youngest one is priceless.

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    7. thank you for visiting me today,, what a wonderful thing to do with the children,, allowing them to express themselves,, they will hold these memories for ever!Thanks for all the kiddy painting tips,,

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    8. What a fun evening - wish I'd been exposed to drawing and painting as a kid, I might be more comfortable with it now. It's too bad drawing isn't taught right along side math and history!!

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    9. Thanks for sharing the fun! Love the paint brush in the mouth image. HAPPY PPF!

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    10. Sweet photos and I love the idea of painting outdoors. I know how it is with children. Oftentimes mine would get frustrated and not wanting to keep with 'til the end but your grandkids did a fabulous job. Love how you posted their work!

      Thanks for sharing and Happy PPF!!

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    11. just wonderful! thanks for sharing.

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    12. It is very fun to do art with children ... your tips are late for me. I have two dolls the size of a child in the attic wall mo, my grandson, I decorated it while I painted ... hahaha ...and the good thing is that I feel sorry to delete ... Saludos

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    13. Thank you for sharing the fun of your PP. Enjoy the weekend, Annette

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    14. What a pleasant surprise. I bet all of you had a wonderful time. Also, great tips! I will certainly use them the next time I have a craft party with the little ones!
      Happy PPF

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    15. How fun! Lots of fun with the children, always a good thing. Thanks a lot for sharing all the fun, and it was fun. Have a great weekend.

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    16. Oh, I wish I could paint naked in the yard and just hose off when I was finished, LOL! Well, maybe not. We have gargantuan mosquitoes here in Louisiana and I'd end up as one big whelp. Plus, my neighbors probably woulnd't appreciate it. I love an easy clean up, though!

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    17. Wheeee! Such fun! Seize the day, indeed! (Expect messes and spills and paint all over with me too! ha!)
      I absolutely adore this post (and not just because you mention me in it! hee hee) Thank you!

      xo
      Kristin

      p.s. I think your frozen hot chocolate sounds wonderful... and chocolate and peanut butter - yum! I'm amazed that you stick to strictly Saturdays?!? (I'm more of a strictly between the hours of 7am to 6:59am, 7 days a week gal myself! ha!)

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    18. The artwork turned out great. How fun that must have been. Great tips also. At a family reunion we had the kids pick up rocks from the river and then gathered them all together for a fun day of painting on rocks. We ended up with lots of lady bugs, and other crawly creatures. It was a blast.

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    19. that looks like so much fun!! great pictures and i love their artwork!

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    20. I LOVED this post! Wonderful photos (especially the paintbrush in the mouth!) Looks like fun was had by all. :)

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    21. Aren't live paint parties fun!! It looks like a great time was had by all!

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    22. Eeee! SO much joy!! Spread the paint love. :)

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    23. Love these adorable creations! And the paintings too!! lol so cute!! What a good grandma you are!! They won't soon forget that adventure!

      Hugs Giggles

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    24. What a fun idea and great way to let children playfully express themselves!

      Love it :D

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    25. What an awesome idea! This would work well as a summer birthday with everyone in swimming suits and then a run through the sprinklers after painting - I just LOVE this - thank you!!!

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