The GNO Party this week on Twitter was fantastic. I love living in Eastern time because the girls are sound asleep by the time the party starts. Mom It Forward knows how to throw a party! The topic was Affordable Fun 101: Kids Crafts and Ideas. This was right up my alley so I was honored to be a part of the panel.A few ideas that received a lot of attention are things we do around here so I thought I'd share. Today's idea involves butcher paper, your child's body and crayons/markers/colored pencils. Easy peasy, right?
Now to get down to business. Have your child lie down on the butcher paper. Then trace around your child with a crayon/marker/colored pencil. After you've traced the whole body, have the child color in clothes, hair, facial features, or Sammi's favorite, finger and toe nails.
Variations/Extensions
Several party-goers offered great ideas on how they adapted this concept with their little ones.
- The original idea was brought up by Workingmomma247: "I have had my 5yr old lay down on butcher paper to outline his body and he colored the rest."
- From Momof3boys3702 comes this extension: "We are doing Biology this year and I was thinking of doing that and having him draw his organs in correctly."
- And Brunette01 came up with this variation with her daughter: "I helped my DD do cut-outs of everyone in the family to add to her bedroom wall. All her idea. It's awesome :)"
- We had Sammi trace around Elli and around Daddy. Daddy was a lot more cooperative :)
As you can see, Sammi is turning into a lefty! This fun idea also gives little ones time to practice fine motor skills. Sammi is learning to control her hand better and the pencil as she traces around body parts. Going in between fingers is still hard for her, but when she's done, you can tell which body part she traced! She now loves to trace her own hand. And then "paint" the fingernails.
And to continue, from yesterday, with things to remember about three year olds (and probably all children): Never attempt to do a project, even if it's fun, between bath time and bedtime. Especially if you want pictures that are halfway cute. It's not a pretty picture. I don't recommend doing it!
5 comments:
Thanks so much for mentioning me! How fun to include daddy in the body art. :)
No problem, Jean! Daddy is actually the resident artist in our house. If there's ever something I want to look good, Daddy is on duty.
My hubby is anxiously awaiting for his lefty! I still wish I could do the GNO...having it two hours later would be tremendously helpful! Jealous!!
Love this idea! Kids seem to do best when they have tons of room to really play and experiment so the butcher paper rolled out seems a great way to give them freedom to play. :-)
I always give my kids playdough in a big cake pan or cookie sheet so they can spread it, cut it, texturize it, pound it, mix it, etc and clean up is EASY.
By the way - I got a digital camcorder for my birthday so if we want to try the video thing again, we can!
Angela England
Founder of The Untrained Housewife
Angela-I'm so excited about your camera! I'd love to do the video post. I was actually thinking about you last week and wondering how you were doing. Thanks for commenting! Let me know when you upload it to YouTube and we'll get it posted :) Thanks.
Ooh and I like your idea for easy cleanup. We'll have to give it a try!
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