Sheila Ellison
Page 8
Hold your child’s hands as he sits on the ball and bounces up and down.
Have him lie on the floor face down and roll the ball softly across his body.
Have your child lie on his back on the floor with legs up in the air. Try balancing the ball on his feet. Encourage him to push the ball up in the air where you will catch it.
115
Frisbee Ball
Age Range: 24 months and up
Materials
Frisbee
Tennis ball
Turn the Frisbee over so that the ridge is pointing up. Place the tennis ball on the Frisbee and begin to roll the ball around the top. See how far you can tip the Frisbee without the ball rolling off. Make up an obstacle course or chalk line to follow while doing various motions with your body, like hopping, running, or jumping. Just walking and keeping the ball on the Frisbee can be a challenge! Have a Frisbee-roll competition. Each person has a Frisbee. See who can keep the ball rolling the longest before it falls off. Add other requirements like bending forward, lifting one leg up, making a happy face, or jogging in place.
116
Ball Pit
Age Range: 24 months and up
Make your child his own ball pit—it will be much cleaner and safer than the ones found at fast food restaurants or amusement parks! Get a large appliance box. Cut one side off the box and set it open-end up on the floor. Reinforce the edges with packing tape. Cut an entry door on one side of the box, making sure to stay above the ball line. Crawl in and enjoy the sensation of so many balls. Wiggle around until you reach the bottom, or roll around on the top for a mini massage.
* Words of Wisdom *
My son developed a habit of throwing things—food off his tray, blocks against the wall, and toys onto the hardwood floors. But when we started making a conscious effort to play ball regularly, those exasperating behaviors slowed down dramatically. I guess our little pitcher just needed to exercise his throwing arm!
—Peter, Suffolk, Virginia
117
Soccer
Age Range: 30 to 36 months
Materials
Sheet
Soft soccer ball
Pick the largest room in your home to set up an indoor soccer field. Take two kitchen chairs and set them seven feet apart. Use thick masking tape to attach a sheet to the floor between the chairs, then tie or tape the sheet to the chairs, creating a goal. Set cones or obstacles up around the room, or leave furniture where it is to act as obstacles. Begin on one side of the room kicking the ball, running around the obstacles until the goal is in sight. Once your child has had a few practice runs against the stationary obstacles, you might want to stand in as goalie, trying to block her shot. Switch roles.
118
Bouncy-Ball Book
Age Range: 30 to 36 months
Together select magazine pages with interesting images. Cut them out and glue them onto a piece of construction paper. Give your child one brightly colored dot sticker to place somewhere on each page. Then make a construction paper cover and bind all the pages together with ribbon, string, or staples. Look through the book and find the ball on every page. Flip quickly through the book and watch the ball bounce. You can also make a bouncy-ball book with an old picture book.
* Words of Wisdom *
My brother told me that toddlers have a tendency to go through a throwing stage, so my wife and I taught our daughter to always toss a ball underhanded so it would stay low to the ground and roll without hurting anyone or anything.
—Victoria, Roland, Arizona
119
Tunnel Fun
Age Range: 30 to 36 months
First create several tunnels using boxes, chairs, tables, or human legs. Set up a course the ball will roll through. Make a mark on the floor where the ball will begin, then push the ball toward the first tunnel. When the ball comes out on the other side, push it along the course to the next tunnel. You may want to begin the tunnel course with a flat piece of cardboard acting as a ramp for the ball to roll down. Be creative and look around the house for other objects to add to your tunnels of fun.
* Words of Wisdom *
I always deflate our beach balls just enough to make them easier for my son to grab and catch.
—Kate, Virginia Beach, Virginia
120
Croquet
Age Range: 30 months and up
Materials
Wiffle balls
Long-handled wooden spoons
Bricks, boxes, or books
Use bricks, boxes, or books to create a croquet course. Each person needs a ball and a wooden spoon. Adults must play this game while on their knees. Decide which pathway the ball has to go through first. Take turns hitting your own ball until it makes it through the created pathway. When the ball does make it through the pathway, that player gets an extra turn. If by chance a ball is hit by another ball, the hit player must put her ball back on the other side of the pathway. This is a great introduction to turn-taking as well as understanding and creating rules.
Art and Sculpture
121
Cleaning Arsenal
Stock up on all the things you’ll need to keep the house in shape when your artists get out of hand!
WD-40 gets crayon off of painted walls. Spray it into a rag and rub gently onto the crayon-marked surface. Wait a few minutes and wipe it away. Then you’ll need to wash the oil up with either a small amount of window cleaner or water with a tiny amount of dishwashing liquid. Test in an inconspicuous place first.
Use the same technique outdoors if your child has used crayon instead of sidewalk chalk on your sidewalk, patio, or brickwork—only you’ll need a bristle brush and some manpower on those!
A cotton ball doused in rubbing alcohol will remove most marker stains from household surfaces. Soft Scrub will also do the trick for many a marker mishap.
Hairspray, glycerin, and alcohol can also remove ink stains from fabrics.
Dry baking soda and a small brush (try an old toothbrush) gets crayon, pencil, and ink out of upholstery.
Enzyme cleaners, also known as digestives, “eat” protein stains like grass, blood, and egg yolk.
122
Moving Masterpiece
Age Range: 15 months and up
Materials
Tempera paint
Newspapers
Large pieces of paper: butcher paper, newsprint, the backside of unused wallpaper, wrapping paper
Ball: tennis ball, golf ball, baseball (lightweight plastic balls will not roll with paint on them)
Pie tin or clean Styrofoam tray
Choose an area that’s easy to clean up, like the floor, patio, garage, or deck. Spread newspapers on the work surface, and place the paper on top. Set the ball in the paint and roll it around a little before setting it on the paper and rolling it to your child. Make sure you instruct your toddler to roll the ball on the paper. Your adventurous child might try bouncing the ball on the paper, so beware. It’s also fun to dip the wheels of a favorite plastic or wooden vehicle in the paint and zoom it across the paper.
* Words of Wisdom *
I add a few drops of dishwashing liquid to tempera paint. It makes it easier to wash hands and clothes.
—Kimberly, Beverly, Massachusetts
123
Flour Prints
Age Range: 15 months and up
Materials
Container with water
Construction paper
Flour
Shellac
Towel
Have your child dip her hand or feet into the container of water. Shake off any excess water. Place her hand or foot on top of the construction paper, making sure to lift it on and off so it makes a clear water print. Ask her to step onto the towel while you sprinkle flour onto the wet spots on the construction paper. Let the wet flour dry, then spray or paint it with shellac. Try making interesting patterns on the paper, but always dip hands or feet into the water and shake them before making
the next print.
124
Bag Painting
Age Range: 15 months and up
Materials
Large Ziploc bag
Finger paint
Put the finger paint inside the bag. If using more than one color of finger paint, space the paint blobs so there is room for the paint to squish without overlapping. Rub your hand over the top of the bag to flatten out the paint. Let your child make pictures by pushing on the paint with a fingertip until the paint gives way to a clear line. To change the background color, put different colors of construction paper or pictures from magazines underneath the bag.
* Words of Wisdom *
We didn’t have the floor space or budget for a store-bought easel, so we made our own wall easel by using two large cup hooks to hold up a one-inch-diameter dowel (cut about eight to ten inches wider than our roll of craft paper).
—Jasmine, Rising Sun, Maryland
125
Print Magic
Age Range: 18 months and up
Materials
Flat sponges
Washable liquid paint
3 flat pans or plates to put paint in
Potatoes
Paper
Sponge prints: Cut the sponge into one geometric shape of different sizes. For example, do squares and make them small, medium, and large. Pour colored paints into three flat containers and put a sponge in each. Help your child to dip the sponge in the paint and then press it onto the paper. Make any design you want. Once the paint has dried, cut the sheet of paper into the geometric shape you used. Take a walk around, inside or outside, and, holding up the shaped piece, find other things that are the same shape.
Potato Prints: Cut the potato in half. Use a knife to cut out a design on the potato. Whatever is raised will be seen on the print. Place a sponge in the paint. Press the potato onto the paint-soaked sponge, then press the potato onto the paper. Wash the potato off if another color is used, and keep printing.
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Clay Works
Age Range: 21 months and up
Go to your nearest art supply store and buy a big bag of clay. Clay feels different from play dough. It is much denser and is slippery when water is applied. You can sculpt it with your hands, or use rocks, sticks, or wooden clay tools. Using a string held taut between your hands or a butter knife, remove a chunk of clay from the bag. An old pillowcase makes a good surface on which to model; it can be folded up afterward and used each time the clay is brought out. Fill a small container with water and show your child how to dip fingertips into the water, rubbing them on the clay. Pinch the clay to make shapes. The clay will dry hard if left out for a few days and can be painted, but it will also be very breakable. Make sure to display the sculpted pieces.
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Super-Stretch Dough
Age Range: 21 to 24 months
Materials
2 bowls and plastic container with lid
2 cups Elmer’s glue
11⁄2 cups water
Food coloring
1⁄3 cup water (2 times)
1 teaspoon borax (2 times)
Mix Elmer’s glue, several drops of food coloring, and 11⁄2 cups water in a bowl. In the other bowl, mix 1⁄3 cup water with the borax, then stir it into the glue mixture. A blob will form that you pull out and place in a plastic container. Knead it slightly. To the remaining glue mixture add water and borax again. Stir and pull out another blob, combining it with the first in the plastic container. You now have a dough that can go the distance. Stretch, loop, spiral, braid, wiggle, cut, roll, and spread. Watch what happens if you leave it on the table in a ball for just a few minutes.
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Wallpaper Drawing
Age Range: 21 to 24 months
Most kids find a way to write on the walls one way or another, so why not give them a space where writing on the wall becomes a form of art? Tape a big piece of butcher paper to the wall. Tie a long string around individual crayons and then tape the crayons to the top of the paper. That way, whenever the urge hits to draw, your child can pick up a crayon and continue the wallpaper design. Draw a scene or scribble with your child. Encourage the rest of the family to contribute to the design.
* Words of Wisdom *
One day my husband was watching our daughter while he was watching a football game. She wrote all over the walls with crayon. He had just finished fixing the door hinges, so he tried the WD-40 on the walls, and it erased our new crayon drawings right away!
—Jessica, Walnut Creek, California
129
Spin Painting
Age Range: 21 to 24 months
Materials
Salad spinner
Tempera paints
Variety of paper, coffee filters, comics
Take the inner strainer out of the salad spinner. Place a piece of paper or coffee filter at the bottom of the bowl. Put the strainer back in. Put one teaspoon each of different-colored tempera paints in the bottom of the strainer. Put the lid on. Show your child how to spin the salad spinner. Once you’ve spun it around twenty times, stop and take the inner strainer out to see the beautiful piece of spin art you’ve created. Experiment with color combinations and different kinds of paper.
* Words of Wisdom *
If you want to make a really cool paint pen, take the top off an empty bottle of roll-on deodorant and fill it with liquid tempera paint, then roll away!
—Bonnie, Newport Beach, California
130
Foil with Oil
Age Range: 24 months and up
Materials
Baby oil
Tinfoil or wax paper
Small pieces of art tissue paper (not facial tissue)
Cut or tear tissue paper into small pieces. Tear off a piece of foil or wax paper as large as the piece of art will be. Squeeze a drop or two of oil onto the foil. Place one of the tissue paper pieces on top. The paper will stick, but it is not permanent. Layer the tissue paper to create a collage using different colors for contrast. This is a great sensory experience, and it smells nice, too.
* Words of Wisdom *
Once a month when my house seems taken over with kids’ artwork, I take photos or videotape of the kids next to their creations. Then when I throw some of them away, I don’t feel so bad.
—Renee, Hendersonville, Tennessee
131
Painter’s Paradise
Age Range: 24 to 30 months
Cling wrap painting: Drop globs of paint onto a piece of paper. Put a piece of cling wrap over the paper and rub the paint around under it.
Blow painting: Add water to tempera paint so that it is a bit runny. Put drops of paint on the paper and blow it with a straw, creating various designs.
Ice-cube painting: Put a piece of paper in a large, rectangular cake pan. Sprinkle powdered tempera paint onto the paper. Put an ice cube in the pan and let it melt a bit before moving the pan from side to side, allowing the ice-cube trail to create the design.
Try using different kinds of objects to paint with: popsicle sticks, cotton balls and swabs, feathers, spoons, and sponges.
* Words of Wisdom *
It’s amazing what you can find around the house to use in paint printing. My granddaughter loves using a toothbrush, berry basket, corks, whisks, cookie cutters, and toilet paper tubes.
—Sara, Playa Del Rey, California
132
Event Wreath
Age Range: 24 months and up
Kids love to collect pictures, souvenirs, tickets, leaves, or anything they can find to take home with them when they go someplace special. Next time you go on a nature walk, take a trip to the beach, or go visit grandma, make sure to bring back little reminders of your trip. Purchase a Styrofoam wreath at a craft store. Have your child paint the wreath. Attach your treasures with glue, florist tape, or wire. Let your child help create the design and where each item will be attached. Hang the wreath in a prominent place in your home so everyone can admire your
child’s handiwork.
* Words of Wisdom *
My daughter didn’t like wearing an art smock, but I didn’t like washing her stained clothes when she didn’t wear one. So we purchased a canvas apron and used fabric paint to stamp her handprints all over it in several colors. Now she loves to cover up!
—Jill, Pompey, New York
133
Antique Vase
Age Range: 30 to 36 months
Materials
Masking tape
Brown shoe polish
Decorative bottle or vase
Soft cloth
Kids like the sticky feel of masking tape. Some kids might be able to rip the tape into little pieces, but for those whose fingers aren’t quite as coordinated, rip the masking tape for them into one- to two-inch pieces. Put the ripped pieces around the top of any kind of container so that they can be easily grabbed. You will be covering the decorative bottle or vase completely with these little pieces of tape. Once there is no glass showing, let your child use the brown shoe polish over the tape. Before the polish dries use a soft cloth to wipe it off, leaving an antique look. This project is great for gift-giving.