Finger Paint Mural

Yesterday during nap time, I coated my picnic table with three long strips of rolled drawing paper from Ikea and used clothes pins to securely attach the paper to the underside of the table in preparation for a spray painted craft project that I am working on. Noticing what a nice art surface it made, I decided to break out the finger paint when the girls got up from their nap.

Side note: My sister bought this finger paint for Zazu's first birthday last November and it has  taken me this long to work up the nerve to break it out.  I envisioned paint on every surface imaginable inside my house, so painting on the deck where we could clean everything (including the kids) up with the hose really appealed to me. 

Kaylicious LOVED it!  She could have painted all night.  Zazu was another story.  She touched the paint, asked for wipe and wanted nothing more to do with it.

The Count and I enjoyed finger painting too!  For me, it brought back memories of kindergarten, especially the scent of the paint.  

Painting her own hands

So much Fun!

One of the great things about having the table completely coated in paper was being able to circle around the table to a fresh clean canvas to paint.

a section of our finished "mural"

Water Balloon Fun!

I have so many happy memories of playing with water balloons as a child.  We used to get them from store that sold penny candy and balloons that were perfect for filling with water 100 for $1. When I saw this post Water Balloon Cut-up: A Fun Outdoor Problem Solving Activity for Toddlers on Play Create Explore, I was inspired to have some water balloon fun with my little ones too.

I didn't have any small balloons so I used two big party balloons. First, I blew them up with air to stretch them out a bit. Then, I stuffed a small plastic Mickey Mouse toy into each balloon. (Any small plastic toy or doodad will do.) Next, I filled the balloons using the sprayer on my kitchen sink to just a little bigger than the size of a grapefruit. Then, we went outside and the adventure began! To start, I gave each girl her own plastic knife to cut the balloon open.  Neither of my  little ones had ever used a knife or played with a water balloon so they both excited to give it a try!

Kaylicious' balloon popped pretty quickly.

She was pretty surprised by the water gushing everywhere.

Zazu's balloon was another story.  Here's Kaylicious explaining how to pop the balloon. Such a helpful big sister.

"This doesn't seem to be working.  I wonder if I could just grab Kaylicious' Mickey and run off with it."

"Nevermind, I've got this"

"No really, I've got this.

"Let me show you how it's done, Zazu."

"You have to use this end of the knife."

"Hmm, this is much harder than the first time."

"Here, Big Bird, give me a hand with this."

"While she's busy, I'm just going to borrow this."

"I'm sorry Mickey, but this balloon seems to be indestructible."

"Here, Ill stand on it and you push!!!

"Maybe, if I sit on it"

"Or roll it down the slide"

"Aha, I know what to do!"

Success!!!!

This activity was easy, almost free and my little ones had a great time, especially my three year old.  We will definitely be doing this again!

I'm linking to: