We began this week with liquid watercolors, a new medium for many of the kids! Starting off with a simple painting experience, each child was first given watercolor paper, cups of paint, and brushes. Soon they began to ask for cars or other familiar tools as well.
Many of the children began to pour the watercolor- which is usually what toddlers want to do with a cup of liquid! Sometimes they would pour the paint into different cups, but mostly they poured it onto their paper (after the first class I realized it was a good idea to use trays!)
After a little while, I offered the children coffee filters to paint on in addition to their paper. Coffee filters soak up the watercolor in a different way and are fun to experiment with.





Eye droppers are great tools to use with the liquid watercolor. They’re unique and fun for the kids, but they’re also excellent for developing fine motor skills (specifically the pincer grasp, used for writing).
After a lot of painting and pouring, I moved the paper to dry and brought out whipped cream! With the aluminum foil on the table, I gave each child a scoop of whipped cream and encouraged them to use it in their exploration. Some kids immediately wanted to rub their hands in it, while others used tools to move it around. Painting the liquid watercolor on the whipped cream offers a unique sensory experience and a new way of seeing the vibrant colors.










The easels were set up with jars of liquid watercolors to continue the watercolor experience.

I recently replaced some of the containers on the shelf to entice the children to visit it more often. I think it’s working.
Finally, I brought out the watercolor spray bottles to use on the easels and at the table. I can never go wrong with the spray bottles!

To finish off our 4 week painting session, we experimented with liquid watercolors. The children were given paint, coffee filters, brushes and droppers to test it out.

The droppers are excellent for developing fine motor skills- and once kids get the hang of them, they can’t get enough!

Liam and Hanna use their brushes to explore the vibrant colors.

It was fun having Mason (Clark and Jordan’s cousin) here to help out!

After a little while of painting on paper, I brought out a tub of whipped cream- Calling it “foam,” amazingly kept them from tasting it! Similar in texture to shaving cream, whipped cream is a great alternative if you want something non-toxic (shaving cream doesn’t seem very child- friendly even though preschools and children’s art books often use it for sensory projects).

Painting on the whipped cream over the aluminum foil is sooooo interesting!

The kids were interested in squeezing out the paint themselves, so I offered them some watered down paint in different squeeze bottles for them to go at it.

Clark and Mason laugh at the gobs of painted whipped cream splattered on their bodies.

A very colorful mess- how fun!

Towards the end of class I brought out the spray bottles. These kids must have had some spray bottle experience- they were masters at squeezing the trigger.

What a gorgeous day to wash up outside… at 5:30 pm…Is it spring already?

After 3 weeks of tempera paint, we’re now branching out and exploring liquid watercolors! Grace first tests it out with paint brushes and coffee filters to watch how the paint interacts with the paper.

After paper, I offer the children some whipped cream to paint on.

Some were more willing than others to get a little messy, so I brought out some tools to help them get into it.

At the small easel, I put out the watercolor spray bottles and hung a white sheet to absorb the paint. Logan quickly figures out how to squeeze the trigger.

On the plexiglas easel I hung a thick piece of paper to use with the spay bottles and brushes.

While the others begin to move around the studio, Rogan gets really involved with the whipped cream.

Grace and Austin compare their jars of goodies from the shelf.

Grace washes up while the others continue to spray the room down with watercolors.

Some sweet love for a happy Valentines Day!

For the last class of the 4 week painting session, we are exploring liquid watercolors. We started off painting coffee filters to experience the qualities of liquid watercolors (coffee filters soak up the liquid really well and show off the colors). At first Kate was reluctant to paint, so I asked her to choose two colors to start with. When she chose blue and pink, she smiled and began painting right away.

After the coffee filter and paper paintings were finished, I removed the trays and offered the kids scoops of whipped cream (made without sugar) to paint with their watercolors. I told them it was “foam” so they wouldn’t automatically ingest it.

Whipped cream is a great alternative to shaving cream in children’s art. Many preschools and children’s art books use shaving cream as a sensory painting experience, but there are a lot of toxic chemicals in the foamy shaving cream. Even children over three who don’t put it in their mouths would still be better off using whipped cream instead. The consistency is so similar!

Painting with whipped cream on the aluminum foil is a great sensory experience! It’s shiny and slippery and it makes a fun crackling sound when you rub it.

For our easel painting today, I cut up an old white sheet and hung it over them to use with water color spray bottles. The kids couldn’t quite figure out how to squeeze the trigger, but they were very interested in the bottles! Kirsten was the first one to try it out.

Karuna first examines the sheet with the watercolor painting

Kate soon came over to paint with a brush on the sheet, while Karuna tried to figure out the bottle.

Towards the end of class, the girls begin to roam the room, finding some last minute fun to get in to.