Painting with Grandma

With homeschooling we are always trying to find ways for our children to learn from others.

That is one thing about public school that I wish my kids could experience; having multiple teachers. This is one of the reasons we are preparing to join a Co-Op this year.

I don’t want to be their only teacher. I want them to learn how to listen and follow instructions from other leaders as well. This will set them up for the workplace.

We are always reaching out to our family and friends to share their skills and talents to help us enrich our children’s education.

Recently my mother and I had a talk about art class. I loved having an art teacher! I used to get so excited for art time because it was a fun and relaxing way to express myself.

My mother has acquired many self-taught skills. Some of you already know about her sewing talents but she also has a love for painting.

She has been watching Bob Ross, the late American Painter, and learning his oil painting techniques. She has done some beautiful landscape photos I’ll share at another time.

I came up with the idea for her to become our art teacher. She is a craft lover of all sorts and has tried so many different forms of art. I think this will be so much fun for all of us.

I normally just let them do free art, whatever their creative minds can work up. Sometimes it’s with paint, building with cardboard, paper art, scrap art and whatever we have around the house art. 😅

They will still be able to choose their art time freely but once a month we will have a planned theme for their art class which will help us have a little more structure.

For my two and four year old they got to get their hands dirty with Sensory art.

Sensory art consists of specific art activities that relate to your child's senses such as touch, sight, sound, smell and taste.

Sensory activities facilitate exploration and naturally encourage children to use scientific processes while they play, create, investigate and explore. The sensory activities allow children to refine their thresholds for different sensory information helping their brain to create stronger connections to process and respond to sensory information.
^{Educational Playcare}

When I was a daycare teacher I did a lot of sensory art and play with my two year old class. It kept them engaged and attentive. These little minds are so curious to see outcomes and that helps them stay focused.

I had to learn as a mother to adapt to mess. At first I only let my kids do things that were easy to clean up and didn’t cause me too much of a headache. Then the teacher in me realized they learn best when they are allowed to get dirty. 🙄🤷🏽‍♀️

I can’t argue with the benefits of sensory activities. Here are 5 reasons it’s beneficial to your child:

1. Research shows that sensory play builds nerve connections in the brain’s pathways, which lead to the child’s ability to complete more complex learning tasks.
2. Sensory play supports language development, cognitive growth, fine and gross motor skills, problem solving skills, and social interaction.
3. This type of play aids in developing and enhancing memory
4. Sensory play is great for calming an anxious or frustrated child.
5. This helps children learn sensory attributes (hot, cold, sticky, dry).
^{Educational Playcare}

My mom started out showing them how to make their hand prints and from there they just took off into their own exploration mode.

My two year old daughter had a blast...

She even got creative and started making her own designs 😄...

Time to mix it up and make some pretty green...

Towards the end we noticed the paint was getting farther up my daughter’s arms. We then realized she was actually painting herself 😂...

Until finally it was half way up her arms 🤦🏽‍♀️. Yep her painting session was over lol...

My four year old son was pretty much doing his own thing, exploring the textures, colors and the coldness of the paint...

He was able to do his own mixing concoction and then further explore...

For my older children she wanted them to start with water colors.

My dad is also an artist. He used to draw us super hero characters (his own creation) that we would color.

He drew these up for them to paint:

My mom purchased some outlining markers for them. I never thought of outlining your art before water color painting it.

It was a really good idea and helped them paint in the lines. I’ve always loved the look of outlining when coloring. I think it brings out the work more and makes it bolder.

My 7 year old son did this one...