Summer is winding down and I feel like I’m starting to run out of entertaining ideas for our little nugget. Every once in awhile I go through a little lull, where I’m simply exhausted and a bit uninspired. These lulls never last long, and I know every parent has those days. It’s on those days that I’m grateful for fun and engaging activities that are also quick and easy to throw together. It’s even better if I can get two different activities out of one prep session! This Giant Painting & Coloring extravaganza is one of those miraculous activities!
I was recently perusing through some of my favorite saved Instagram posts (as I often do during these uninspired lulls) and happened upon two posts from the ever-fabulous Susie, over at Busy Toddler. One was a Giant Window Paint Activity, where Susie drew a plethora of things on her family’s sliding glass door (using dry-erase markers) for her kids to decorate with paint. What a fantastic idea for an outdoor art session! Susie hung some white sheets on the inside of the door, so that her marker-drawn outlines would be more visible. The second Busy Toddler post that I had saved was a giant coloring activity. As I sat there admiring these two brilliant ideas, I realized that I could easily create both activities with one simple setup! And yes, I may have given myself a congratulatory pat on the back. π
Giant Painting & Coloring (2-in-1 Activity)
You will need the following supplies:
- White Craft Paper
- Black Marker
- Washable Paint
- Paintbrushes
- Crayons/Markers/Colored Pencils
Start by cutting a large sheet of white craft paper to fit on your glass door. Using the black marker, draw the outline of various shapes, animals, sea creatures…anything that you think your little one would love to paint and color. We went with a flower, butterfly, rainbow, mermaid, fish, crab, whale, and a few seashells.
Tape the sheet of craft paper to the inside of the glass door. Create a paint palette (we like to use paper plates), grab your paintbrushes, and head outside. Let the creativity begin!
Our little nugget was absolutely thrilled with this painting activity! When I explained what we were going to do, her eyes lit up and her sparkly whites shimmered through her giant smile. She dove right in with her paintbrush and never turned back! I loved watching her creative process, as well as all of her color selections. She was incredibly proud of her masterpiece (and her parents were pretty proud too). π
When she was finished painting, we cleaned up our paint plates and wandered back in the house. That’s when we noticed all of the beautiful paint colors shining through the craft paper. We carefully removed the craft paper from the glass door, so that we could fully admire the artwork from inside.
With our painting activity complete (and all of the paint adhered to the glass door, instead of the craft paper) we now had a giant coloring sheet to decorate. We rolled the paper across the dining room table, grabbed our favorite box of crayons, and embarked on activity number two!
Painting in the morning…coloring in the afternoon. It was a day filled with color, creativity, and fun!
