Mk Gallery - Start the Art

On Tuesday we met our friends at Milton Keynes Gallery for the 'Start the Art' workshop. It's a FREE 1hr workshop for under 5's to take part in art based activities and learning. This is only the second time I have taken Archie and it is great. It's definitely something I will be making into a regular thing to do on a Tuesday morning. The activity themes change from week to week and today the theme was architecture.

During the hour Archie flittered between all the activities. We made houses from the boxes and he climbed inside them. We played 'knock knock, is anybody there?' for a while. Then who moved on to a table of crayon rubbing, using pattern plates and paper. 

Followed by a quick squiggle on the big sheets of shiny silver paper on the floor and walls. Then he made Nana a picture by glueing feathers and using coloured tape. Lastly he played with the foam shapes and made towers.

The session ended with a juice and biscuit for the kiddies and they all got to choose a sticker to take home. Well after that busy hour he was pretty worn out and fell fast asleep in the car, but still insisted on holding his picture to give to Nana later!

Happy Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day to my gorgeous husband Peter. You are a fantastic Daddy to Archie and a truly wonderful role model for him. Archie adores your silliness, funny voices, tickles, cuddles, zooming, Super Cheese, coconuts, your stories, Thunderbirds and tons more ; )

We have had a lovely day, involving a cycling to a pub for a cooked breakfast, then more cycling round a lake, ice-lollies, zooming down hills, then a really lovely walk through a wood. Archie learnt to draw arrows on the ground with sticks, while we were walking. There was also a lot of hide and seek playing in the trees. I didn't capture many photos as I was so busy. But we did have time to stop on a bike ride and rest at the park. Archie had a sleep while we did a bit of cloud watching. 

Roller Painting

Here is a quick and fun painting activity. It is a bit more messy and I feel you need more space so I like to sit on the floor with Archie to use the rollers. Larger paper works best to allow for more scope to push the roller about. Archie likes the freedom to stand up and walk around the paper to roll sometimes. 

I just use my food/lap trays and pour the poster paint onto it to act as a paint palette. Of course, the oilcloth is down to protect the carpet! When I am feeling a bit more brave and that Archie can control the paint a bit more I plan on using the rollers for upright canvases and using acrylic paints. 

Archie's final masterpieces are below ha ha : )

Water Painting Fun in the Sun

Well the weather was gorgeous today and so I took the opportunity to take Archie outside to do some water painting. This game is brilliant for summer days and is mess free (well paint free at least, the kiddies and you might get a little wet but it dries quickly). We took a bowl of water, paintbrushes, a roller and finally some sponge numbers outside. Archie loved this activity and we had fun together sponging the floor and drawing lines. He commanded me to draw some smiley faces to! Then I suggested to paint some stones with the water too which he thought was even better. So we moved on to lining up stones and painting them. We then decided to paint the fence opposite the house which Archie thought was very funny. Well why not it's only water!

The sponge numbers and shapes came from the Range. They are perfect for stamping with paints as well, we have got through a lot of these sponge numbers. I also have shapes and letters. Archie likes to play with them in the bath too... Oh and to pour on each others head and have them explode out my tummy!

Archie and I had our first official water fight with the paint brushes, flicking water at each other. It makes me think now Archie is ready for water pistols and water bombs : ) Peter is going to be very happy with this news. It was such a lovely morning, I really recommend getting outside, forget the messy paints and try out painting with water!

We ended the game with a well deserved my homemade ice-lolly. The ice-lolly is 100% fruit and is made from puree'd apple, orange and pear. Its free of additives, artificial colour and counts as one of his 5 a day (I sound like an advert ha ha!). A delicious healthy treat for the summer. Archie is quite obsessed with them at the moment.

Chocolate Mint Milkshake

This milkshake is inspired from my favourite cookbook 'Deliciously Ella'. It is such a yummy treat and Archie is beside himself with excitement when I announce we are making a Chocolate Mint Milkshake! Ella uses avocado's but I am really not a big fan, I also prefer coconut milk to almond milk. So i've just changed the original ingredients slightly. Here is what I through into my version...

2 tsp raw cacao powder

2 Medjool dates (pitted)

2 ripe bananas

small handful of fresh mint

3/4 can of coconut milk

2 tsp ground almonds 

The fresh mint really makes the difference. It tastes and smells amazing. About 1 month ago I purchased some Basil, Mint & Chive plants from Tescos. Why did I not do this sooner?! They cost a couple of pounds and have provided me with a daily supply of fresh herbs. Perfect!

The remaining coconut milk is useful to make into ice-cubes. I always have a stash of these in the freezer to add to other smoothies to make them task more creamier and colder. I find smoothies always taste better cold, especially when you are having a more vegetable based one.

Making Butterfly Prints

After lunch we got the neon paints out and did some butterfly print making on the floor. The paints are fab, they have a narrow end so they can be used as squeeze pens to draw with or of course to use with a brush. They colours are fab as well and because they are neon they don't all mix together and make a yucky brown (which tends to happen a lot with toddler painting!). They were only £8 for the set and I got them from Ikea.

I pre-drew the centre of the butterfly with a Sharpie, which really appealed to Archie and he knew exactly what he was going to make. We actually spent more time looking at the pretty colours and pouring it out into the dish than actually painting. 

Eventually he got into the swing of things and decided all of a sudden that he want to paint with his feet. Thankfully I have my handy, large oilcloth tablecloth on the floor. I am so pleased I got one of these, it didn't cost much and it is the size of the lounge floor so I don't have to worry about mess. I just whizz round with baby wipes as I go. I do wish we had a studio we could just make as much mess as we like, but for now we are refined to the kitchen, lounge and garden... One day!

The final results are below. Archie was very proud of himself and showed his Daddy his creations when he got home from work. Together we do make a lot of art, so long term I don't think I can store everything but I am photographing everything and plan on making book/keepsakes for when he is older. I will also probably make some photo collages as well.

Handy tip... don't use paper for this activity because of the thickness of the paint will cause it to warp a lot and wilt. I just get cheap card from the Works. It does the job and they have a variety of colours other than just plain white.

A Bit of Sketching Before Breakfast

We start the day with a bit of drawing on Archie's easel. It's a great way to keep him entertained while I make the breakfast. The added bonus is the TV stays off! He loves this easel and plays with it every day in some form, be it using the chalk board, drawing or putting letter/number magnets on the boards. Although it's an eye-sore in the lounge there is just no point in packing it away as its used so much and so it remains a permanent fixture!

Today I treated Archie to a new pack of mini crayola felt tips. These are great as they are a smaller size and easier for him to hold. Today Archie told me he was drawing circles, balloons and the number 8.

I'm not sure if Archie is going to be left or right handed yet. He often uses his left, I don't encourage him either way. I think it's good for him to experiment and find his own preference.

I ended up getting a big ruler out and finally taught him to draw straight lines. He has been so fixated with circle motions up until now. He was very excited and after a few straight ruler lines he understood the potential and concerntrated hard on drawing lines. His finally sketches are below.

Don't forget its Friday so that means our weekly bike ride after dinner. We even braved it through the intermittent showers, much to Archie's excitement. Here we are hiding under a bridge when we got caught in a big shower. 

Tube Shoot Game

This activity is just a quick and simple one that kept Archie occupied for 20 mins and while I made the lunch. I saw something similar on Pinterest. I think I may have a slight obsession on Pinterest, I love it so much. I have got so many ideas and so much inspiration from there. Anyway, its pretty simple, I used the cardboard tube from some wrapping paper and the little pom-poms Archie was playing with the other day. Oh, also bowl and cellotape!

As always I tried to inject a learning activity and so while he was posting them in I kept asking him to count how many he was posting him the tube, how many fell in the bowl and how many bounced out of the bowl.

Gemstones Matching Game

Archie is obsessed with stones at the moment and I couldn't resist buying some tumbled rocks/gemstones yesterday. When I saw them I just knew instantly he was going to absolutely love them because they were colourful and smooth to touch. True to form, Archie was delighted with his little present. The stones were all kissed, stroked, lined up, taken in and out of the bags they came in and even put to bed to go to sleep for a rest!

The night before I made an activity sheet for Archie (quite crude I know!). The aim of the game is pretty simple, put the matching gemstone on the correct coloured circle. I also put the names of each rock on the circle to add another level and try to teach Archie each gemstone's name.

He got the game pretty quickly then continued to play it for 30 minutes! He was very proud of himself each time he had put all the stones on the correct dots, cheering and clapping in celebration. I even managed to get him to say right names for Dalmation Stone and Turquoise. 

Archie then asked to put the gemstones in his eggs (some cheap Easter Egg containers that he plays with most days!). We then spent a while putting the gemstones in the eggs and in the basket. Then he moved on to cracking the egg and pouring it on my tummy! Then Archie told me they were tired and they were going back to sleep in their bags. 1hr later the stones were out again and being shoved in his pocket and carried to the stairs to be lined up and knocked off the bottom stair. Who knew some pretty stones could be so much fun!