Isaiah loves new activities and seems to thrive on sensory play, so we did some old and new sensory activities today. We started our adventures with homemade finger paints. I’ve found a variety of recipes for finger paints, thanks to Pinterest and wanted to test one. Today, we chose a fairly simple one. Basically, it’s equal parts water and flour with some food coloring. We did one cup of water and flour, then put six or eight drops of color into each cup. Isaiah chose the two colors he can name (although, he’s not totally sure what they are, we’re working on that part): blue and purple, as well as “firetruck blue” (red).
Waiting patiently
Once all the paints were made, we pulled Isaiah’s table into the kitchen because it’s the only place (except bedrooms) that doesn’t have carpet. I taped his paper down so it wouldn’t slide away from him and be distracting and Isaiah settled in to paint.
At first, true to form, Isaiah would only stick one finger in the paint. With a little encouragement, he decided to try sticking two fingers in at once and soon had both hands buried in the paint. It was generally a big mess, but he had a blast, so it was worth it. This time, the mess was mostly confined to the table, so it didn’t take too long to clean up, either.
Cautiously testing the paint
Diving in
When Isaiah decided he was done painting, I poured the paint into a plastic bag. There was no way a flour/water mixture was going to last to be used later, so I decided to try something I’d seen on a blog a while ago, instead. It was actually more paint than I needed, so next time, I won’t put so much in the bag (or I’ll use a bigger bag). I taped it to the table with paper under it and showed Isaiah that he could move the paint around with his fingers. It started out with the blue, purple and red separate, but soon combined to make a nice purple color, much to Isaiah’s amazement. The paint bag kept Isaiah happily occupied off and on all day.
This is interesting...
Drawing a house
This evening, I took Isaiah outside to play in his sandbox. He really loves playing in the sand and seems to sleep best after time outside, so it was a win-win situation. He happily played in his sand and wanted me to play, too. I don’t really fit in the sandbox, so I sat next to it and played over the side. I mixed some water from the outside edge of the box into some sand, packed it into a cup and made a tower, which Isaiah promptly knocked over.
Shoveling sand
I mixed sand and water to make a really watery mess at one point and Isaiah thought it was fun to cover himself in it. He wanted it on his back, too, so I dripped some over him.
Covered in sand!
Showing off how sandy he was for the camera--''Take a pitur a me!''
We had a ton of fun with his turtles that squirt water. He couldn’t figure out why mine shot water so nicely and his didn’t, even if he insisted on trading with me! There was no way I was going to hand him a loaded turtle to soak me with and he couldn’t quite get them filled with water himself. He still thought it was insanely funny and kept swapping turtles with me, then laughing hysterically when I sprayed him.
Getting sprayed by my turtle
When it was finally time to go inside, I hosed him down. Even doing that, I managed to miss some of the sand. It’s amazing how much got into his diaper! He got a bath when we got inside because he needed to take one today anyway. He was perfectly happy with that plan.
Rinsing off as much sand as we could
Awww, it looks like he had a lot of fun. What a cutie! Do you have a suggestion for a substitute for the flour for wheat-sensitive children?
I’ve never had need to avoid the flour, but I’d assume that something like rice flour would work just as well. I’ve also seen recipes with cornstarch instead of flour, but it’s a slightly different texture.
Thanks! I will try that.