
Today, we are taking our art supplies and meeting under the trees. Our mission is to create a mural worthy of the animal friends that roam our backyard. Call it installation art, call it crazy, but once you read about who (or what) is taking note of this incredible art, you will be RUNNING to your backyard with toddler and art supplies in tow! Trust me.
Using our contractor paper, I wrapped it around two trees in the backyard.
For our art supplies, I took some of our Crayola washable paint tubes that had just a little bit of paint left in them and poured a bit of water in them. Now they are squirt paint bottles! This will be a fun painting tool.

Using recycled apples sauce cups, I mixed our washable paint with water and set them in an aluminum roasting pan. Also in the pan is a variety of plastic syringes from our ice melt project and a spray bottle filled with watered down paint.

These fun tools allow C to work with paint in a way he never has before. He can squirt, spray, and throw paint directly onto the mural.

The messier, the better.

He also spent a lot of time trying to transfer paint from one squirt bottle to another. (Type-A alert – at first I started to say, “I don’t think that’s going to work,bud.” and then I quickly and silently told myself, “Shut up! Shut Up! Let him work with these materials any way he wants to. If it’s not going to work, let him figure that out.”
And so I sat back with C’s biggest fan (Baby Q) and watched and cheered him on.

It was a great afternoon!

And what did our animal friends think?

At first, it was dinner as usual.
And then, our Groundhog realized…

He was in the midst… of greatness!

Toddler Take-Aways
- Creative Development
- Fine motor skills
- Fresh Air!
- Deepen connection between art and nature
- Work with colors and materials
Just loved this day!
Anna

This is adorable!
Totally LOVE THAT!
did you bring that groundhog with you from Roanoke?
They were EVERYWHERE !
Love!!!!!