Painting Circles with Light Colours

Ed enjoyed sponge painting the Easter Eggs last weekend so much, that I thought I would set up a painting activity for him this week.

He chose the colours he wanted - 'light' blue and 'light' orange. I thought that he was remembering the pastel colours we used to paint the egg shapes, so I asked him, "How do we make light colours?" Sure enough, he remembered - "We need to add some white paint". So, we made our light colours in some plastic yoghurt containers, added some brushes and headed out to the deck.

I decided to make things a little more interesting for him by putting some paint onto the lid of a plastic container and putting a cork into the paint. I also added some cotton tips. The cork was a great hit. He looked at the bottom of it and said "I can make some circles!" The cork was the first thing to go onto the paper.



He found it a little tricky at first. He dragged the cork onto the paper and then lifted it up. He looked a little confused when he didn't have the shape he was expecting. I felt the urge to intervene, but decided to leave him to it and get those problem-solving skills working. It didn't take long. With the next go he pressed the cork onto the page and lifted it off - presto - a circle. He was delighted with himself and let out one of his trademark giggles. He then set about experimenting and creating his work.



I headed inside but I could hear him talking to himself almost non-stop. he was talking about the shapes, the colours, the 'car' he was painting. It was great to hear him talking so much and working things out for himself without the 'help' of his big sister!