The Infant/Toddler Art Group is Back! Now that the weather is more predictable, I plan on hosting an art group each month.   This month instead art as usual, a friend had the inspired idea of a sensory “art” group. She provided most of the sensory bins but I brought a couple too.   [...]

What do Reggio Emilia art experiences look like in the first three years?   When I first started learning about Reggio Emilia’s approach, most of the project work I was reading about and had seen occured with preschool-aged children.  I had a hard time finding examples of what infant and toddler play with art materials [...]

At first glance this may look like there may have been some learning about what happens when yellow meets blue. I think that might have been going on as well, but the real fascination was with trying to get the water into the pipette.     After some struggle, Greysen is pleased with finally getting [...]

This year we will be traveling for the New Year and in wanting to keep in tradition of the girls participating in our festivities we prepped some party gear.   I bought some party hats at the local dollar store and painted them a solid silver (two coats).     The girls painted the hats [...]

When I think of sensory play and art, I don’t think of them interchangeably because each is so uniquely valuable. I guess that this distinction is not really an important one to make in most circumstances. I do think it is useful for adults to consider the two separately because the expectations of the two [...]

We came across this as we walked to the kitchen for breakfast. Just a little bit of sunshine on an otherwise cloudy day.   I set-up a morning invitation to play where the rainbow was.  Inspired by the rainbow, I offered more watercolor choices then Greysen has ever had at once.     I didn’t [...]

We love all things art. We stop by booths at festivals, attend local mommy and me classes every now, and visit our nearby children’s museum to play with whatever art materials others have to offer. I have experienced two classes of sorts with my daughters, in which the educators spoke of their strong support support [...]

At 12 months, Moon is eager to use a utensil at mealtimes. I interpreted this tool use as an indicator that she may be interested in using a tool with art materials too.   I offered Moon a brush and red watercolor at the table, where her sister was already painting.     Next time [...]

For this month’s Infant and Toddlers’ Art Group, I couldn’t settle on what to bring to the park. After rummaging through two cupboards and a box of materials (yes, I desperately need to get more organized), I settled on bringing some aluminum foil.   I set out the foil with sandy paint for a gritty contrast [...]

    I like to keep things simple. When it comes to creating an environment or play opportunities for children, I plan straightforward things. I’ve come to learn that what one person considers to be artistic effort does not always match my own.  While I could not determine the worth of an art experience for [...]