This time, the painting activity I prepared for the boys was much more manageable. It was IMPORTANT that is was manageable because I was ALL ALONE with them today!
So it was a SUPER WIN for me! =O
The 3 Key Successs Factors that I should remember always:
1. It is important to situate the activity in a contained area preferably one which is a convenient place for clean up.
In this case the boy's bathroom. We intentionally didn't do up any shower stalls, etc in the toilet to keep it as open and spacious as possible, for them. So, I put a plastic mat on the floor so that their drawing paper would keep dry. It's the same plastic mat i use under their high-chairs for when they practise feeding themselves, so it was mucho convenient!
2. Use Non-TOXIC washable paints.
Since my time as an Assistant Teacher at Julia Gabriels, I've known the importance of using non-toxic paints. While not many babies would feed themselves paint, some do. I remember a fellow teacher's little boy, Anthony, who picked up the brush and then put it in his mount and proceeded to eat up the paint. His mom, one of the teachers, just shook her head and smiled. I think lil Anthony went on to finish the whole bowl of red paint! =D
When u know the paint is ok, you can be as cool as a cucumber. And that's a good state of being, to be in when you're organising these sorts of activities. Especially when your child has a knack for wanting to eat paint or wanting to BE the painting Canvas!
Upin instinctively starts to paint himself. He has so much fun with it and I know he's exploring textures and how it feels, so I encourage him. I did get a bit antsy about him painting his diapers! But ok lah- I mean nothing wrong with it, except that I found it a tad weird.
Talk about different personalities! Ipin kept relatively clean the whole time, and complained about the little bits of paint that DID get on him. He also showed obvious displeasure when Upin tried to paint his diaper! lol...
3. Let them be almost nude and let them continue to play in the shower and watch you clean up
Obviously, when they're unclothed it eases any anxiety about getting clothes dirty mah? I did consider letting them go without diapers, but I thought dingle-dongle prints on the drawing paper was a tad distasteful!
But letting them watch and participate in clean up was something I didn't expect would work so well. They were quite amused helping me rinse off the plastic mat and wash off all the paints that we used- which basically meant them shounting "There!", "Wet" while I was bent over backwards cleaning.
Anyhow, I think it was a nice transition for them into their shower. It was a sign that, well the painting fun is over. Momma has cleaned everything up and now it's time for us to get cleaned up!
I just HAD to post up these 2 pics cos I think they're so cute and funny! I blurred out the dingle-dongle bits though. I do hope they don't hate me when they're bigger for posting these sorts of pics on my blog.
Lol..
And this was one of the 2 final products! =D
I'm proud of my babies, but PROUDER of myself! LOL!
