Sunday, March 1, 2015

Remote Control Vehicle Painting


 

I absolutely love process art. Process art is exactly what it sounds like, it's not about creating a finished product but rather about exploring and enjoying the process. It has so much educational value, allowing children to explore their environments with their senses, express themselves through the creative arts, problem solve and make discoveries. 

When I learned about the Painting Challenge at Messy Little Monsters, I was so excited to be invited to join in!  For 35 days, Louise is challenging parents and teachers to paint with their children.  The challenge is to focus on the experience and not worry about making a perfect final product. There are SO many different ways you can experience painting, and I am so excited to bring you remote control vehicle painting today!

Supplies:
A remote control racing car
Butchers paper
Poster paints
Paint brushes
A shallow dish



The process:
As an initial invitation to explore and paint I laid out a long piece of butchers paper in the backyard. I then poured some poster paints accross the paper. (Just a quicke note: poster paints stain concrete and wood, if you don't want to be like me and have little painted footprints throughout your yard, you might want to use chalk paint instead!)

The girls were so enthusiastic when they saw the set up and despite only having used a remote control car once before Bubbles picked up the control and immediately had the car flying accross the paper. As we watched the car go back and forwards accross the paper Bubbles observed that the car wasn't "painting the paint very well". We talked about why this could be and what we could do to fix it, Bubbles had the fantastic idea of dipping the wheels in paint "just like a sponge". We into the kitchen and searched for a container big enough to fit the car but alas we couldn't find one! "That's ok we can paint them with a brush!" Bubbles declared.

Squiggles and Bubbles painted the wheels of the vehicle diligently, remaining focused for a full 10minutes which for Squiggles, NEVER happens! They then had a little debate over who would get to try out their new method, Squiggles received the honour and after a little coaching from big sister drove the car straight accross the paper and onto Mummy's toes! (I should have known better than to stand barefooted in the way!)

Bubbles declared that the car was painting ok, but could still do better. What could we do? "Let's pour the paint!" Again after a little bargaining and debate, Squiggles and Bubbles then took it in turns to pour paint over the car's wheels.

 Both girls let out squeels of delight and triumphant, Squiggles with her hands in the air screamed, "Hooray!" as the car drove over the paper this time. The car got a little stuck though and as Bubbles stepped down to retrieve it she slipped on the paint and fell on her bottom-I was sure she was going to start howling in pain but instead she began swishing the paint around with her feet. "Look Mummy, I'm painting with my feet!" Of course this meant that Squiggles then had to pretend to fall on her bottom and swish the paint with her feet.

 This was the final "product" of our experimentation, it may not look that pretty but it was such an awesome learning opportunity for both girls and one they've already requested to do again!

To continue following along with this challenge – visit Messy Little Monster’s Painting Challenge page by clicking on the image below.
 
  
You may also like Exploring Crayons with Hammers. Just click the picture to read all about it.
 http://squigglesandbubbles.blogspot.com.au/2016/02/exploring-hammers-and-crayons-crayon.html

Please always supervise your infant/child at play.  Please stay within arms reach and never leave infants/children unattended.  You know you're infant/child best, use your own judgement-considering your infant/child's temperament, habits, behaviour and development before you play with a new play medium.

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