Hobby classes apart’ they would love more to color their hands with paint at home. So why not use this time and desire to paint in a useful and fun way. Select such activities which involve not only creativity and paints but which decorate your house too children feel proud when their art works are displayed for people to see. And if their work is part of their own home décor it gives them a sense of achievement and responsibility.
You can select simple yet useful self help activities like painting the house grills, old tables or polishing the wooden furniture. Paint all your plant holders, pots etc. in the normal earth color or in any artistic colorful way. The rule for parents should be-‘don’t teach them’ do with them’ as I emphasized in my earlier article [importance of active interaction with toddlers]. This way they learn to do little things for home themselves. They will feel and develop a sense of responsibility if you do with them. When parents are an equal partner in the endeavor, the kids feel themselves to be an important part of the family, helping their parents and unconsciously learning many things too.
Art out of waste –
Turn your earthen surahis ( water holder ) and matkas into art pieces for your drawing room , Wash them clean and let dry . Once the surahi is perfectly dry paint it with oil paint , You can paint it with multiple bright colors or paint it plain then create some picture on it ; or it can be decorated with small mirrors , glitters etc.
Paint old large Diwali diyas (earthen lamps) and pots and plant some decorative plants in them . Plants can also be grown in coconut shells and old decorative jars.
Use your own fishbowl for bottle garden. Put one or two inch of gravel, followed by same dimension of sand. At the top will be small layer of soil in which decorative plants can be planted. Layers of sand and soil are essential because glass fish bowl cannot have any other outlet of water. Some decorative artifacts can be placed inside the bowl. The soil should be moist for plants to survive. Do not overwater of cover the bowl
Photo frames: Take rectangular piece of cardboard. The size will depend on number and sixe of pictures you want to display inside in. Cut out the frame from another piece of cardboard, same size of earlier one which will serve as the back of the frame. The frame can be decorated in various ways. Crumple aluminum file and open it. Cover the cutout frame with this crumpled foil and paste it on rectangular card piece. When pasting the frame to back, apply glue only to outer side of frame so that there is space for attractive photographs. Crumpled foil gives metallic look. The frame can also be decorated with colored handmade paper, glitter etc.
Old grandmother’s trunk can be painted to match room’s general décor and used as part of seating arrangement. These practical activities are interesting and useful at the same time. Other than this let parents sit with kids and watch programs like Mad on POGO or artattack on Disney. Create things together and enjoy the vacations….
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