Rorschach Blobs

This week's project was my own personality test of sorts. After folding several different colored pages in half, I had the girls dab various paint colors on or around the center folds. They then re-folded the pages, pressed them flat with lots of gentle patting, and finally opened them up to reveal colorful blobs of paint. Rebecca had such a good time that she kept asking for additional folded pages to cover with paint. Elliot waved the spoonful of paint around in the air while I stood at the ready to remove said spoon before the paint could land anywhere but on the paper. Elliot then had fun patting the paper and seemed anxious to open it up to see what interesting shape had been made, but there I was again, anxious to whisk the paper away from her grasp before her little fingers could feel how wet and runny the paint really was. It's no wonder Rebecca is so concerned about messes; as a mom I tend to try and curb such things before they get out of hand. But it's okay for art to be messy, so I will have to try and silence the tidy mom in me to enhance the sensory dimension of dabbling with art materials. For my own defense I will say that our project occurred right before bedtime on a non-bath night, my husband was at class, and I was too tired to go through the bath routine on my own. I will note for future art adventures to never plan an activity unless a bath can be given immediately afterward. I may also note to look into a household cleaner that works well on paint, markers, etc. Luckily most of these things come in the washable variety.

Our colorful blobs have become conversation pieces around the house. What I see as a bumblebee my husband sees as weight-lifter, and so on. Now that the paint is dry it might be fun to bring out the markers and further illustrate what each blob can be taken to resemble. Or maybe it's best to leave them open-ended?

Accountability

I am the mother of two lovely little girls. As I make decisions about how to raise my children, one of the things I feel is important to pass on to them is the gift of creativity. My own mother nurtured this in me, and now I wish to pay it forward. My resolution for 2010 is to plan an art experience for my children every week. Life gets busy, especially with two young children to look after, but this blog is how I intend to hold myself accountable.

Before I get started, let me first introduce the subjects of my coming posts.

Rebecca, 3, is already proving to be quite the orderly kid. Recent fingerpainting fun demonstrates her personality quite clearly: not only did she give each of the colors its own private space on the paper (much like she does with the food on her plate), she insisted on cleaning her fingers after each dip into the paint.

Her younger sister, Elliot, who just turned 1 year, also got in on the fun,

though perhaps I will have to figure out a better way to present art materials to her than by placing them on her high chair tray. The finger paint was in her mouth almost immediately. By the disappointed looks that followed, I think she understood the paint to be food. I went ahead and demonstrated how fun it can be to make colored fingerprints all over the paper, but she seemed content to simply tear and crumple the paper instead.

For now I'm off to plan next week's art adventure. With any luck I might be able to throw in a lesson or two, such as what happens when blue and yellow are mixed together. Stay tuned to see what's in store for these two kids at art!