Oil Pastels

This week's project was to let the girls experiment with oil pastels. I personally have always enjoyed the deep colors and rich textures that come from oil pastels, not to mention the mixing capabilities, and I thought I'd let the girls try something they've never used before. So I gave them each a large piece of butcher paper and set each girl up at a desk in the nursery with the instructions to fill their paper with color.

When I initially brought out the box of oil pastels both

girls knew there was something special inside. These weren't just ordinary crayons that are kept in a jumble in multiple tubs so that each kid can have ownership over her own. Each pastel was laid out

carefully and in keeping with the color spectrum. I think Rebecca spent half of the time playing with the box itself. It wasn't until after much convincing by me that she finally set it down and began to color.

I'm not sure they made any real discoveries about oil pastels, but they did make a few discoveries about butcher paper. Rebecca decided she wanted to try putting the paper on the carpeted floor instead of on the desk, and I mentioned to her that it wouldn't work as well since the carpet is soft. Boy was she excited to see that it did indeed work! Elliot of course wanted to move her paper to the floor as well, and she discovered what crackly sounds the paper can make when stepped on! She then experimented with different poses to use while coloring, her favorite being the "standing on two feet and bending at the waist" position.