Life around COVID-19: Kids’ Activities

Happy Women’s Day, everyone! I celebrate Women’s Day, even if I don’t celebrate any of the other popular Days, because this is the day when it strikes me that beneath all the layers – mother, wife, daughter, writer, teacher and so on, I am a woman. That being said, some days, my life is wrapped around my kids to such an extent, that I think I am only a mother, and nothing else. I don’t know how it sounds to everyone else, but I quite enjoy such days, and I feel thankful for them.

Taking Hand Prints

Sunday was one such day. My 5-year old, my 2-year old and I sat down with a Crayola washable paint kit and just went wild with it. We started out by taking their hand prints. These are the steps we followed:

1. We took an A-4 sheet and rubbed a crayon all over it.
2. We rubbed a paper towel all over it to make it smooth.
3. We cleaned their hands, dipped a thick brush in a lot of water and a little paint and applied it all over their palm lightly.
4. Then, we held their hands and, very slowly, placed it firmly at the centre of the sheet.
5. I took a thin brush and wrote their name and Sunday’s date on the bottom of the sheet.
   

I thought it would get messy and take a lot of tries, but thankfully we got it right the first time. I framed my 2-year old’s prints and taped the 5-year old’s prints to the wall, because that’s what he wanted to do with it. Like their birthday posters, this is another thing I plan to do every year, going forward, and save it in a folder or their memory book, to see how they’ve grown each year.

Abstract Artists in the House

My kids enjoyed the activity so much that my 5-year old suggested he wanted to make abstract paintings and my 2-year old joined in. Here is their artwork:

This was my 5-year old’s artwork. For the picture with the rainbow, I told my kid, I wanted to try a spray painting trick I learned in school. I took a toothbrush, dipped it in paint and gently rubbed my thumb across the bristles on top of the paper. My kid said we should do it the “old-fashioned way” and just brushed the paper like we brush teeth, with the paint. It was hilarious, but it turned out quite well actually, didn’t it?

This is my 2-year old’s work. I drew the rainbow, but for 2-year olds, the rainbow is apparently not colourful enough. So, my kid just added the extra burst of colour to my rainbow. It looks amazing, I think.

Posters for Kids

When we were done, I took their paintings and turned them into posters for kids, using Canva. See my next post for a tutorial on that and for before-and-after pics.