Watercolors

For Valentine's Day I gave Q a box of watercolors. Just the crayola ones from Walmart. I wanted the smaller package of just the basic colors, but all they had in stock was the bigger set, so I settled for that. I did take out the teeeeny brush and replace it with a more substantial, toddler-sized brush I already had at home.

Q loves her paints! I always insist on following a "water-paint-paper (repeat)" series with watercolors and I govern it pretty strictly until my kiddos get it down. This reduces getting the colors all mixed up and ending up with a set of brown paints. I am a firm believer in not introducing art materials until children are capable of using them correctly, and then EXPECTING that they are used correctly. Whenever this process is not being followed (both in my classroom and in our kitchen) I give one warning and the next time the paints go up for the rest of that day. Surprisingly my little ones have never had trouble following this process and actually enjoy repeating the "mantra" as they paint.

There are so many possibilities for watercolors. For now we're just exploring simple painting with them.....but my mind is wandering to our next projects!!