W Is Not As Exciting As V

"W" is for Watercolors. Not as exciting as "V" for veterinarian :o) We did two letters in preschool this week because we only have 3 more weeks of Draycare and then I am officially on Maternity leave. I am 1 week from when I had Snug, and 3 weeks from when I had Little Monkey. I went to the OB yesterday and he says she is sitting tight and won't make an appearance until 40 weeks. We'll see!

I try to do lots of painting and fun things with the kids. I thought today I'd share some watercolor tips. So many moms I know don't paint with their kids because it is too "messy". I say bring on the mess because it is SO good for them.

Before the kids come to the table, I have it all set up. Each one of my Draycare clients has a laminated place mat I made for them to do things like playdough and painting on. I cut pictures out of children's catalogs and various magazines-each child has things he/she likes on their mat. I bought some poster board and cut it in half-each mat is a half. After gluing the pictures on, I took them and got them laminated. I used the media resource center at a local university.

Our water cups are old jell-o* or applesauce cups. The plastic Gerber baby food containers work well too. We just recycled various things we've used in the past. The cups each get about 1/4-1/2 full of water so if they spill it isn't a big mess.

Sometimes kids have a hard time getting the watercolors (we use washable) to "work" because they don't put enough water in them to get them started. I take a medicine dropper and put a drop of water in each color before the kids come to the table. By the time they get started each color is ready to go.

For clean up I just wipe off the mats, dump the water, and leave the water colors open for awhile till they dry again.

This little man isn't quite ready to water color yet. Sometimes he gets a small cup of water and a paint brush. Today I got brave and gave him washable marker and put a bib on him. He had it in his hair and all over his hands, but it will all come off in the tub!

So "W" is not as exciting as "V", but we still had a good time together. I am looking forward to the break and having no extra kids, but I will miss all the fun things we do together. The more the merrier!

*I bought the jell-o in containers (I always make it normally) and Snug was enthralled with it. He had never seen it before. Poor sheltered kid.