There are so many parenting hacks out there, but not all of them are mainstream. Each parent finds their own unique ways (or parenting hacks) of dealing with the joys and challenges of parenting. Some of mine are on the wacky side – I’d definitely say some of them are unconventional…but they also keep me sane (well, most of the time, anyway). These are the parenting hacks I notice others occasionally give me a raised eyebrow about…but hey, to each their own and I’m glad to say that I’ve found what works for me. Here they are:
What’s more fun than painting? Dropper painting. If your little one has already become a pro at using a paintbrush, why not add in another interesting element? There are many ways to paint, and one that we just discovered at our house is dropper painting.
Most mothers with young children have accrued a fairly large quantity of medicine droppers. We have loads! So, I thought rather than tossing them, we’d have fun painting with them. Below is everything you need to know about dropper painting:
Materials
Droppers, one for each color of paint
Tempera paints
Old containers, I used yogurt cups
Paper, I recommend using a fairly sturdy option – ours was too thin and got a bit wrinkled when it dried!
For each color, mix a tiny little bit of water with the paint so it’s slightly more runny than usual. This makes it easier to draw it up into the dropper.
Teach It!
As a Montessorian, I always teach by example. I showed my little peanut how to get paint with the dropper and drip it onto the page. After one demonstration, he was off and running! The only tricky part seemed to be getting the paint into the dropper. So, I reinforced by telling him to “squeeze” and “let go” with the dropper still in the paint.
What Benefits Are Gained with Dropper Painting?
Your child will develop his or her pincer grip
Your child can learn about color mixing
Your child will enjoy expressing themselves artistically
Pincer what? The pincer grip is the grip we use to hold a pen or pencil. Young children must develop their fine motor skills to be able to execute this grip. Any activities that practice this grip (using the pointer finger, middle finger and thumb) help strengthen your child’s muscles, preparing them to have more control as they begin writing and drawing.
My little peanut used yellow and blue. Towards the end of the activity, he began experimenting with mixing. Now, we’ve done this before, so I got comments like “Lets see what color it makes when we mix blue and yellow!” and then “Look, Mama it’s green!” Children almost always enjoy color mixing I find!
So, what are you waiting for? Get out those old medicine droppers, some paint and make some art!
One of my weaknesses is arts and crafts. I enjoy the process of creation and making something fun. So, I do what every good mother does. I force it upon my kids. Just kidding – it’s not quite like that. But, it’s a point of connection that we do enjoy together. Lately, whenever I’m feeling disconnected, or like we need some quality mama-son time, I wrack my brains for something fun to create together.
My little peanut is three and a half and quite taken, okay, OBSESSED, with dinosaurs, lizards, snakes and all reptiles existing or extinct. So, we’ve collected quite a bunch of small model toys, dinosaur bone puzzles and models and all sorts of creatures that can be found all around the house. Sometimes I find a little dinosaur in the pila (our big concrete sink) and other times, I’ll admit, I step on them. Ouch! My poor sister in law got a scare the other day because she found a quite realistic rubber snake on the bed when she was here looking after the kids.
So, I decided to do a two for one. We’d keep our house slightly more organized and create a play space by making “homes” for these animals. First, we made a home complete with two volcanoes, and a standing tree for “Big Dinosaur Bones”. Peanut had quite a fun time helping to color and enthusiastically scribbled fire all over the sky. Very cool. That was a few nights ago.
Last night, we made a smaller space for a bunch of homeless reptiles. Peanut wanted them to have a swimming pool. So, we cut off the bottom of a carton of orange juice. We discovered, much to our delight, that we could color on it with crayons – so we drew some fish and colored it blue for the water. The reptiles have been alternating between bathing and drying in the sun since then! Who knew our little crafting activity would turn into a lesson about how cold-blooded animals live?
I love these open-ended crafting projects because there’s always something to be learned. If nothing else, little Peanut works on his fine motor skills and we have a great time connecting together. As a stay at home working mom, sometimes I worry that he’ll always think of me typing away on the computer, rushing to meet a deadline. I am pretty good about keeping my evenings open – but having a special mama-son project always makes these times even more precious.
Last night, we made a smaller space for a bunch of homeless reptiles. Peanut wanted them to have a swimming pool. So, we cut off the bottom of a carton of orange juice. We discovered, much to our delight, that we could color on it with crayons – so we drew some fish and colored it blue for the water. The reptiles have been alternating between bathing and drying in the sun since then! Who knew our little crafting activity would turn into a lesson about how cold-blooded animals live?