I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
One of the things I really enjoy about being a mom is having an excuse to do arts and crafts without people looking at me like I’m crazy. If you follow my public instagram account, you know that I love crocheting because it’s relaxing, and because it’s also introduced me to other types of crafts like the time I tried to make buttons. My newfound love for crafting is also being passed down to Sesame. One of the first crafts I did with him was edible finger painting and I even let him finger paint cards that he sent his grandmothers for Mother’s Day.
As Sesame’s gotten older, I’ve been focusing on getting him ready for preschool and the crafting has slowed down a little. During a recent conversation with Mr. S about the importance of encouraging creativity in the current generation, I decided that I need to spend a bit more time focusing on letting him use his imagination. This means trying to come up with new crafts, but I am totally not one of those amazing Pinterest moms, which means I need help. Well Amazon Prime Instant Video’s show Creative Galaxy totally came to my rescue.
Creative Galaxy is a series designed to help preschoolers (and their parents) use their imaginations to create art. It follows Arty as he sets out to “fix it with art” and shows that art is all around you everyday. Not only do the kids watch Arty create art, but at the end of the episode they show real-life art projects that are totally doable at home. Prior to watching the show, we went on a family trip to Michael’s to pick up crafting supplies. The title of the show alone gave me some great ideas all that were probably a bit too advanced, but I bought a ton of things nonetheless.
Before sitting down to watch the show, I told Sesame that we were going to do an art project afterwards. In my mind, we were going to create a small galaxy of our own, but by the end of the first episode he had his heart set on making a pizza. During the real-life section of the show, one of the little girls made a pizza and he decided that’s what he wanted to make. We watched a few more episodes in that sitting and when I asked him if he was ready to do an art project he said “make a pizza.” Yea he didn’t forget, so we made a pizza.
Attempting the “dots” I wanted to try
He liked the brush more than the cotton ball…
Trying to use the glue on his own…
Adding his toppings…
Here’s what you need to make a pizza of your own:
- Construction Paper
- Fingerpaint
- Pom Poms
- Cotton balls
- Glue
I cut a “circle” for our pizza and separated the paint into red, yellow, and “orange”(I had to mix it myself and I added too much red). I wanted us to attempt the “pixelated” art they did, so I showed him how to put a cotton ball in the paint and make dots. Yea that didn’t work so well. He took the brush I used to mix the orange and got to work. Once he finished, I asked if I could help and he let me spread the “sauce” all over. Of course he was’t going to let it dry, so we started adding the pom poms. I dabbed glue on and let him place them where he wanted. At one point, he saw a blue pom pom and yelled “BUEBERRY! BUEBERRY PIZZA.”
His triumphant I DID IT!!!
Pretending to eat it because I asked him too. Okay actually he was doing it on his own when I wasn’t in the room, but I ran back and asked him to stand in the good light for me lol.
He was so excited when he finished that he yelled “I DID IT!!!” When I asked if he liked the show and Arty, he said “yea” and nodded his head a bunch of times. I really enjoyed the show and the fact that no only does it teach little ones to use their imagination, they also focus on recycling and turning “old” things into “new” things. Plus, the nerd in me was hooked from the moment they mentioned that his mom is an architect, who designed the new LIBRARY!!! I think it’s safe to say that our Amazon Prime subscription is going to get put to use for more than my two-day shipping habit lol.
What kinds of arts and crafts projects do you do with your little ones? Do y’all want to see more posts like these?
