Cookie Cutter Painting

This art project is great because it is easy, and it works well for any holiday or season. All you need is paint, cookie cutters, paper, and a flat dish for the paint. In the past I have used styrofoam trays from the grocery and tupperware lids. Here we're using jewelry trays from the recycling center.

This project was just for fun, so I let Nicholas have at it. In the end you couldn't really recognize the shapes, but he's still proud of his painting. We also did this for Valentine's Day to send to family, and I helped make sure only a few hearts made it onto each card so they were actually recognizable.

The paint washes off the trays easily, but for added washability you can add a squirt of dish soap. It's also best to use colors that will still look good when mixed together. We normally do this at Nick's high chair or little table, but he has been obsessed with being in the kitchen lately. (Something his future wife will no doubt appreciate!)

Tissue Paper Easter Egg

With a little under three weeks until Easter, I'll be devoting some of the posts in the next few weeks to Easter projects. I have always loved decorating Easter eggs, especially in new and interesting ways. This project is fun to do with toddlers on up - grade schoolers will even add their own twist and make pretty eggs this way

Materials:

eggs

tissue paper cut into small piece

glue

paint brushes or q-tips

jar lids

Boil the eggs first. Pour a little glue into the jar lids, and add a few drops of water to thin the glue. Kids should paint their eggs with glue using the brush or q-tip, and then place tissue paper on the egg. Preschoolers and older kids should smooth the tissue paper on the egg; toddlers will most likely just leave it sticking on in clumps - that's fine too! Show your little ones how to put more glue and tissue paper on the white spots. These eggs are really colorful and pretty when done!

Alternately, kids can dip the tissue paper into the glue and smooth onto the eggs. Also, older children can cut shapes and designs out of the tissue paper to glue on. Older children could also blow the eggs out first for more lasting designs.