painting with baby

This past weekend Levi shed his clothes, grabbed a paintbrush and painted his first canvas with acrylics. 

He LOVED it..almost as much as I loved watching him.

Pure creative and kinesthetic joy, it was. 

And the painting is rather beautiful, I think!

Some tips and tricks for painting with a very little one:

1. I recommend baby to be as close to naked as possible and make sure to wear old clothes or a smock. You WILL get paint on you and acrylics are permanent.

 2. Offer a limited color palette; 2 primary colors that create a new color when mixed such as blue and red, red and yellow or blue and yellow. I also gave Levi some white to mix in. If you use too many colors all together (ie. red, yellow AND blue), the painting will probably end up as a muddy brown mess. Take my *art teacher* word for it. :)

3. Show baby how to use a brush but also show them they can use their fingers, too. Surprisingly enough, Levi much preferred the brush.

4. Give lots of "oohs" and "aahhs". Of course. 

5. Have a bath ready. No joke.

..and washing our hands was almost just as fun.

(photographs by daddy-o)

(My Dad's surgery went well yesterday, but unfortunately they ended up having to take out his entire left lung rather than just a part of it, as originally planned. It sounds like he will start chemo after he recovers from the surgery.)