A Hilarious Book (Series) & Puddle Painting Art!
After reading Kevan Atteberry’s “Puddles!!!” we decided to create some Puddle Painting art! We used real puddles to make this fun-filled art. I’m excited to walk you through how we turned a rainy day puddle into a beautiful piece of art, so let’s get started…
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Summary of “Puddles”
“Puddles!!!” by Kevan Atteberry is a the second book in a hilarious series about an enthusiastic monster. In the first book, “Bunnies!!!” he was completely obsessed with bunnies. In this sequel, he is loving all things related to rain, puddles, mud, etc… until the thunder and lightening begin and he hides.
Simple text and expressively adorable characters makes both of these books must reads. My daughter still loves reading them and now my grandson cracks up every time his mom reads them to him.
How We Made Puddle Painting Art…
We tend to keep the activities as simple as possible around here. We’re not interested in complicated or costly. We are also all about fostering independence. For this activity we looked for a good puddle to jump in; which we found right in our driveway.
Next my daughter decided to put on her bathing suit, including her mermaid tail lol, & rain boots. While she was getting ready, I secretly sprinkled pink, purple, & blue powdered tempera paint onto the puddle. When she came outside she was like 😮 .
We placed a few pieces of thick watercolor paper on the ground next to the puddle. And she jumped, and splashed, and jumped some more! She’s always loved jumping in puddles but this was her first time jumping in what she called a “unicorn colored” puddle. It was so much fun watching her jump and splash and be a kid experiencing pure joy.
Did the Puddle Jumping really create this art?
Yes! To be honest, I wasn’t sure it was gonna work. I didn’t know if the colors would show or if the paper would get too wet, or what would come of it. But I went into this activity knowing if it did work, that would be the bonus. Its process art, its about the process, her jumping, splashing, smiling, laughing. The fact that some beautiful artwork came out of this is just a bonus. What makes it more beautiful is when we look at it, we remember the fun that was had making it. 😉
Wait?!? Am I Supposed To Be Making One Too?
I highly recommend getting hands on and doing art projects with your child. If you’d rather not, thats okay too, but please do not correct anything they do. If you want the art to look a certain way – make your own.
Especially if your child is little, its okay if it doesn’t turn out the way you imagined. Maybe its what they imagined. Also, its a process. They are learning. They will learn more through trial and error than if you correct them or do it for them. All they will learn if you “help” is that they didn’t do a good enough job on their own or they can’t do it; not exactly the message you want to give your kid. Am I right?!?
Believe me, I know it can be really challenging to let them make “mistakes”. Try doing the project along side them. It will allow you to focus on your own work, give them appropriate modeling of how to use the materials, and show them that you like art too! A lot of what I talk about in “What about the Sensory Mess?” applies to Art projects as well, you might wanna check it out! I love how each art has its own identity. I would suggest Puddle Painting Art if you’re looking for a super fun and active art activity to connect with your child.
Materials We Used
- “Puddles!!!” book (from the library or buy it here)
- Powdered tempera paint
- Watercolor paper
- Rain boots
- A Puddle
- A piece of cardboard or cookie tray
Click HERE for Free Printable copy (Email Subscribers Only)
How to Make Puddle Painting Art?
- Find a puddle.
- Put on your rain boots.
- Add powdered tempera paint to the puddle.
- Place watercolor paper around the puddle, right on the edge of it.
- Jump in the puddle and splash, until your heart’s content.
- Carefully slide the wet watercolor paintings onto a piece of cardboard or a cookie tray to transport them to a safe place to dry.
- If there is dirt in the painting, don’t worry about it.
- Let it dry completely.
- Once dry, shake or wipe the dirt/dust right off the paper. It should remove very easily and have left a pretty cool textured design.
Click HERE for Free Printable copy (Email Subscribers Only)
Wait, There’s More…
I believe you can easily strengthen communication skills and foster independence all while playing and connecting with your child. To help you do this; I’ve created a FREE printable for each activity called, “Communicating & Connecting”.
It will give you a list of suggestions I’ve found very helpful as a Mom & as a special education teacher; to help you build lifelong skills. Please don’t feel obligated to do everything on the list (but if you do, you’re a rockstar 😉 ).
As a Thank You for subscribing; this is a special FREEBIE for our Email Subscribers Only. 🙂 Click here if you’ve already subscribed. Otherwise, Sign Up below to get the password & access to our entire FREE Printables Library today! 😉
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