Zippy Sponge Painting

For our first blog challenge we tried Zippy Sponge Painting. I found this project on the internet and thought it would be a fun, clean, and cheap Rainy Day project to do with my toddler.

http://www.toddlertoddler.com/todays_zippy_sponge_painting.htm

We followed the instructions for the project as detailed in the link but pat ourselves on the back for the recycling points we earned. In all of our projects it will be an added challenge to either make it more cost effective or recycle. This project we used papers that Maise has already scribbled on. We selected some sheets that were not over colored for her to choose from. The paint is thicker than the crayon so it is getting two uses out of one sheet.

Supplies Needed:
Paper, kids paint, freezer bag, sponge, scissors.

Maise was able to select her own sheet of paper.

I cut the sponge into 6 pieces and then added a dab of kids paint to each sponge piece. Maise was then able to select her own colors for the project.

This is where you want to place the sponges in the bag and seal. This became a turning point in our project. Maise soon lost interest and became upset when I went to seal the bag. She thought the fun was over. I showed her how to move the sponges but deep down I think she knew it would be more fun to make a mess.

****This is where we take a break from our planned activity and break into good old-fashioned finger painting. Ah sometimes it's fun to stick with he basics I guess. We fooled around with the finger painting for a while and then went back to the project. She was more into learning something new after she was able to do something she knew. We even have two pieces of completed works.

She is being silly now that we are done and wiping paint all in her hair. But even she is impressed, at least Crayola's kids paint is true to its claim. Very very easy clean up.

Working on her highchair contained her paint well and there was not much mess after we were done.

Allow papers to dry in bag.

• I like that I was able to recycle doing this project.
• I like that my cost was low as I had most items available. The only cost was for the paint ($4.50) and I will get plenty more use out of it.
• I like that we will also be able to use the papers on future projects.
• I like that it was easy clean up.

I don't think we will do this project again because it was restricting and kind of difficult to maneuver the sponges inside the bag. Maybe if we did this project with sand, marbles, or rice. Hum, ok maybe we can revisit with a tweak.

Please join us next week as we create with food! We will be making Valentine Treats!