Wednesday, August 22, 2012

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 80: Paint with Cars


A couple weeks ago, I was brainstorming for new project ideas to entertain Oliver. As I was going through is box of little toys, I thought I had a unique idea: why not paint using his toy cars?  Later, I was browsing my cousin's blog site and saw that she'd posted this activity months ago. I get the feeling I saw it, forgot it, and then thought I came up with the idea myself!

Why not still give it a try? I grabbed a bottle of non-toxic black paint and squeezed some into a shallow bowl.  I taped some sheets of paper down onto the table and then showed Oliver how to run his cars through the paint and then onto the paper.  He loved seeing it transfer on the paper, and he started sticking his hands in the tracks and smearing it around with his fingers!  I think it's fair to say he had a good time.

Photos of our painting activity:


To be perfectly frank, the project was a lot messier than I expected.  Although Oliver had fun, the activity didn't last all that long, and clean up took at least as long as the actual painting did.  Paint got stuck up in the axles of the cars, there was splatter on Oliver's arms, and some got into the crevices of our chairs.  It was fun, but I couldn't help but wish we'd just colored with crayons or something instead!  I guess it was neat and worth checking out this activity, but I don't think we'll be doing it again--at least not any time soon!  I give this "Paint with Cars" activity a C.

8 comments:

Sconi Mommy said...

We've done something similar to this. But, my son (just turned 2 at the time) had the chassis from a Hot Wheels knock off that I broke when I stepped on it (oops). It pretty much became a dedicated painting tool so I don't worry that it gets covered in paint (read, I don't clean it when he's done, it just dries as is). But, I also give him all kinds of things to paint with (popsicle sticks, cotton swabs, craft feathers, pipe cleaners, etc..). Sometimes something becomes part of the painting which I think is especially cool. :)
I love some of the ideas I'm seeing here and I can't wait to try a few things out today! My poor guy is getting bored with the norm lately.

Emily B said...

The result is a pretty cool abstract though! You could frame that!

Unknown said...

Ink pads work really well with this activity... I do it with my classroom for transportation week...

Blackham Family said...

maybe try letting them paint with pudding. Then they get a little snack and not as hard as paint to clean up.

arica said...

I bought a couple of cookie sheets at the dollar store -- the jelly roll type that have sides. Those have become the paint trays for the kids I nanny. (A friend of mine found plastic cafeteria trays that she uses.) Keeps the mess contained to a certain area...at least in theory. :) I bought a couple cars at the dollar store to use for this purpose too, instead of using the ones we play with all the time. Marbles are fun to paint with too - put a couple dots of paint on their paper & roll away.

whirledpeas1129 said...

I love those ideas! We've finger painted with colored yogurt a few times. I have some jellyroll pans, and I'm going to try that with the car painting. You mamas and nannies are brilliant!

Mrs. Polizotto said...

Do you have a small slide? If you do, you can put paper down the slide and let the kids put the cars down the slide with paint. I'd recommend doing this outside!
The marbles in a tray are great fun! I do this with preK/kindergarten and then have them cut circles and rectangles and turn them into animals. They love it!

kaly said...

Suggestion for containing most of the mess:
We do a lot of our "messy" painting, such as marble painting, and painting with objects (such as cars) in a shallow bin - the plastic kind you can get at any big box store. It cleans up much nicer than just at the table.