Artist Canvas Keepsake
Mar 21st, 2008 by Jane Blogs
This is a fun way for your child to create a lovely keepsake for your wall or Grandma’s. If you want to, you can even frame it!
You will need:
- Good quality acrylic paints
- Paint brushes
- Small canvas ~ available from most cheapie stores
What to do:
- Choose a day when your child is relaxed and well-rested, to ensure a good experience for both of you.
- Dress your child in their oldest clothes, so you and they don’t worry about mess (too much, anyway!)
- Set your child up with their canvas, paints and brushes. Have separate containers and brushes for each colour.
- Don’t tell your child how to draw something unless they ask for help. Remember, this is a keepsake to remind you in 10, 20 or 30 years time of their artistic efforts (not yours).
- Once your child says the painting is finished, put it somewhere high & safe to dry.
Other thoughts:
- Before your child begins painting, talk with him or her about what they might like to paint. If they can’t think of anything, talk about things and people whom they know, to give them some ideas.
- If you want to, get out the camera and take some photos of the artist at work.
- 4yr old Mr Bump has gone through phases where he scribbles over nearly-finished work because he gets frustrated. If you think this may happen, then watch carefully, unless you want a blobby tantrum-brown canvas!
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We love to paint, but I can’t wait to move past the watercolors; although, my carpet can!
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We used a combination of paint and recycled materials on canvas for Easter gifts this year. I really agree with not telling them how to do it. All I said was that they should think of Easter when they start creating. I am going to post photos of their work on my blog later.
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@crazy ~Well good luck with the carpet ~ we have floorboards
@ PlanningQueen ~ That sounds really good. Looking forward to seeing it
Last year over the Christmas holidays, our baby was born prematurely and spent several weeks in the NICU. We gave our big kids a canvas and had them paint her a picture. They hung it over her incubator on Christmas morning. Still makes me weep every time I see those pictures. You can hardly decipher the ‘art.’ But there’s so much THERE. Ya know?
Great idea.
That’s such a lovely thing you did with them.
I understand why you get weepy over it.
Mr Bump was born unbreathing, and no heartbeat. Luckily he’s fine & only needed 3 days in SCU, but for a while…
It’s a huge thing to deal with; if anything more had gone wrong, he wouldn’t have been able to paint his sunshiny canvas.
I often think how lucky we are to be born now, rather than 100 years ago, when the medical knowledge just wasn’t there.
Both of our canvases are miracles
I’ve been wanting to set up an art area for the little guy so that he can experiment with different types and textures of media as well as express himself. Little T has PDD-NOS and so he is very sensory defensive. But once we get to the point where he’s willing to touch or hold the clay or paint brush he can be quite good with them. This is excellent advice–especially the relaxed atmosphere!
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Thanks Cassie ~ I tend to take over the kids’ projects if I’m not careful, which really affected Wren’s enthusiasm when she was younger
I’m a bit better with Mr Bump, but I still have to consciously sit on my hands at times
And I hate it when parents get all uptight about the messiness of craft ~ that was half the fun for me when I was little!