Art Projects for Rainy Oahu Days

With all the downpours and gloomy, cold weather (it’s sock weather people!) this past week, we’ve been stuck in the house. Two small children in a too small house requires a lot of entertainment. A lot. We like to do art projects to keep sane. Our favorite project from last week was to simply paint a giant piece of foam board. I used it as a super cheap reflector a long time ago, but lately it goes unused and is just taking up space. It was ready for its second life as an “art piece.”

We used gobs of paint and different techniques to keep it interesting. First, we started by adding some painter’s tape to the board and then painted over it with different brushes and sponges. We tried rolling balls and Easter eggs through the paint to test the effects and, of course, tried a little finger/knee painting. I was surprised that Mila really got into it. She grabbed a brush right away and immediately started to imitate her brother.

After awhile Micah started to lose interest and we still had quite a bit of white space left, so we covered his hands and feet in paint and used him as a brush … Little boy heaven … He couldn’t get enough, but a 30# paint brush can make you tired. Final step was to remove the painter’s tape and reveal our white zips. Okay, the real final step was getting the kids clean. FYI washable kids paint just doesn’t come out of hair easily. Eh, pink hair is a fashion statement, right?

Looking for more ideas? Over the years i’ve discovered some great online resources with tips on art activities for kids. You can check out my Pinterst board or these fantastic kids art/activity blogs:

• http://www.modernparentsmessykids.com/
• http://tinkerlab.com/
• http://www.artfulparent.com/
• http://childhood101.com/
• http://www.playbasedlearning.com.au/
• http://kinderpendent.blogspot.com/

How do you entertain your kids on rainy days? I’d love to hear your ideas!