BUNNIES IN NEGATIVE SPACE

What a day! Kinley's molars still haven't busted through, she got her first skinned knees today on our family walk around the block, and all of her favorite foods are suddenly making her gag. On the plus side, she got to pet the neighbor's dogs and they made her so happy, she went around panting and licking stuff for the rest of the day. :)

We started another art project today, but have to do step two tomorrow when the paint is finished drying. So in the meantime, we did this really simple art project that turned out so cool, I think I will buy a canvas tomorrow and have her do it again, permanent style.

All you need for this one is:

Fingerpaint

Bunny (or any other shape) cut out of construction paper

Sheet of construction paper (for the background)

Scotch tape

Yep, that's really it. I told you, super simple.

If you've got a crabby and impatient toddler like I do, before you call him or her over for art time, tape your background paper to the table and tape your bunny, or other shape, onto the background paper. I just made a bunch of tape rolls and stuck them all around the edges of the backside of my bunny. Make sure all of the easily crumpled parts (like the ears) are taped down really well so the paint doesn't creep up under them.

Now call your little over. Don't forget the paint shirt! 

Plop some paint on the bunny, and let the fun begin!

Kinley was not at all sure about paint time today. She just sat and stared at it for a good minute and a half and I thought, for sure, it was gonna be a giant fail. But then, she stuck her finger in the paint and started smushing...

until she realized the smushing was getting paint all over her cute little fingers. Panic insued.

She got over it pretty quickly after I wiped her hand off and she realized she wasn't going to be permanently purply. She went back to painting and did a really good job. And then she slid herself off the bench, which was a lot higher than she remembered, and slammed on the floor, knees and forehead first. It was totally not her day!

The key to making this project turn out really well, is to make sure all of the edges of your construction paper shape are covered with paint, like this:

If they aren't, when you pull the shape off (which happens to be the next step,) it will be really hard to tell what your picture was supposed to be. Here's Kinley's finished product:

It turned out pretty cute, huh? Negative space art is great for toddlers and mommas. They get to just do their own thing and paint like maniacs, and we still get a picture that is obviously for Easter, or whatever other holiday or theme you're aiming for. 

I loved to do this project with my daycare babies for Valentine's Day, but using heart-shaped paper doilies instead of construction paper shapes. SuperBaby did it this year, but we didn't have a blog yet, so we will have to wait til next year to share that one with ya.

I felt so bad for poor Kin today that, after I scrubbed all of her purple off and all of the purple out of the new rug, I took her down to the couch for some extra Sprout time, snuggles, and an orange sherbet push pop. I can only imagine how frustrated a combination of a mouthful of tooth pain and falling 85 times in an afternoon would make me.

Hopefully, tomorrow she will feel like finishing her other art project because I think it's gonna turn out pretty cute and I wanna share it with you. Tune in tomorrow to see what happens :)

**UPDATE** Kinley and I just finished up our canvas version of Negative Bunny Art and I wanted to show you how it turned out. It got a little smudgy on the edges, but you already know I love imperfection when it comes to tiny human art, so that didn't bother me one bit. My mom thinks it looks like bunny clouds in the sky. :)

I just added some ribbon from Kinley's ribbon box and a glitter heart. I liked it so much, I put a permanent nail in the wall and plan on having her do a canvas art for every holiday/season. 

Hoppy Easter Week!