Has your toddler ever produced some work of art that you are not quite sure what to make of? Sure it is great to stick on the fridge for a while but then what can you do with a brown mush of a picture? These tips are not just for toddler’s art but all young children.
Children love to see their artwork displayed around the house. Displaying their work for them to see boosts their confidence and shows them that what they make is important. If you’re not sure what to say to your toddler about their art check out this post How to talk to your toddler about their art. For toddlers it is more about the process than the end product. If you enjoy doing art activities with your toddler, you can now have fun making beautiful art together.
In this post, I am going to share my tips for helping you and your toddler produce works of art that look beautiful and you will want to display around the house.
TIPS FOR HELPING YOUR TODDLER PRODUCE ART WORK YOU WILL WANT TO DISPLAY
- Tip 1 – Quality. Buy and use the best quality materials you can afford. There are slightly better quality watercolors, pastels, paints and paper that should not break the bank.
- Tip 2- Colors. Choose your colors wisely.
- A quick basic lesson in colors. There are warm colors and cool colors. The warm colors are the colors of the sunrise and sunset- red, orange and yellow. Cool colors are like the ocean- blue, purple and green. White can be added to either to lighten colors. Pink, gold and silver can also be added to either palette. If you give a toddler every color in the rainbow they will mix it up and it will turn into a mush. Stick with either cool or warm colors. There is a much better chance that when only warm or only cool colors are mixed they still look good.
- Tip 3- Media. Use media that work together.
Visually effective pictures can be made by first drawing with a permanent marker, then painting over with watercolors. Oil pastels are amazing and look great when watercolors are painted over them .Chalk or soft pastels work well on black paper. I would highly recommend buying watercolor paper for watercolor and food coloring projects as it really holds up well and looks good.
- Tip 4- Food coloring.
Using food coloring has been my secret trick for a while. It produces powerful color in just one brush stroke, especially if a toddler struggles to get enough watercolor paint on their brush to make an effect. Yes it is messy so be prepared. Toddlers are not great at putting back the brush in the same color and will most likely use the same brush, pick two closely related colors such as blue and green to avoid too much color mixing. Food coloring can also be watered down slightly if you need it to go further or lighten it up. Liquid watercolors are amazing and my favorite thing to use, but if you do not have access or want to spend the money then food coloring is the way to go.
- Tip 5- Trim.
Perhaps your toddler has only managed to get paint on one section of the page, simply trim the page and get the piece that turned out the best. Before painting you can also stick painters tape around the edge of the paper (onto the table, board or a tray, it also stops the paper moving about) to create an instant border.
- Tip 6- Toss.
You do not have to keep each and every art piece your toddler makes. They are hopefully going to be making lots and lots of art. You could take a picture of it, stick it in a journal, file or frame it depending on what it is. You can display pieces and then stick them in a diary/journal or toss them, it is up to you.
Creating art with toddlers can be fun and enjoyable for both adults and children. Using these tips you should be able create some beautiful works of art that you can display around the house.