Washing Baby Dolls Water Play

Baby doll washing has always been a popular water play activity in our house. 

I first posted about it in this baby washing post.

I recently set up "C" with a baby washing station in our kitchen.

We dedicated this cute heart print storage box from Target

as our "bathtub" it also doubles as storage for the baby washing gear .

We have some small bottles of real baby shampoo and baby powder.

A mini bar of hotel soap and a few sponges.

I also set up the girl's play drying rack to hang out wet towels

and baby doll diapers.

When "E" got home from school that afternoon, she wanted to wash a baby right away

she wasn't too happy that I took her photo playing with her little sister!

My little mommy "C" and her freshly washed baby doll.

Note: I'm on stand-by to watch my niece
while my Sister-in-law delivers my nephew (any day now!)
Guess what I've got waiting in a gift bag to surprise her with?
Yep, a plastic baby doll (from Target) a little doll sized wash tub,
and two travel size bottles of lavendar baby wash and powder.
We'll be washing pretend babies while we wait for the real one to arrive!

Fondly,

Pink and Green Mama

President's Day Portraits: Mixed Media Art Lesson for Kids

I used to make these portraits with my kindergarten students for President's day every year. 

First, we would study some famous painted portraits 

of George Washington. 

This one from the National Gallery of Art's collection was my go-to poster of choice. 

Gilbert Stuart's George Washington (Vaughan portrait) 1795

Andrew W. Mellon Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Then, we would start with a piece of "skin" colored construction paper. 

I always ordered the "multi-cultural" spectrum pack 

and let the kid's choose whichever color they wanted from the pack. 

We would sketch lightly in pencil then go over it in black Crayola marker.

I would model how to draw the facial features and the kids would follow along. 

No two portraits turned out alike but they

kids were much more successful with their final projects this way. 

I was never one of those, "watch and copy me now" teachers, if they 

did it differently I didn't correct them, I just modeled and it helped a lot of kids. 

Starting with a large oval (egg) for the face, we would draw two footballs for eyes. 

Add circles for the pupils and irises. 

A big nose. 

Straight line for the mouth.

Then a little smile underneath (bottom lip) 

and two moutains on top (top lip)

Don't forget eyebrows and ears!

Then, we would add shadows with a darker

tan or brown crayon (hollows of cheeks, side of nose)

and highlights with white crayon (bridge of nose, middle of forehead)

Then, color in the eyebrows, lips, and pupils with crayon.

Finally, we would cut out the head.

Glue it on a sheet of blue or red construction paper.

Add a black construction paper shirt/shoulders.

Cut a triangle wedge of paper doily for the lace shirt accent.

We would glue cotton balls around the outside of the head as a white wig! 

Sometimes, if we felt really festive (and had enough time) we'd add 

birthday party hats!

Happy President's Day!

Fondly,

Pink and Green Mama

Ballerina Paper Dolls With Cupcake Wrapper Skirts

This project first appeared this summer on The Crafty Crow blog,

it was a guest post by another blogger named Merilee from Mer Mag blog. 

She made adorable paper doll ballerinas as part of the summer book and a craft series

with the book "Chasing Degas."

It was such a fun girlie craft I knew my little ballerina "C" would love it. 

They used crepe paper (party streamers) for their tu-tus, 

I substituted with cupcake wrappers!

Merilee has a printable template you can get here.

But, I just drew a bunch of ballerinas free hand with colored sharpies

on white card stock paper. Then we got to work cutting them out.

"C" was excited when I showed her the cupcake wrappers 

and explained that she could make skirts for the dancers.

She colored some dolls and asked me to color some with her. 

She added skirts to all of our dolls. 

Cutting and gluing the cupcake wrappers to make skirts was her favorite part. 

I put all of the ballerina making materials in a basket and left it on the art studio table.

It's been fun to find little dancers around the house!

One of "C"s sweet ballerina paper dolls. 

I love how she made a leotard out of a cupcake wrapper to match the tu-tu.

"C" even made one into a card for her ballet teacher!

Fondly,

Pink and Green Mama