Marble or Ball Painting in the Swimming Pool

I’m always on the lookout for projects that I can do easily with both of my sons, who are 3 1/2 and 16 months. It can be especially difficult to find great art projects for young toddlers. One blog that always inspires me is The Artful Parent. Earlier this summer, I saw this post on painting in the swimming pool and finally got around to trying it with my little guys.

Considering Isaiah’s oral fixation, I decided to try it with various sized balls that could not fit into his mouth. I really liked how the texture from the different balls made different types of marks. I’m also looking forward to trying this on a smaller scale using marbles.

Okay, here’s what I did. I taped two large pieces of paper to their swimming pool and poured three different color paints into paper plates. I demonstrated dipping a ball in the paint, throwing it into the pool and lifting the pool so that the ball would roll to the other side. I only needed to show them once.

Kai, 3 1/2 years, experimented dipping the balls into multiple color paints. He also enjoyed having more than one ball bouncing around the pool at once. I was surprised how long this art project kept his interest.

Isaiah, 16 months, threw the ball into the pool a few times and squealed with delight. But once he noticed that he got some paint on his belly the intended project took a backseat to some serious body painting. This is another reason that I love painting outdoors in the summer. It’s so easy to just hose everyone and everything down.

 

The artistic process is so much more important than the final product. I love having children for so many reasons but one of the things that I appreciate most is how present they are and how fascinating every little discovery is to them. That being said…Isn’t the final product beautiful!?!