Reagan is in LOVE with dipping things lately…thanks to her cousin Henry, who taught her how to dip, dip veggies into blue cheese dressing at their grandmas house. FYI- neither kid really eats the veggies, it’s more of a triple dipper disaster, they really should have their own dip bowls, but hey, it’s all in the family…right?

I thought that I would put her ‘dipping’ skills to work and see if water colors would be of interest to her. I had the materials for the activity, so it really seemed like a no brainer to try it out. First mistake I made right out of the gate…giving Reagan a bowl with water in it. She immediately picked up the bowl and drank the water- at least she hadn’t dipped any paint in it yet. I refilled the bowl with a very small amount of water and explained to Reagan that the water wasn’t for drinking and proceeded to show her what do to. With the paper, water color pad and water bowl in front of her and paintbrush in hand, I guided Reagan’s hand to dip the paintbrush into the water bowl, then to the color pad and onto the paper. I made sure to verbalize what we were doing and to say the color names that she was dipping into.

Reagan seemed to enjoy the watercolors, switching from using the brush to paint to using her fingers. I ended up giving her a foam paint brush to allow for the activity to last a little longer. A bib would have been a great idea, but Reagan just yanks them off. A previously stained turtle neck worked out perfectly!

Another great activity to strengthen her fine motor skills!