Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Oops ... corrected by the 3 yr old.

I would like to say yes but I would be lying! I have to say it is a lot better. I still have my moments but maybe with time that will go away. And mind you ... I only have one daughter.

just a daily example of my life with a super bright three year old: we got Playdough out and I said, "Oh no, we don't have any brown" (she wanted to make a reindeer) and she said, "mom, just mix the primary colors of red, yellow, and blue..." and gave me this "duh" look. I mixed them and have my little brown wad of shame in my palm.

oh no... how old is she? Isn't she insanely gifted? Maybe that takes an ever greater toll. I have two very close in age and both very little still.

Love the instructions on how to make brown. As an artist I have to give a shout out to your DD ... good going. And it probably doesn't have to be said but most kids never figure that one out.

As for my DD she is 3 and 5 months and from what I understand your mind goes back to normal after 2 years ... so maybe you have a point with the gifted part. LOL

Really??? I never managed to make anything but a pale gray color when I mixed play-doh. Hm. Maybe modern play-doh has an improved formula.

I got a gray on my first attempt, but tried again and mixed the red and yellow first then added blue a tiny bit at a time and got a tannish color which was good enough to make a reindeer LOL

Reading about the mixing of colors makes me yearn to get back into my painting but I know I wouldn't be able to fully do my style of painting because ms. DD will be right there in the middle of it all. I use oil paints (some with hazardous pigments and I also mix my own paints). She has begged for me to pull out the easel and the big canvases and paint with her and when we are in stable warm weather I will definitely have to do that. But I am still debating if I will allow her to use oil paints. I could always just pull the non-hazardous oils but to be safe, I will probably have to start her with acrylics and I am so not an acrylic fan.

We use oil with our DD. Once I let her use the oil pastels it was a slippery slope to oil sticks and then to oil paint. We do paint together and I think it's added a lovely bit of chaos into my otherwise-overly-controlled painting. That said, I've also learned to love acrylics since DH paints with them almost exclusively. They're definitely more of a challenge, but with practice you can make them do some wonderful things.

Thanks no5no5! I love the idea of the slippery slope. I will definitely give it a try with ms. priss. Maybe I am a painting snob but I don't find acrylics hard, just not appealing. I have had some wonderful teachers who are world renown for their paintings and are considered acrylic painters but even they always come back with the oil on top because with out it the painting lacks the juiciness that oil provides.

I love that there are a few artists on this board. Maybe we should create a thread for art ideas to use with children. I would love to see what other parents are doing and how the children are responding.

I'm definitely not an artist but I love the idea to have a thread for art ideas. DD gets to do lot of crafts at the daycare and they have markers and easel always available. Lot of the crafts they do I find bit boring. I don't like the way lot of teachers (including the ones I had as a child) prefer very structured crafts and art and leave very little room for child's imagination. The class will end up with 12 almost identical pictures on their wall. Often DD brings something home and when I ask she says her teacher did it as she does not see her own contribution that important. I guess at least it helps fine motor skills.

Home DD usually paints few paintings a day on her easel but I'm afraid of letting her use anything not washable as she usually gets some on her hands. We use so much paper and I feel bad that I can not store all her creations. She is also into mixing colors but I told her that so she did not just figure it out. I would love to have some other ideas too. I was thinking of carving pictures on potatoes and she could do valentines for her friends with those. I'm debating if I can trust her to help me with the carving.