How To Make A Snow Picture

The Boy loves doing large scale art and when the snow fell earlier in the week, it was the perfect opportunity to get creative again. His recent painting sessions have shown that he is really keen to express himself artistically and so I wanted to allow him the freedom to make whatever picture he saw fit. I gave him the resources and let him get on with it.

We used:

  • A2 mounting card (equally could have used a cardboard box cut up)
  • various coloured paint
  • a variety of sponges and paintbrushes of different sizes and textures
  • silver, blue and white glitter
  • cotton wool
  • metallic white, foil confetti
  • glue
  • bubble wrap
  • coloured pompoms
  • talcum powder

You could also use:

  • tissue paper
  • clear cellophane

How To Make A Snow Picture 1

It's at this point that we talked about how he could use the different materials, it was the bubble wrap that really captured his attention. We popped a load of bubbles talked about what it felt like, looked like and how when it was stretched out it looked like a load of balls. At this point it was laid over the card and The Boy commented on how it looked like snow balls. He decided to paint a garden scene (is this one of the first pictures that they like to paint at this age? It's his most common scene for paintings!) and he set to painting with the grass and the sky.

The thing that often amuses me about infant painting is the way that the sky never reaches the ground, to them it's way above their heads and as they can't see the blue around them why would they paint it down there? The other thing that amazes me is how The Boy has always painted grass as blades of grass, never once has he painted a swishy mass for the ground. He normally wants to paint mud but was distracted on this occasion!

How To Make A Snow Picture

I framed it using a child-friendly picture frame from Ikea which has plastic 'glass' (although I've actually left this out because the painting is so 3D), and I've hung it in The Boy's bedroom for him to enjoy. As the seasons change, we'll do an updated picture to reflect the changes in nature.

Days 20-26 of Project 365 (Country Kids)

20-26 of 365

20. 'Birdman' (Yes we had a snowball fight but who wants another picture of that? We spent time on Sunday putting out food for the pair of blackbirds and Mistlethrush which we have in the garden. The fatballs had frozen so needed crushing, and we had half a loaf of bread to distribute. The Boy then spent ten minutes calling them, before going inside to wait at the window for them.)

21. 'Heart-pressing' (The Boy is obsessed with Instagram. 50% of the likes you'll see from the little green bug are actually done by him, he particularly likes seeing pictures of other children playing and I have to tell him who they are. Daily I have to look for photos of Jenny, Burton and Jenson; think we need another playdate. If your photo on Instagram is of a child and I've liked it, it'll be him. If it's got a comment or of food, it'll be me liking it!)

22. 'Artist At Work' (We spend a long time making the most amazing snow picture today; 95% of it was done by him – the 5% done by me was the gluing because he's a lazy tyke! He then wanted to take a photograph of it because he was so proud of it.)

23. 'Meet The Family' (I was incredibly disappointed today to discover that, despite two inches of snow falling on compacted snow and ice, school was not closed. I made my way in to my job, but was out of there by 3.45. At 4pm we were making snowmen in the garden! I'm on the left, Mr. TBaM is in the middle and The Boy is on the right.)

24: 'Now, Which One?' (This giant Kerplunk we had for review a few months ago, is still one of the most played games in the house! Problem is that now he's cottoned on that he needs the least amount of balls to win, and is very competitive!)

25: 'Eat Your Heart Out, Gordon!' (Uninspiring photograph, but it's a milestone snap. The Boy made his own tea tonight: pizza pocket. He cut the pitta bread in half, sliced up the chicken and grated the cheese himself, before stuffing them in the pitta pocket. And yes that's a sharp Kitchen Devil vegetable knife. Give a child the correct tools to use – under supervision – from the start otherwise they just need to be retaught. He'd be more likely to cut himself with a blunt knife as the knife would slip!)

26: 'Birdies, NO!' (Today has been a non-day. I hate days like this; slow to start and before you know it, the weather has turned and the light's almost gone. They affect my mood greatly, pyjama days on a weekend do not help the happy family way of life for us! All too late in the day we went to feed the swans at the local country park, they must have been starving because as soon as we walked towards them and they spotted the bag of bread, they were out the water and coming! To me, it was something like a horror movie, The Boy took it in his stride, and Mr. TBaM stood there telling them off for pecking his bottom! Nutter! The Boy then made us go for a walk in the pitch-black around the lakes, luckily we had our torches!)

My favourite photo this week is Day 20: 'Birdman'

TheBoyandMe's 365 Linky

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Country Kids: In The Snow

The Boy woke up at 6am on Friday morning. Much earlier than normal and he wouldn't settle back down to sleep.

He wasn't the only one!

I'd looked out the window and spotted my longed-for inch of snow blanketing the neighbourhood, and despite the opportunity of another 45 minutes worth of sleep, I couldn't settle for the anticipation of whether or not school would be closed. I only work half days on a Friday so it wouldn't have been so bad if I'd had to work, but the hope was still there.

7am the text and e-mail arrived, my prayers were answered and I showed The Boy the wonderland that lay outside the window. It took a few more hours for us to get organised before we descended upon the snow, but when we did we made good use of the fluffy, white stuff.

First up: snowman!

country kids in the snow 1

Then: a sledge ride around the block, followed by colouring the snow, making snow angels, and then warming up with a hot chocolate while worrying about our snowman, "Snowman, are you alright out there? Are you cold?"

country kids in the snow 2

And eventually he had his first ever snowball fight! That photo bottom left? Right down the lens of my dSLR (I had to run in and dry it off)!

country kids in the snow 3

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A Snowy Flashback

Settling down to peruse the delights in my Instagram feed, I knew full well that 95% of the photographs would be of the snow that has settled on the entirety of Great Britain. All of it bar this little pocket of south Wales nestled on the coast of the Bristol Channel.

We rarely get snow, and when we do it's not very much and it barely settles. It seems like the entire town is coated in salt preventing its inhabitants of having fun with the elusive white powder. We've had snow, I know we have! I distinctly remember a time back in the early 1980s when the snowfall was passed the tops of my wellies, which is incredibly high when you're six. That was probably the biggest snowfall in my lifetime, anything since has been no deeper than three-four inches.

It's got me thinking of the snow that The Boy has experienced.

a snowy flashback 1

This was The Boy's first experience of snow, the Winter of 2009-2010, and he was incredibly curious about the fluffy white stuff that was very cold on his baby hands. Mr. TBaM made an excellent snowman in both the front and back gardens, the snow stayed around for about a week to ten days.

Later on that year in the Winter of 2010-2011 we awoke one day to a glorious sight!

a snowy flashback 2

Unfortunately all we could do was sit and stare out the window at it; the snow was literally like powder and didn't stick together to make a snowman or snowballs, it just dissolved quickly leaving us wet and disappointed. It also prevented a repairman getting to me until two days before Christmas.

And that's it. We haven't had any snow since 18th December 2010.

In the porch a bright red toboggan sits waiting and has done since November 2011 when it was eagerly purchased before the shops ran out…

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