Clothes Pin Painting

 Inspired by this blog post, we decided to try some clothes pin painting. The original blogger used pom poms, but instead of digging out my thing of pom poms, I just grabbed a few cotton balls out of the cupboard. Set up was a breeze. Pinch a cotton ball in each clothes pin. Set out the paints and the paper, and turn your kid loose.

Erik had a hard time figuring out how to hold the clothes pin without squeezing it open so the cotton balls fall out. At first I was a bit discouraged and thought it wasn't going to work, but then I realized how good it was for him to have to work on controlling his little hands more carefully. Erik painted for a long time and had a wonderful time! As always, it eventually ended up in a finger painting extravaganza, but I really do think he stuck it out with the clothes pins for a lot longer than he normally does with a brush.