Preschool Toddler
CraftsPrintablesSensory Activities
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In all my years of working with toddlers and preschoolers, there have been plenty of fun theme units, songs, and activities along the way, but if I had to pick just one thing, I would have to say that one of my all time favorites is when they start learning all about farm animals.
Watching them pick out different animals and listening to the adorable sounds that they make is always so much fun.
So, a few weeks ago, when both of my little ones starting taking an interest in animals and the noises that they make, I couldn’t wait to get started.
Now, I don’t know about you, but when I think of animals on a farm, one of the first things I think about are pigs. I mean, who wouldn’t have fun watching a few pigs as they roll around in a giant puddle of mud?! My preschooler especially, finds it hilarious. So much so that we decided to try to create our own muddy pigs.
Unlike your normal, every day farm pigs though, these aren’t going to smell bad. In fact, they actually smell pretty darn good!
Using the same idea as our textured apple paintings that we did a while back, we mixed the paint with a little bit of cinnamon to not only make them smell amazing, but to give them that little bit of grit that real mud often has.
Making your own is super simple and is a great way to incorporate a little sensory play into your toddler or preschooler’s day.
To start, I should say that obviously, this project gets a bit messy so if you’re planning on giving it a try, you may want to cover your painting surface with something to keep your clean up from taking all day.
As far as supplies, you’ll need:
- The printable pig template which you can find at the end of this post
- Brown craft paint
- Cinnamon
- A container to mix them in
- Paintbrushes
Start by adding some brown paint to your container. In a pinch, if you have nothing else, you could always just cut the bottom of a plastic cup like we did :) Works great and with a quick wash, they’re reusable!
To the paint, add a teaspoon or two of cinnamon and mix them together. Adjust the ratio until you have the consistency that you want but be careful not to add too much cinnamon as the paint will just start to clump up rather than mix.
Once you’ve got your paint and your pigs, let the little ones go to town!
There’s no right or wrong way to paint your pig and this project is perfect for all ages! Both my toddler and my preschooler had a blast with it and loved that their painting smelled yummy when they were all done!
When you’re all done painting, just set them aside to dry (ours sat overnight and were perfectly dry by the time morning rolled around).
They’ll scent lasts for a few days once they’re dry and if you hang them up on the fridge like we did, your kitchen will smell incredible in the meantime :)
