Tractor Trails

(Open ended play)

It is messy time!

This is one of our favorite super simple art activities for toddlers. Young children, no matter boy or girl, loves using car, truck, and train to leave tracks on the paper! Painting with toy vehicles also helps kids develop creative thinking since we are using the toys for something other than their intended purpose.

Materials:

-homemade flour paints on containers, we used red and yellow colors on up-cycle glass jar lid

-a toy tractor

-paper(s), we used tracing papers but any paper should do

Instruction:

-pour the paint on the paper

-roll the vehicles on the paint and let your toddler play freely

I basically just presented the tray in front of Y and let her play freely from the very beginning. It might be our first time, but she could figure out what to do.

She poured most all the red paint on the paper.

She then rolled her tractor forward and backward on the paint while leaving some overlapping tracks behind.

She added most all of the yellow paint on the paper.

And again she then rolled her tractor forward and backward on the paint while leaving some overlapping multicolor tracks behind.

Those remaining paints left on each container were “stuck” on her terms. She tried to roll the wheel of her tractor in the container but the space was too tight. She insisted to use up the paint to the max, so she scraped each of the paint and transferred it to the the wheel instead.

I changed the paper to a fresh new crisp one. She rolled her tractor. This time, only light trail left behind on the paper.

She’s done with tractor trails making at this point. She kept on scraping the paint and continued to paint her own hands instead.

She would mumble the word “red” while scraping using her point finger and then pasting that red color paint on her left palm.

She would repeat the same with the yellow paint. She clapped her hand and to my surprise shouted the new color she’s making “orange!”

Whoever thought a simple trails project could lead to color mixing lesson!

#tractor #trail #painting