DIY Sponge Balls & Painting With Water

My son is ALL boy! There’s no denying it. He loves to play outside, no matter what the temp or weather condition. If I let him, he would stay outdoors all day.

Which is the total opposite of me. But lucky him, the weather is finally starting to shape up here in Wyoming so I can just let him play in the backyard for as long as he wants. In fact, it’s been high 70’s and no wind. It’s been BEAUTIFUL. Definitely a change from the snow we had a few weeks back. I really hope this means spring is here to stay. {Fingers crossed} But I’ll just hold my breathe because snow can still come {rumor has it, it snowed in July one year!}

Because of the beautiful weather, I even pulled out the little pool for him. I’m telling you, the weather was nice.

And even though the weather was so nice that we could spend all day outside, I still needed to throw a “crafty” spin on our activities. {Duh, that’s what I do!} I have seen these “sponge balls” all over Pinterest and decided it was time to make some for lil man. The supplies are easy/affordable and can be found at your Dollar Tree all year long.

Here is what you need:
* various sponges
* cable ties {pack of 100 for $1, WHAT?}
* Scissors

I spent a total of $5 on our supplies and it made plenty of sponge balls.

To make “small” sponge balls, hold the sponge longwise & cut into four.

Then stack/sandwich them just like the picture above. {You can add as many pieces as you want}

Now take your cable tie and wrap it around the center of your sponge stack.

 

Pull/tighten the cable tie as much as you can. Cut off the excess cable tie with scissors.

If you want “larger” sponge balls, grab two sponges and cut them the other direction. Do the same steps as above.

And while I was making those, I thought “Hey, let’s paint with water.” He could use these sponges to “paint” on the concrete, as well as using some old paint brushes as his tools.

This activity is a new spin on painting, but less mess. {And in my opinion more fun!} I’ve mentioned it before, but changing up your supplies will re-peek your child’s interest in activities they thought were boring before. Since we changed our scenery & supplies, lil man thought we were doing something completely new. Best part? I didn’t have to spend a fortunate to change it up AND less mess!

All I did was grab some old paint brushes, our new sponge balls and various sized bowls that I already had in the house. I filled up the bowls with tap water and headed outside with lil man.

I just set it all up and let lil man at it.

He painted squiggles and I drew hearts. I even tried to throw in some learning lessons by drawing/talking out letters/numbers to him. Lil man never really realized that the water was evaporating. He just had fun painting & I didn’t have to worry about cleaning up since it was just water. He was even able to paint on himself {Hey, he’s still a curious toddler} and we threw the sponge balls in the air for extra fun. Overall, we had fun with water & simple supplies.

If you want some color in your “paint” I’m sure adding some food coloring or watercolors to the water would do the trick!

So what fun stuff did you do this weekend? Share with us in the comment section! #gluedtomycrafts