Compensation for this post was provided by Brawny® via AOL Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Brawny® or AOL.
Brawny® asked me to try out a roll of their paper towels and I thought since Brawny® paper towels are super famous for their great absorbency on messes that we should put that roll to the real test….my children.
These boys are constantly asking to help us do DIY projects and I decided that it was time to do a new fun little painting activity with them.
All I did was squirt a little washable finger paint in each bowl and dilute it with water. Each boy got a medicine dropper and we spread out some paper towels on the deck.
Will got the concept right away. He was a pro with the dropper.
I had to show Weston how to squeeze the end to suck up the paint…he didn’t take long to get it.
LJ liked dipping his in the paint but he couldn’t get the dropper filled by himself so I would say that this activity has an age minimum of two.
I just filled his up and then he could squirt it out.
I honestly love nothing more than these little craft activities with the boys. These are the moments that make me feel like I am doing good at this mom job.
Do you moms feel that way? Like there is a moment that you feel like a supermom? Maybe it’s when your kids say they love their organic strawberries….or when you have their clothing picked out AND IRONED for school pictures….or when you realize that they actually do know how to use their manners without constant reminders.
I know that everyone is different and every mom out there is not into crafty stuff or making giant messes…but this is motherhood to me. This is when I feel like we are making things that are more important than furniture or gallery walls or money….these are memories! These are the moments I will remember.
Don’t get me wrong….I make mistakes….I don’t break out the crafting stuff every day. Sometimes the most crafty thing we do is stickers on a sheet of paper. Sometimes I park them in front of Blaze and the Monster Machines so that I can lay down. Sometimes they get snack foods for dinner or we skip baths or we completely miss naps.
But I also try to be resilient….when I fail, I just realize that mom-guilt is healthy for me to improve. I can bounce back and do better. I don’t think that you have to be a perfect mom to feel like you have a giant S emblazoned on your shirt and you get a supermom status. To me, it’s more about embracing the memories you make with your kids and realizing that life is messy at times and you don’t have to be a Pinterest mom…you can just be you!
And trust me…life is always messy 🙂
When my kids hold up their creations from craft time and run to Daddy to show him their greatest new masterpiece as they beam with pride….yes, my heart literally feels ten sizes bigger.
Even the moments in between….when they laugh over spilled paint….those are sweet nectar to my mama soul.
What is your thing? What makes you feel like a supermom? I’d really love to know.
Also…this activity? Great success. It morphed into dipping the paper towels into the bowls and creating rainbow towels. The Brawny® is really absorbent so it holds a lot of paint….you can literally mop up the bottom of the bowl and have no leftover paint. Or if your towel soaked up all the paint, you can ring it out and it can be a lighter color and you can redip in other hues. It is not a weak paper towel so it will ring out just fine and you can keep dunking!
Will was so excited to show me his “biggest painting ever”.
And since the entire activity revolved around paper towels…clean up was a breeze. The boys actually fought over who got to clean up the puddles because it made more creations.
We hung up the paper towels to dry and we are gonna make flowers out of them with pipe cleaners for my sister.
Also…don’t switch the camera on your phone around so that the kids can see themselves….it’s total chaos. What you can’t see is LJ who is off to the side trying to remove his diaper 🙂
This is the best we got and yes, Weston was growling 🙂
I hope you know that this post was something I was really excited about. I don’t often get a paper towel brand to ask me to encourage other moms out there….and that is something that is really near and dear to my heart. I truly am so proud to partner with Brawny® paper towels and the Stay Giant campaign on this post just simply because of that fact….us moms are doing awesome and we sometimes need to hear that perfection isn’t the goal! Bravo Brawny! Now let’s talk about the things that our kids do that make us all teary eyed. That’s all this hormonal mama wants to hear 🙂
I love being creative with my kids! You really hit the nail on the head about creating memories, instead of things, with our little ones. As an artist myself, I feel really good when I can teach my children to be creative. I feel my best, in relation to mothering, when I am teaching my children about our individual impact on this world, how we all connect…
This comment is NOT meant to be snarky… I just wondered if you realized the number of trees that must be cut down to supply our paper towel addiction, 51,000 trees DAILY. Paper towels are convenient yes but they do come at a cost to our environment (so does cheap dollar tree junk that will always inevitably end up in the landfill). I just thought it might be nice to open some dialogue around the issue, we moms need convenience in our lives but I also want to teach my children about how our actions effect our world. Committing to a paper towel-less existence I have discovered is not that hard, we only think we need them but humanity survived just fine without them for thousands of years 🙂 Maybe not everyone wants to go paper towel-less, that’s okay, but we can reduce our consumption and at the same time teach our children about caring for the earth. No judgement just some thoughts….
http://www.thepaperlessproject.com/how-to-reduce-your-paper-towel-use/
OMG!! Your boys just slay me….they are all sooo stinkin’ cute…I just can’t stand it! Will’s freckles make me melt every time! Weston’s mischevious face makes me laugh, and LJ is too cute for words (also — brave momma there with a white shirt on him, BTW!) , and Max is adorable, and I just want to eat him up!
Also – I completely agree with you — that is when I feel most proud and like a Supermom myself — when I get them doing something crafty or working on something — my oldest in kinde, is learning cursive writing now!! How crazy is that! When I get him to do a letter and it actually looks like it….WOW! so proud! LOL!
Can I just say that I feel like you always nail the sponsored posts? I never feel like I’m reading an ad, just a fun post where you try out a product. Not everyone can as graciously take on sponsored posts, but you rock at it!
Cute! I was using those same paints with my son this weekend- for me too, it is a rarity to get good craft time, and there’s some mental preparation to go into willing providing a young boy with paints.
I feel like a rockstar mom when:
-I rise above motherhood irritations (like getting my in-a-funk kid out of the funk by tickling/playing/chasing instead of resorting to irritation/yelling. Not always. I’m no saint.)
-I watch my kid delight in anything I took extra effort to provide/expose him to (going to a parade, taking time to take a nature walk together, letting him help cook and discover something new, etc).
-anytime he actively models adult behavior.
This weekend I was painting the house and my 3-year-old was playing in the dirt and he was talking about good behavior and bad behavior, more or less (we were having a tough weekend for following directions). I’ve been reading a lot of Brene Brown’s research lately on shame/resilience/belonging/self-acceptance and so we had a good talk about how sometimes he does good things and sometimes bad things, but he’s always a good boy. He’s not a bad boy, he’s always a good boy and somedays just listens better than others. He went straight inside and told his dad about it, and this morning in the car to daycare he brought it up out of the blue that he was excited to tell his daycare lady too that he’s always a good boy, that we always love him. It makes me so happy for him to be making positive feelings about himself now, and makes me realize how easily kids can be discouraged and internalize things.
We did a random craft of painting pine cones to look like zinnias last week. My daughter loved it! I love to do crafts with her and she loves to do them as well. It makes me feel like a fun mom and negates any negatives from the day. That’s what she remembers.
I love how you remind all Moms out there that we’re all in this together. Just like our wedding vows, we are Moms for better or for worse. Embrace experiences and celebrate the special moments with our children while they are kids. Love ya, Katie! x Bryn
I loved this. This is how to do a sponsored post right!! I mean, when’s the last time I cried over a post about paper towels?! It’s not really a big deal, but we took a family trip yesterday to a local farm/donut & cider place, and there was something about introducing my daughter to our fall traditions that had me all choked up. It’s just so special, you know? 🙂 I wrote about it here: http://returnoflight.blogspot.com/2015/09/yes-michigan-but-mostly-donuts-and-cider.html
What fun creative art! The boys looked like they really enjoyed it! Max too! 🙂
So cute. I will have to try that one 🙂
xo – kb
Aww thank you Brenda 🙂
xo – kb
Boy did ai need this post today. My 14 month old is full blown toddler when it comes to her eating habits these days and it’d giving me serious mom guilt. Love you Katie!
Great job Katie! As a mom to soon to be 3 kids under 3.5 years myself I respect your effort in doing any craft! It’s not easy with young ones to create a mess, but the reward to them is so valuable! It’s much easier to turn the tv on, but you step out and have fun! Go you! Please do share your pipe cleaner flower craft for your sister! I’m always looking for other crafts! Keep up the creativity and fun crafts!
This one of the very first sponsored posts that didn’t feel like a commercial, which is really a tough thing to pull! You describe motherhood so well and I am blessed watching (er, creepy? sorry!) you raise boys as I do the same. Two thumbs up!