As you know, my kids are growing up fast and toys are soon to be a thing of the past. When Toydler approached me to do a review for their DIY wooden doll set, I agreed instantly.
First thing I pictured was a specially painted doll figure that will represent me and her as a keepsake down memory lane! I am afterall a sentimental and artsy mum-me. I knew it would be a precious experience to come between a mum and child. I was proven right!
This is not an ordinary blog review of a toy. I have created educational art lessons for a more meaningful learning experience as you paint this toy with your child! It is an effort to increase awareness of how art can be an essential area in life for our kids to develop and enjoy in our 21st Century.
It includes
1) DIY video planning and painting process between Mummy and Child
2) Free hand-drawn figure templates provided: Brainstorm and design planning stage
3) A video tutorial on how to mix paints to get Peach and Cream coloured tones with a bilingual worksheet printout
4) How my kids created their first stop motion movies with a free and awesome app!
5)Best of all, I have paired with Toydler to sponsor a pair of wooden toy dolls complete with painting materials to TWO readers for GrowingHearts’ 6th blogging anniversary!
1) DIY Video Planning and Painting Process between Mummy and Child
People commonly mistake great works of art come from great talent. The truth is, great works of art comes from hard work and passion. Most artworks start with an important stage of planning and exploration of ideas. Both my daughter and I had an exciting time discussing our ideas and preferred designs on our dolls. As we took a few days to sketch out and colour our dolls, I wondered how I can ‘have the cake and eat it’. I would love to have my daughter design my doll and vice versa. However, I also wanted to have my own personal design for my doll too! This led to a win-win dual facet design where we get to illustrate not only for each other, we get to paint our own dolls too!
If we had just jumped into a design immediately, we would have lost the precious brainstorming gems of creativity to improve on our design processes! I loved turquoise and flowers, so my girl had a few designs for me to choose from. She was open to any colours as long as there were flowers too.
J, my 10yo boy was sporting enough to join us and created his set of designs for fun. After creating a few sets of sketches, we decided that one might like the dress design but prefer another hair or legs design and colour. This prompted me to think beyond the box to cut them up so that we can do our own mix and match fashion!
Without further ado, here’s a short process of our planning and Painting processes! I hope the video on how we mix our different tones and colours inspire and help you learn something better on the painting process.
2) Free hand-drawn figure templates provided: Brainstorm and design planning stage
Girl figure template.docx
Boy figure template.docx
3) Video tutorial :
How to mix paints to get Peach and Cream coloured tones (bilingual worksheet printout included)
Instead of giving you a fish per say, I wish to teach the art of fishing here. I chose to teach how to mix the peach and cream tones so that you and your kids can learn to create more natural flesh tones for the toy face instead of using commercial pre-mixed paint.
It is not too difficult if you add a bit of yellow, red and white slowly and mix together and form the desired colour tone you like. In the video, do observe how much quantity of each hue I have used. For Cream tones, use more yellow and a tad of red. To get a pinkish peach, just add more red. Lastly, to get different tones of that colour you mixed, add white to it. If you wish to have darker tone, try adding a tinge of dark brown.
Click here: Bilingual Colour Mixing Template.docx
Tips:
1. Soak paint brushes into a cup of water whenever not in use during painting. Cap acrlic paints tightly when not in use. The acrylic paint dries up very fast. Once it dries, it will harden like plastic. However, since it is water based, it can be easily cleaned with water while still wet. Then clean brushes with some dish detergent and water and leave for drying before keeping.
2. Recycle any plastic container lid or egg carton tray as your palette. Even if the paint dries up, you need not worry about the plastic layer of paint. I normally reuse it until it is well used before disposing it of.
3. Lay newspaper or recycle old placemats for painting setup to avoid paint on your table. Wipe clean immediately or remove by scraping the paint off the table if it dries up.
4. Test out small areas of paint so you know if the colour is visible and suitable for the wooden doll.
5. Do Not over apply thick paint on the wooden doll as it can affect your fixtures of the leg. Appy paint Thinly. If the colour e.g yellow is not strong, apply thin layer of white as a base, after it dries, then apply yellow.
6. If a mistake is made, do not fear. Wait for the layer to dry and re-layer that portion with white paint thinly. Let it dry then reapply desired colour.
7. Lastly, use the acrylic varnish sparingly. Apply THINLY and evenly only after full completion of designs. Doll must be completely dry before application. Air dry after application for at least a day or two before playing. If your toddler has a tendency to chew the toy, skip this step.
4) Our First Stop Motion Movies Using PicPac
Here’s mum-me’s first Stop Motion Movie presenting our unique dual facet designs on each doll! We love how a fashion exchange can happen with our magnet Clicque dolls! It was at this point that I reckon having my kids participate together in this stop motion movie to create their own content would be more fun!
Junior 2 was the first kid to try out this stop motion app and his idea was very simple. Walking up the steps, falling into parts and putting her back on her feet. He creatively used books to make his stairs. It was a simple yet powerful concept.
Junior 3 was inspired by J2 and did her quest to find a ruby for her crown. J2 suggested the other girl should try to protect the jewel and get defeated by a kick! We did not avoid this NG scene of the backdrop as I wanted to show you the As Is taking of the stop-motion movie.
Junior 1 wanted a soccer fight. I liked how the boys figured out that making a paper crushed ball would be best for this stop motion movie instead of a round marble. Also, did you catch the victory dance at the end?
I love how this new entertainment can bring so much valuable learning experience and stretch our creativity and imagination to the moon and more!
Stop motion movie is making a child’s play become a reality.
It has unlocked my children’s creativity to another level as play is reignited through their content creation of the movie. Basically it’s a game changer for my tweens! I finally can engage them with an exciting time for holidays and connect more meaningfully with them in their stop motion play!
Here’s behind-the-scenes photos to show how we used home items to do simple backdrop set up.
I spoilt my handphone stand so I had to use the egg carton tray as my stand and it turned out pretty well. We just had to adjust the heights with books.
You can read more about the reviews of top 6 stop motion apps for android Here including Picpac app. The YouTube below is the ‘how to use’ picpac app tutorial. Happy exploring!!
This app has this ghost image of your latest camera shot so you can see how much to make your next move and position with more accuracy.
Guess what? Now the boys are using the ipad to create their very own Lego movies! Will be sharing their works when they’re ready.
For ipad and iPhone users, check the top 10 free apps HERE. Now to our Giveaway!
We Turn 6!
To celebrate, I have collaborated with Toydler Sg to bless TWO readers! Toydler will sponsor EACH reader a pair of Mystery Clicques Wooden Toys worth $52.90! Along with this mystery set, each reader will get a set of paintbrushes, acrylic paints and varnish set along with my original hand painted colour reference chart by Growinghearts!
FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM GIVEAWAY (29th October 2019)
(One reader for facebook’s giveaway and One reader for Instagram’s giveaway )
Each Winner will receive 1 Mystery Clicques Wooden Toy Set (2 mystery figures) with Painting Materials from Toydler and GrowingHearts
Photo credit: Clicques
For more details visit : Toydler Sg | Toydler Instagram | Toydler FB Clicques | Clicques Instagram | Clicques FB
FACEBOOK GIVEAWAY (29th October 2019) :
Steps to join giveaway
(Only for Singapore Residents)
- Follow GrowingHearts123 and Toydler Sg on Facebook.
- To increase your chances of winning, do follow Clicques Facebook. (Optional)
- Leave a comment on this facebook post on why you would like to have this Giveaway.
- SHARE and TAG 3 friends or more to share this giveaway at our Facebook Giveaway post. Do set the shared post to public mode for verification.
- Giveaway ENDS 2359 6th November 2019
- This giveaway is not endorsed or in any way affiliated with Facebook or Instagram.
- To increase your chances of winning, do join Growinghearts123 Instagram Giveaway. (Optional)
———————————————————GIVEAWAY ENDED————————————————
Congratulations to Wendy Koh! You are the winner for Facebook Giveaway!
Congratulations to jhomelearning! You are the winner for instagram Giveaway!
Note: Readers will be selected at random. The company will contact the readers directly for their mystery prize via e-mail. Growinghearts will notify your win and send you the painting materials separately. Results will be announced within 2 days of giveaway closure. Winners have to respond within 24hours upon announcement made or forfeit the prize to another winner.
Disclaimer: Toydler Sg sponsored a set of Cliques DIY for the purpose of this review. No monetary compensation was received. All reviews and opinions are 100% genuine from the blogger. This is also in support of our local efforts.
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