DIY #DisneyJuniorFRiYAY Mickey Inspired Watercolor Painting Project

Today's discussion is sponsored by Disney Junior,
regardless all opinions (and all the love for Mickey) expressed below are mine alone!

You know, 11ish months is a weird age... at least for Miss Delainey it is. She's at this point where she's no longer an infant and not really a toddler yet either.

I mean she wants to help, she longs to be a part of everything, but she's simply too little. From wanting to be a part of the chopping of her strawberries during snack time to singing from the backseat of the car while we are heading to the beach, she's really starting to find herself in the world, expressing what she wants, and that's pretty amazing and bittersweet to watch. While she knows what she likes and doesn't like, she is still learning to voice that and still learning the motor skills that she needs to be fully mobile to get to where she wants to go, so I'm doing everything I can to try and help her develop and satisfy her needs and wants to be a "big girl".

Any day now she'll be running in and out the front door, playing down the street with neighborhood kids, or riding her bike around the block...  but for now she's only a somewhat mobile, absolutely adorable little ball of energy and she constantly needs to be entertained, otherwise she gets into mischief. Luckily, I've found a handful of fairly simple ways to keep her occupied and today I want to share a couple of our favorite ways.

We'll start with the less messy way to keep D entertained, every FRiYAY we take the day off and play. We always start with an episode or two of one of our new favorite shows and this week, D is loving watching Disney Junior's Mickey and The RoadsterRacers! Haven't heard of it? Well, it's essentially a spin-off of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and with The "Happy Helpers" segments included, the show is full of great lessons and educational tales for D to absorb. I always want my girl to be happy to help when someone is in need, so of course we both love watching Daisy and Minnie step up and help each week!

This week The Happy Helpers are going to be protecting a precious painting, which inspired us to make our own masterpieces. While painting with acrylics is something we do on occasion, I wanted to give D a little more of the freedom she's been craving so we decided to go with homemade, washable, easy to make watercolors that she can literally splash in and we don't have to worry.

Want to make your own watercolor paint and create a fun, simple DIY painting like this?

For this craft you will need:

food coloring
water
ramekins
scissors
all purpose or watercolor paper
sticker paper (name tags or folder labels would work too) or salt
droppers or paintbrushes
baby wipes
newspaper or baking dish (optional)

Side note: If you have a wild little one around D's age, the craft may be better suited for outdoor playtime - she got a little wild with the water. 😂

To begin, you'll want to pour a little bit of liquid or gel dye into the ramekin and add a little bit of water - stir and let the color settle.

Place paper on newspaper or baking dish to keep the surface you are painting on protected.

Cut out and add a sticker paper Mickey Mouse Silhouette or maybe create one out of salt. The salt makes a sparkling effect, in person, and it's stunning!

Now use your droppers, paintbrushes, hands, etc to splatter and paint your paper.

Set to the side and allow to completely dry for about 3 hours before touching.

Enjoy your art work... and if you're feeling fancy, you can always remove the sticker paper from your paper to reveal a perfectly shaped Mickey. I'll add my two cents and say I kind of like it left on the paper and tie dyed!

After you make this quick craft and are waiting for it to dry, be sure to check out all your favorite FRiYAY shows on the DisneyChannel on Friday mornings! If it's not Friday when you have a chance to read this, don't fret... catch your favorites all day, every day over on DisneyJunior.

This post is sponsored by Disney Junior.