Painting Planets

"Man is a microcosm, or a little world, because he is an extract from all the stars and planets of the whole firmament, from the earth and the elements; and so he is their quintessence." -Philipus Aureolus Paracelsus

Muh-cuwwy, Beenus, Ewf, Maws, Jupiteww, Satuwn, Uwaynus, Neptune.  Those are the planets of our solar system according to Maeve, and she will say them in that (correct) order just about every time.  Yeah, we aren't teaching her Pluto.  I know it's kind of sad, but it's a science thing.

Last week, just to pass the time, Maeve and I made mobiles of the solar system; I traced and cut them out, and she painted them, with a little art direction from me. (We made Mars and Mercury red, Earth blue and green, Neptune blue, etc).  I basically never let her paint because I really hate the mess (I know, bad momma, but I really really hate it and I worry about her clothes) so she was very excited to paint. 

And painting planets was very exciting, because she is obsessed with these guys.  It started with her Mars book which she has adored since she first noticed it, and was continued by the Elmo's World episode about the sky in which Himself meets the moon and sun.  She also loves the clip I found online of Baby Einstein Planets - is it Galileo, I think?  And she is a devotee of They Might Be Giant's Science is Real, which also sings about the planets.

So I let her paint, then I went to work with some pipe cleaners, and in the end, there were mobiles which she visits every day and points out the planets to me, all over again.  You better believe I put the planets on the mobiles in order, oh yes.  She wouldn't have it any other way.

See how I avoided getting paint on her shirt?

The planets- see Saturn's ring?