I have no idea what I was thinking when I purchased four colors of finger paint.
You can see by virtue of where I was storing it, on the top shelf in my unfinished laundry room, that I was pretty keen on my kids using it. Not.
Then I had the idea of using it not as paint, but more as a drawing tool, and suddenly it became not messy at all. No paintbrushes to wash. No sponging of, well, everything. I’d even do it again.
While my kids were out with my husband, I put out two plastic placemats, each with a baggy of two glops of primary colors. I provided Q-tips to use as a stylus, and taped the bags in place. It’s sort of like one of those Zen boards you see in Brookstone.
Because my placemats are colorful, I had to put a piece of white paper behind the bags so that the paint would be visible.
Drawing on it is pretty satisfying, and the kids liked watching their lines appear and then disappear as the paint dispersed.
So pin worthy! I am going to do this with my 16 month old and 4 year old! I hate messes and love genius ways to minimize it. 🙂 THANK YOU!
We’ve done the paint in a bag as well, and it’s been a hit. But I must say that I’m a big fan of the tactile experience of getting one’s fingers messy in the paint as part of the early painting/art experience. A few things we do to help minimize (or at least contain) the mess: most of our art projects, especially messy ones, we do on trays– like cafeteria type trays (purchased from Target). And the painting easel I keep in the backyard. That way they can go to town with painting, drip paint from the brushes, even occasionally knock something over by mistake, but no paint on my carpet. Right now, they’re into water colors, which aren’t quite as messy, so the trays have been sufficient. And long sleeved smocks from Ikea, which cost just a few bucks.
What a clever way to also teach color mixing!
HOLY SMOKES. This is brilliant. I’m intimidated by paint and this is a great idea! Thank you for sharing!