Tips for Messy Painting

I have always embraced Messy Play and Messy Painting, or as I like to call it "Extreme Painting". Children can benefit so much from the freedom, exploration and the creativity of messy painting.
Many parents steer clear of it though because it is just too much!

I get that. You see the perfect ideas on the Internet, picture pretty Pinterest activities and unreal creativity on blogs.
A bit like the picture above

When you attempt to loosen the reigns and let your child be free with the paint it is chaos and not at all what you've planned or expected, right?
You're left with a rainbow child, hand prints up the wall and splats over the entire room.
A bit like the pictures below.

Don't let the word "mess" or "chaos" deter you.
Life is messy, paint is messy, kids are messy so its all bound to be a little chaotic but that is a good thing. These type of activities give children freedom to express and explore their senses and creativity. To them it's great fun.

To a pre-schooler splatting paint from a distance or squishing toes through it provides much more enjoyment then precisely stroking a brush in the one direction.
Experimenting with Lego pieces, potato shapes, sponges or string in paint is much more exciting then using one boring brush.
Mixing every colour together until everything becomes a lovely shade of brown is a great learning experience compared to getting roused on for muddling up the colours.

If this sounds familiar or you've had a bad messy experience with more time doing a clean up then the time your child actually painted, this post is for you and I hope you persist, try again and enjoy.

 

Tips for messy painting

Preparation is the key, have everything ready to go in the right place and you'll be grinning.

Be age realistic- children's attention spans develop with age, don't expect a 2 year old to do an hour long master peice, therefore keep it simple and quick. Start with one or two drops of paint in a tray and finger painting or one object.

Dress them appropriately- dimples wears a old set of paint clothes and a smock, specific painting wear that usually stays with the paint suitcase. This way it doesn't matter at all if he does get covered in paint.

Take it outside- if its possible, painting is much easier outdoors, do it on a easel over the grass or lay out a large cardboard box opened, use washable paint and you can pin large paper up on a wall.
We have a large old outdoor table where we do all our messy play that is covered in paint, so it doesn't matter if more paint love covers it.

Expect a bit of mess- if you are being realistic then also expect and accept mess. Let it happen, don't sweat the small stuff. Of course this doesn't mean sit by and let your children splat paint over the newly washed clothes hanging on the line, but if your prepared and set up for messy play, then let it happen.

Use a messy mat- if your on a surface that needs protecting or inside use a plastic table cloth or a vinyl off cut as a large messy mat.

Have a wash up tub - Fill a tub or bucket with water and soup for after, so if there happens to be any foot or hand printing then its easy enough to wash off the paint before it dries.

Have a cloth rag- A lot of kids, including dimples, don't like wet squishy paint on their skin. They may like putting it there but not so much leaving it there and this is when they're most likely going to wipe it on something so a cloth specifically for this will be needed.

Use large paper- More space, More fun. Maybe even have back up paper.

Have a drying spot ready for their master piece to hang.

Have an empty bucket- If your using different tools to paint with have a empty bucket nearby so you can put them in it while your helping your child clean up, there's nothing worse then undressing them, cleaning up, hanging up their work and turning around and they've picked up the paint covered tools to try again.

Clean up before the paint dries - If your using tools, supervise their choice, smooth plastic works best, things that can be thrown in hot water (or the dish washer) to be cleaned with little to no grooves or crevasses. Plastic animals foot prints, Lego stamping, hot wheels car tracks for example.

 

Check out some of our extreme paint

Splat Painting

Paint a tree

Washable Window Painting

Salad Spinning Paint Solar System

Extreme outdoor Painting

Painting the tub

Sponge painting

Happy Adventures :)

Salad Spun Solar System - Extreme Paint

Apparently Pluto isn't important any more?
I know I learnt this stuff at school but my memory has failed me.
When Dimples got his Tag reading system on his 4th birthday I also got him a solar system booklet, he loves it and often plays, well "reads" by himself so it shouldn't have been a surprise when he told me that Venus was the hottest planet.
Silly me jumped in and said "isn't Mercury the one closest to the sun" well yes but Dimples was quick to tell me Venus is hottest because its cloud keep the heat in.

This conversation lead to my 4 year old teaching me all these things about our solar system that his tag reader had taught him. Fancy That! Then this lead to putting together a large floor puzzle we had and pulling out a space poster with matching stickers then some extended learning through Extreme Painting; The Salad Spinning technique.

Using a salad spinner, some circle paper and paint. We put the paper in with the right colours on top, shut the lid and spun. Dimples though that was the best part, he was rapidly spinning the planets around with wide open eyes telling me this one is going to be awesome! This one is going to be the best, I am spinning it so so very fast. Its a pretty easy painting technique and all the mess is confined in the salad tub making for easy clean up. We went through pointing out the planets on the floor puzzle, the tag reader diagram, the poster and then the ones we put in the salad spinner reading all the facts as we went. Dimples really engaged in the process, even to the extent of repeating anything I read to him.

All the Salad Spun Planets were put out in order and he set out his own solar system drawing rings around Saturn and the asteroid belt between Mars & Jupiter. Saturn and Earth worked the best in the salad spinner, it works best with running blobs of paint and with some even spread over your planet otherwise the paper can end up flying up the side of the salad bowl.

I think I learnt more doing this then I did at school, or my memory has failed me. One thing I noticed was the Pluto wasn't even on any of the solar system info anymore, apparently it is a dwarf planet with several others.

Happy Adventures

Window painting - washable stained glass

I love to paint.
Dimples not so much, but he loves to make mess.
I'd much rather sit calm and focused while doing a painting as a means of relaxation but that is not on the cards with Mr. Dimples.
His idea of painting is all (mainly splatting or hand printing) or nothing.

To satisfy his messy play urge and my love of painting, in the past I've intertwined the two into some pretty fun activities, we've done

Splat painting

Extreme outdoor painting

Bath painting

Glowing bath paints

This time it's window painting,

I made some washable window paint by mixing together paint (kids washable) & washing liquid.
I then put masking tape over the glass sliding door, on the outside of course, to create a tape resistant stain glass look.

Using green, blue, yellow and orange dimples sponged, splatted and painted the sections of glass with the window paint. Yes, his messy play urge was satisfied.  It was lots of fun, but don't worry it will all wash right off.
Once dry you peel the tape away and have your different coloured sections, it looks nice and bright in the morning with the sun shining in through it.

Our window painting was left on for 4 hot days and admired by visitors, then Dimples had lots of fun with a watering can, a sponge, cloth and a window washer getting it off. As soon as the water covered the paint it bubbled up and was so easy to simply wipe clean. The window actually looked cleaner then before!

Happy Adventures :)

Extreme Outdoor Free Painting

 

This was an Outdoor open ended free-Paint activity that was stacks of FUN.
All You need is cardboard, a large flattened box or left over packing cardboard is big enough, Paint and a bucket of miscellaneous objects that can make prints with.

Dimples gathered some bits and pieces including cars, trucks, plastic animals with good feet for foot prints, some plastic tool pieces (bolts and spanners), Some duplo Lego blocks, plastic play dough/cookie cutters and a rolling pin. 
Experimenting with shapes:  Anything will do really, as long as it can get covered in paint & then soaked in water after the fun.

Prepare for mess!
It was a lovely day so Dimples got down to an old singlet and underwear, I put the cardboard out in the open on the grass with some plates full of different coloured paints knowing well and good that it would get messy and let him go.
If you are prepared for an easy clean up, then an easy clean up you will get.
He was very enthusiastic about his Art work, using his entire body to make the Art Piece.

Give complete control with a smile on your face.
He Started with the rolling pin, running it across the cardboard and experimented with the different items he had collected. Lego, tire tracks and a teenage mutant ninja turtle were the favourites until he realised HE was covered in paint and Mummy was smiling about it.
Then he decided it was time for some body painting.

As usual Hand prints and foot prints to to begin with. Dimples tried on different colours and I asked him to do different types of movements like the animals he has collected.
Experimenting with mixing colours, printing, stamping, body painting and large Gross Movements as he painted was the most fun with Paint that Dimples has had in a long while.

Stomp like a dinosaur, tip-toe fast like a lizard, crawl sideways like a crab, Hop like a Kangaroo, Slither like a snake.
It was physical fun painting as he got right into it jumping, prancing and dancing his way around every corner of his canvas which is what made his Art work even more beautiful in my eyes.

The Best painting is Extreme painting with No limits and with No Brushes.
I gave Dimples complete control of the paint and he found that he could squirt the glitter glue right across the cardboard like an "explosion"he told me. He enjoyed smearing it in and trying to splat more out over his toes.

Once he discovered the body Painting he didn't go back to the Lego prints or cookie cutter shapes.
He rolled around, crawled around, spun around, danced and hopped all over the cardboard then laid in it painting up his legs telling me that he too was changing colour.
With No restrictions he really expressed himself and enjoyed himself.

 

The cardboard became a rainbow of prints and shapes, smears and splat marks. Dimples did as well, almost camouflaging into the work of Art.
After all the mess, it was too easy to just put his still wet with paint clothes in the washing machine for a rinse and him in the bath (which turned a lovely crimson shade).
For the hour or so of fun he had and the delightful expressions on his face as he enjoyed himself I can handle a bit of paint mess, even if it meant getting splatted a bit myself.

Do you think your child would have this much fun rolling around in paint?
How do you take ART & CRAFT outdoors?

I'd love to have you share your answer to that question and any ideas you have with me on my face book page.
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Happy Adventures  :)