I was reeling from a little cleanup when I wrote my last post about the painting debacle. The poor little Jessie girl - she would be devastated if I said 'No' all the time. I will get more organised and let her paint to her heart's content again soon. In preparation for this, I will remind myself of all the things I need for happy painting - I thought I'd share, because letting them paint is really fun!
An easel: I had a tiny scrappy old easel with a whiteboard that didn't wipe clean and a chalkboard section the size of a postage stamp. Not good enough. One day I bought some big sheets of 8mm MDF and got busy with my cordless drill. I am rarely happier in life than when I'm doing stuff with my cordless drill. 10 minutes later - a much improved easel! (Picture below.)
Some paper: I only have some tissue-thin cheap paper about A3 size. Is today the day I head down to the offices of the local newspaper and buy some ends-of-rolls? Maybe.
Cheap palettes, paints and brushes: Got them last year from Kmart. They're great.
Painting shirts for each child: It's quick and easy to take an old shirt with a ribbed collar, cut all the way up the back, thread elastic through the ribbing around the neck and be glad you didnt have to get your sewing machine out. Or, for the slightly longer version, you could ask a friend like Crafty Mummy to make a painting shirt for you from an old men's business shirt. (Pictures below show one of each style.) The trick is having the same number of shirts as children, and in the last blog post, I had (n-1). Not good enough, by 1.
A rule where no children squeeze paint onto their own palettes: I thought that was understood, but it wasn't.
The absence of younger, non-painting siblings in the painting area: Clearly.
Wash brushes, palettes and children after painting. It's the ideal late-afternoon activity because they can head straight for the bathroom after creating a masterpiece, just as Monet used to. Or so I'm told.
When I make sure of all of these things, painting is great!!! Wanna try it? Just don't leave the toddler hanging around, that's all.
8 comments:
I'm so glad you decided to try again. Usually when disasters happen for me it's because I haven't thought something through properly - not usually my darling daughter's fault - she is just a kid - not trying to say it was your fault or to point the finger or anything - please don't see it taht way.
Love it!
I love your easel and painting shirts!
You are such a supermum!
What lovely pictures!
No no, VT, it's just that my last post made it sound like painting is a sily activity to plan at home and shouldn't be done - it was just that one-off that made me sound like that - I just wanted to calm down a bit and remind myself that it's really an awesome activity if one puts one's mind into gear. The most important rule is not to let the toddler loose!
You have Kmart? They all closed in my area of the States. I miss Kmart. I got my favorite patio table and chairs there, but that is neither here nor there...
And who knew about Monet? Your kiddos are too cute!
Saw your blog on a sidebar, and had to click on it, because I couldn't possibly NOT click on it with a name like that! :-)
Love the painting post, and the pictures! The painting smocks are too cute. When I need new paintings for my walls, I buy cheap canvasses from craft warehouse or the like, and I pick the paint colors to coordinate with the room, but they get to paint whatever they want. This is how I came to have a crosslegged cyclops playing a guitar on my bedroom wall. :-)
I agree. I love painting with kids. But it's so easy for everything to go horribly, horribly wrong! Good tips! Oh and if said toddler does want to paint, I suggest finger painting with no clothes on and then straight into the bath. Your bath will then end up painted as well, but that's why we use crayola - it washes off!
Hi there! I just saw your post on my blog from way back in March!! Sorry :) Yes, 4 children now for us and I see you have a 3rd! I am going to have do some catching up on your blog and some major updating on mine. I've added you to my blogroll so now I can find you easier! Take care friend :)
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