When the girls ask to paint, I try to always say yes. I don’t always have the easel set-up, but they are usually just as happy to paint at the kitchen table.
Sometimes they want watercolors, but often they want “real paint,” as Delaney calls it. We use Colorations brand washable tempera paints or BioColor Paint
from Discount School Supply. Both these paints are affordable, easy to clean-up, and high-quality.
To make painting even more accessible, I fill small twist-top squeeze bottles with paint. We have a bunch of small plastic palettes that I picked up very inexpensively (maybe a dollar each?) at the craft store. {If you’re looking for an online source for similar little palettes, try Joann’s
or Dick Blick
.}
When the girls want to paint, they can easily squeeze a little of each desired paint color into their palettes and go to town. Right now, the favorite activity is adding a little bit of white to each color and mixing well to make new colors.
We also have a couple jars full of paint brushes – we’re pretty much in the habit of grabbing a new brush when we want to change colors and tossing the dirty brush into a cup of water for rinsing later.
We are wasting much less paint using this method – those little palettes don’t hold much. And, the more we get the paints out, the more beautiful masterpieces I get to hang on the fridge. Win-win!
Do you keep a painting easel set-up for anytime painting? How often do your kids get to play with paint?
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
Ariel is wonderful. Is that Belle, too?
We don’t even have an easel — the painting we do is always at the kitchen table. We could paint more. I like your suggestions to use small squeeze bottles and a paintbrush for each color.
Yes, Belle! I think someone painted Mulan, too… so fun!
I like the squeeze bottle idea. I’ve been saying no to painting, more than I should, just because of the mess. Thanks for the push to organize better!
You’re welcome!
I love this! I do something very similar, and do water colors as well, sometimes using little ceramic cups for the water. We don’t have an easel up all the time, but we paint on our dining room table, or on the porch almost daily. On special days, such as a rainy day or a sick day, I will set my kids up on the living room floor with unglued and opened cereal boxes which we cut into smaller boxes or shapes later (this makes it a two parter and keeps me from having to buy more paper). I put arts and crafts above housework, for my own sanity.
Sounds like a great activity – sometimes I forget to pull out the recycling for art time.
cereal boxes to paint! I should have said…
Yes. My daughter uses the easel whenever she wants to. Once when she woke up from a bad dream painting helped her calm down. It was pretty amazing.
Art can be such an amazing release, can’t it… awesome!
We have an “over the door” easel that is used quite frequently. I also have paints readily available. We usually do some kind of painting every day.
I would love to set-up an over the door or wall easel in our house too – good for you for having paint accessible all the time!
Oh, I love this idea!
We have an Easel set up for anytime painting, but the squeeze bottle idea is great.
Thanks SO much!
You’re welcome – it has really made a difference for us!
Wow! What fun! Thanks so much for the shout out to Discount School Supply brand paints! It’s really fun to see our products out there in the “real” world, creatively used for fun and learning. Thanks again for sharing.
-Laurel from Discount School Supply
I let my daughter paint pretty frequently. But I’m the queen of multi-tasking so I often let her paint in the bath! I add a little dish soap to the paint to make clean up easier, hand her some brushes and let her paint the bathtub walls. Afterward, I just rinse her and the walls with the sprayer and we’re good. I would only try this with with a really good quality washable paint like Colorations though! I had a few early experiences with washable paint that didn’t turn out to be so washable.
I love Discount School Supplies liquid water colors. I used these in my Kindergarten class. One set lasted me over 6 year. You add water to these to get the desired intensity of the color and this makes them last longer. There art supplies are the best and they have so many ideas on how to use them.
Kelly @ KidKapers
Oh, I can see some serious damage to my credit card happening at Discount School Supply. Love it!!! You always have such great ideas and resource links. Thanks so much.
Yep, just ordered a bunch of stuff from them and am keeping a list for more….. thanks again!! I am so happy to have my painting with the kids problem solved. I love painting with them but it was always difficult getting it set up so it was easy for them to do. Those little squeeze bottles will make it so much easier. I will be on the lookout for more of those cheap little palettes now.
we paint pretty much everyday and I so needed this post because I am in love with those squeeze bottles….we waist so much paint. I will have to order some! Thanks