Painting For a Crowd, With Minimal Fuss

  "Mom, can we paint?"  Do you hear this request as often as I do?  

Even one-year-olds can scribble and paint; it is a great way to boost hand and finger [a.k.a. "fine motor"] skills, feel the sensation of paint underneath fingertips, and just have some fun!  Even older babies like to practice 'painting' with pureed food on their highchair tray.  As toddlers grow into preschoolers and beyond, the artwork matures into more significant forms and meaning, and painting, whether with fingers or brushes, is a great way to spend some time on a rainy or snowy day.

As a busy parent with two or more kids, though, you may sigh an inward groan as you visualize 20 minutes of prep time, 2 minutes of painting, more paint on the children than the paper, and then [inevitably] the post-painting-party cleanup.

Our four kids love painting, so we needed a system to make it easier on everyone.

An old mattress pad easily covers the kitchen table quickly, and soaks up paint spills.  Old pillowcases cover the chair backs for when kids get squirmy and lean over to check their siblings' project progress.  Old adult-sized t-shirts provide great art smock coverage, fastened in the back of the neck with a clip.  The supplies can be stashed in one of those plastic zippered storage bags that new mattress pads come in at the store.  Everything is stored together, easy to pull out and set up quickly.

When your Picassos and Monets are finished, simply pile up all the messy smocks and pillowcases into the center of the mattress pad, pull up the corners, and make a tidy little bundle.  All the messy stuff is safely contained within, and you can put the bundle in the laundry area and wash it when you have the time.  Any washable-paint-laden brushes can soak in the sink and be dealt with later.

The choices in washable paints and markers these days are dizzying, and kids don't even need fresh paper; painting on old cardboard boxes or paper rescued from the recycling pile is just as fun.

See what systems you can come up with––if the process is streamlined, you'll hear, "Can we paint?" and you will say, "Yes, we can!"