Fast, Fun, Easy, CLEAN Fingerpainting

So, I know how it is. You want to do something fun with the kids. Something artsy. Something quick, before you lose your motivation, their good mood or before you pull out your hair. I have three, 3 and under. Believe me, I know! The fastest thing to do is pull out some paints. But that's so messy! You have to put down newspaper and put on art smocks then you wind up giving baths afterwards anyway because there's paint in your kids hair and paint on the floor and its dripping from the ceiling fan. How did it get up there, anyway?








Okay, so, after playing this scenario a few times I discovered a better way to let my kids paint. And they love it! I simply strip the kids, dump finger paints into the bath tub, insert kids and I'm done.

You would be surprised how long they will play with paint in a dry tub. I've clocked my kids at an hour.

 And if you want refrigerator art, just take some construction paper in the bathroom with you and let the kids paint on it in the tub. Show them how to make hand prints and foot prints. "What happens when you get paint on your bottom and sit on the paper?" So many fun things you can do with this. And a great aid in teaching body parts. "Can you paint with your knee? How about with your elbow?" So on and so forth.


When I do Christmas projects or I am trying to teach the colors of Christmas, I line the bottom of the tub with craft paper and use red and green finger paint and add red, gold, green, and silver glitter and let them go crazy with it. When I take it out and let it dry, I have a stock of colored paper painted by the kids that I can use in our holiday projects.



Also, you can tape paper to the walls of the tub area and let them paint as if they were hung on easels. And it's very much cheaper and cleaner than using an easel. Make sure you use a washable, non-toxic finger paint so as not to stain the tub or stain or sicken your children.

When your finished painting, just turn on the bath water and give the kids a bath! They love seeing the water change color and my girls love helping me clean the paint off of the shower walls. And its a great way for my infant to participate with the big girls doing artsy stuff. My 9 month old loves it!