Now, first off, let me clear something up…I DO NOT like setting up painting activities for the boys. Why? Because of the mess! Oh, I have no problem if THEY get messy, it’s everything else in their vanicity I’m not so keen on. Things like chairs, table, walls, food…you get my drift. So I invested in a pack of paint pens last Christmas. You know the ones, paint only comes out of the relatively small round tip and, even if squeezed, is almost impossible to get anywhere but on the paper it’s meant for. Master 3 LOVES, LOVES these and paints me all manner of rainbows every.single.day. I don’t even have to worry about covering the table (or him for that matter) as it’s totally mess free. Master 4 isn’t at all interested usually, so it’s a great way to give both of them their own time too.
A few days ago, I stumbled upon this blog post and thought I’d give it a go…outside of course! Paint made from body lotion & food colouring. I also used her idea of giving them foil, wax paper & cardboard to paint on to add a little something different.
From experience, I know that food colouring can be the enemy…add 1 drop too much and it goes from mess-free to a stain that will NEVER,EVER come out. So I cautiously added drops to the vitamin E lotion I bought and never used. I thought I was so darn clever…turns out I was mildly wrong. Although, it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been…
I did, thankfully, tape the materials down to the table as the wind was not co-operating (whose bright idea was it to try painting IN THE WIND??) and the boys went nuts.
I gave them their own muffin tin of paint (to avoid World War 3), with a pastry brush ‘coz someone didn’t think to check we had any paint brushes before she went ahead with the activity! Now, I’ll be honest, it took me longer to tape down the paper in the wind than it took them to finish, but they seemed to enjoy it..
Their shirts came off shortly after this & they continued body painting. It all came off but did leave a stain on them
This short activity was followed by a rather more satisfying time in the bath. And they smelled wonderful for the rest of the afternoon!
Note to self: Don’t use packing tape on a varnished table. Hubby went to dispose of the paper 2 days after this and managed to take off some varnish…oops 🙂
AfricanKiwi 
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