I’m a lazy mom. No doubt about that. I will always make sure that there is minimal mess and minimal clean up in most of the activities my kids do inside the house. Our house isn’t huge so it is really easy for a “small mess” to become an “entire house mess”. However, outside is a whole other ballgame where they’re free to make the biggest mess they can!
So when I was first thinking of introducing finger painting to the kids way back when, I was dreading the mess and everything else that could possibly come along with this adventure. They literally put everything in their mouths so there was the issue of them eating something potentially harmful. Then there was the issue of if they would even be interested in it, which happens quite often these days! You put so much time and effort into what you think will be a fun (& hopefully time consuming) activity, just to have them mess around for a few minutes and walk away!
I was scrolling through my Instagram way too late one night and stumbled upon a DIY with paint in a bag for toddlers. It claimed to be mess free so I figured why not give it a try? I’ve made a few modifications to the original post I had seen, but the main idea of paint in a plastic bag was the inspiration for this activity. Obviously letting children play freely and messily with finger paint is a great way for them to explore their senses, but this is just a simple and mess-free option!
Materials Needed: - Ziplock Bags - Glitter/stickers - Paint - Duct Tape
Here’s our Breakdown:
Alrighty, now that you’ve gathered all your supplies, it’s time to get started! We used the gallon sized Ziplock Bags so that the kids would have a bigger space to explore. Find those HERE. Start by sticking the stickers to the inside of one side of the bag. Right now, Oliver is a huge fan of Lion King so naturally, we added some Lion King stickers. You can find the link to some fun stickers HERE.
After your stickers are placed, grab your paints and fill the bag with as many colors as you’d like! It was fun to let the kids pick their own colors and it helped them get excited for the activity. You can find the paints we used HERE. Since glitter was banned from our house (I might have gone a little overboard with some glitter wrapping paper a few years ago that is STILL being found throughout the house), we opted for some glitter paint instead of loose glitter to mix in. You can find the paint HERE and some loose little HERE.
Now that you have your stickers and paint, seal the bag and use the duct tape (masking tape works, but duct tape REALLY works) to secure it to the table where your child will be playing for the activity. We have done this activity at both our kitchen table as well as a great kid-sized picnic table that you can find HERE. Show your child how they can use their finger to “draw” by pushing the paint around the bag and discover the stickers inside the bag! Have fun drawing letters, numbers, faces, and whatever else your child decides to create!
The kids really enjoyed this little activity and it bought me a few minutes where they were entertained! Is this something your toddler would be into? Add it to your list of “activities in quarantine” and let me know how it goes! What other DIY activities have you guys done and loved?
Embrace the Chaos 