Water Painting
Craft and the outdoors can be a great combination. Sometimes the colours can be amazing, the mess a fabulous part of the fun, but some days it’s great to just have a simple activity. One that requires minimal set-up and minimal pack-up, with lots of attention-holding in the middle! This is where water painting comes in.
Take it outside on the bricks
- Grab a pot and some paint brushes (ANY size will do...small or large).
- Fill the pot with water and you’re set!
- Paint the bricks or the concrete...see how the colour changes when the water hits it.
- The best thing about this game is that the water dries, the bricks go back to their normal colour and you start again!
“Paint” the trees
- This activity always seems to captivate the kids. A pot of water at the trunk of a tree and a brush left on the ground attracts their attention and they all seem to know what to do with it!
- Paint the bark or paint the leaves.
- Do squiggles, letters, lines or dots.
- Or simply leave the kids to it and see what they come up with!
Add some colour
- If you’re feeling less tired and more able to cope with a mess, why not use some colours and paint rocks or leaves.
- Draw with coloured chalk and then wash it away with a paint brush.
Face Painting
- Warning...small, curious children tend to love to turn the paint brush on themselves! It’s still cold in Victoria so face painting might be the preferred option. In the warmer months why not do a bit of belly painting too?
- Once again, your child will come up with all sorts of things to paint. Watch and be amazed at their curiosity and imaginations!
Good luck with your painting adventures. Use whatever is around you to have some creative fun, whether that be muddy and messy or not. Work at your child’s pace. Younger children and babies may just enjoy the feeling of moving a brush along a surface, whereas older children may create a story and want to show you what they have done and talk about their pictures. Some older children still just love the feeling of the painting and may not be concerned with what it looks like. Since this is another open-ended activity, do it at your own pace, in your own time and in your own way. Enjoy!
