Kids and Painting DO Mix

This past weekend two of my nieces spent a couple of days with me.  Whenever they get a turn to spend a weekend at my house, one of the first things they do, after walking in the door, is run up to the “storage” room and see what catches their eye to paint.
They looove painting…
Almost as much as I do 🙂

When they arrived this past weekend, they scoured through the pile and settled on these two pieces.  My oldest niece wanted the TV tray type table for her room.  She said it would make the perfect desk to do her homework on.  My other niece picked the bowl because she said she needed a new home for her rock and shell collection 🙂
Once they had meticulously picked their pieces (I love watching their minds whirl as they look and debate about what to pick each time!) they scoured my paint collection to find their favourite colours… pink, purple and blue.

I have no qualms at all about letting them paint when they are here.  Here is what they do each time to get ready… Tie their hair back… so they don’t get paint in it.
Roll their sleeves up.. so they don’t get paint on them.
Put on an apron… so they don’t get paint on their clothes.
Lay a cloth or tarp under their project.
(Oh… my only rule for while they are painting… don’t flick your brush… so I don’t end up with paint all over!)

That’s it.  Those are the “rules”.
There are so many wonderful non-toxic and all natural paints on the market these days and they can be found just about anywhere.  Even many of the craft paints are non-toxic and have an incredible array of colours.  You don’t have to have a huge stash of expensive paints for the kids to have fun.  Just a few small jars or bottles and some brushes will do.
What a wonderful opportunity to teach kids (including these lovely little ladies) about saving something that was going to be thrown away, using your imagination to think of a new purpose for it and then recreating it into something beautiful.  

Kids and painting really DO mix!  I promise 🙂