Friday, July 13, 2007

Painting with the Kids

I like to paint with my kids. There's something great about making a picture of your house or family and sticking it on the fridge when you are done.

I have a few rules that must be followed or I'll take all of the painting gear.

  1. Painting is only done outside.
  2. Cleaning up is mandatory for all involved parties.
  3. You must mix your own colors.

To make that last rule a bit easier and more fun for all, I found an old cupcake pan at the local Salvation Army. It's not the sort that washes up easily any more for baked goods but makes great containers for mixing paint that won't tip easily.

At first my boys were annoyed that the green would run out and they'd need to make more. Inevitably it would be a slight different color. And they would moan and groan and ask me to help make it the same as before. Since I won't do it for them, we've learned how to adjust colors by adding a huge glob or just a few drops.

Instead of complaining, now they experiment with different shades of green or what happens when they don't mix it completely.

Painting is a favorite activity for all of us.

1 comment:

Kelly (Lynn) Parra said...

Very fun, Stacie! The other day, my daughter was feeling a little blue since I'd been working. I took her outside and got some of my paints out and two boxes. We started painting the boxes and I'm hoping we'll turn them into treasure boxes. :) :)