Tips for Stress Free Painting with Kids

We’ve all been there. The kids are out of school, it’s snowing outside and they are going stir crazy. They want something to do and you don’t want them watching another episode of Spongebob or gluing their face to the IPad.

They need something productive and creative to do, but that involves a mess and you’re already stressed just thinking about it. Mixing paint and children can have a mother spiraling into a full blown anxiety attack. Painting can be messy, but there are easy tips and steps to follow to make a painting activity easier to manage and stress free.

Try out these tips for stress free painting with kids:

Protect Your Work Area
Ensure that all the things you don’t want covered in paint are moved from the work space. Using a cheap, plastic or paper table cloth can be a useful resource to cover any table or desk to protect the surface. Newspapers are another go to, but can be messy, easily moved and transfer ink and color onto the kids and the projects. The nice thing about using a plastic tablecloth is that it can be wiped down, disinfected and reused at a later time making it environmentally friendly!

Get Ready for Clean Up
One of the most crucial tips to follow is making sure you are prepared for whatever mess comes from the painting activity. Equip your work space with lots of wipes and paper towels on hand because you are almost guaranteed to have a mess or spill when kids and paint are involved. It’s also smart to dress your kids in clothes that won’t matter if they are able to rewear if they spill paint on their clothes.

Assemble the Supplies
You can make your life a little easier by preparing ahead of time. Create a spot in your home where you can store crafts and other art supplies. You can also dedicate a box to just painting supplies. Stock it with cheap acrylic paint or paint that’s easy to remove from clothing and children, paintbrushes, paper plates and your plastic tablecloth we talked about. Having supplies prepared can make the task just that much easier and you will be ready to paint within minutes. This can also encourage your kids to keep their supplies organized so they can paint whenever they want.

Get the Kids Ready
This can be the hardest part. Like previously mentioned, dress your kiddos in something that won’t be detrimental if they end up covered in paint. Having aprons for everyone can also eliminate the chance of staining any clothes. Messes when it comes to kids and paint are a given, but covering all your bases can eliminate complete disasters.

Create, Create, Create
Now for the best part, the masterpieces. The possibilities are endless to what your child can create with paint and other art supplies. Pinterest is a great resource to help find directions and activities for your children who need a little inspiration.

Happy painting!