Don’t.
Kidding…sorta.
In that, only do it if you are prepared…prepared to commit to the mess, the lack of following your instructions…that they will create something that looks like the Incredible Hulk threw up on it and they will be proud…and that they will most likely need a bath straight after (or when they decide they are finished and is only about halfway through how long you planned to do said activity).
Also be prepared for laughter, them declaring ‘This is so much fun!’ and the clean up.
Every time I start a craft thing with Wriggler and Fidget I always think (about 2 minutes in) ‘Why in the depths of hell would I do this?!’ only to turn around and them them covered (and I mean COVERED) in paint/glue/glitter and laughing their paint smocks off.
Today was no exception.
We are in the midst of a mega papier-mâché project (seriously why the duck did I agree to this?!) and I was setting things up…Wriggler was getting paint ready and I turn around and Fidget has fallen over into the paint and has a blue bum. He grabbed Wriggler to get up, who now has blue hand prints on his back.
They are laughing so hard it is like an episode of the Chuckle Brothers and I can’t be cross. Wriggler is so happy, apparently I am now the funniest mummy and I had to let them have 5 minutes of paint-covered-slip-and-slide fun in the kitchen. And then a bath at 10.30 in the morning.
So my top tips:
- Have plenty of supplies…a flask of hot tea (for you), paint, PVA glue, brushes, paper, glitter (basically all that shit a kid loves to chuck at a painting and call it art)
- Have a reward snack ready for when you need them to sit still and you clean up the hurricane that destroyed your ‘craft’ area
- Be prepared for mess and cover every surface you can with a wipe-clean protector (or just do it on your kitchen floor and steam clean afterwards)
- Have a lot of wipes to hand
- Have a bath ready (or at least hot water) and towels you don’t mind being paint stained for getting them from the kitchen to the bath (so you don’t get too messy)
- Scrap the three above – do it outdoors and have a paddling pool ready to chuck them in
- Have a camera…my photos from today are defo keepers
- Laugh. At them, with them and at yourself
Have fun guys and my post about what our mega project was is coming soon…including photos of the finished masterpiece!
Little House of Words 