Finger Painting

If you have children or you remember being a child, you may be all too familiar with messy crafts. When children are young it is important to expose them to a variety of interesting artistic accomplishments such as crafts, drawing, painting, and even music. But one thing that they really enjoy doing is making a mess. So crafts that weren’t supposed to be messy could get that way really quickly. And other crafts such as working with dough and finger painting are messy to begin with. So your job if you have children or if you are a teacher is to expose them with the right level of artistic crafts and mix that up with things that make a little bit of a mess. Children really seem to respond to things that make a big mess.

However, there is a way that you can control the situation when it comes to messy crafts. First of all, there are things that you can do that will make them less messy. One thing that should be consistent is to cover the work surface with an old sheet or a series of newspapers. That way, if anything spills, it will go on the newspaper not the table or floor. Even if something says on the package that it is easy to clean, this may not be the case at all times. If paint gets on the rug, for example, it may be very difficult to get off even if the package says so. Besides covering the floor and table that you will be working on with newspaper (and it is important to cover both) you can also dress your child in something old that you don’t care will get messy.

You will also need to choose the craft that you want your child to do. If they express an interest in painting, for example, why not give them a brush and some water colors or let them fingerpaint? There are different things they can do and as long as they are supervised and you take some precautions, it doesn’t have to be as messy as it seems. Messy crafts are fun and can hold a child’s attention. And it is also fun to join in with them!