Top 5 Easy and Mess-Free Ways to Encourage Art at Home

Looking for easy and low-mess ways to encourage art at home? I’ve got you covered. Check out my Top 5 tips for stress-free art at home.  These tips are great for home learning, home school, kids crafts, and kids art activities.

 

 

We’ve all been there.

We see a super adorable, seemingly easy and innocuous kid-craft on Pinterest.

We gather up the kiddos to do said simple craft and the next thing ya know, the entire house looks like a Jackson Pollack painting—yep—splattered paint and beautiful mess everywhere.

So, after cleaning up paint in crevices we never even knew existed in our nice and neat house, we put away the paints for a “rainy day” that just so happens to never come.

 

But it doesn’t have to be that way!!!

I promise!!!!

 

Art is such an important activity for kids (and adults).

It allows for free expression, activates different parts of the brain and encourages development of motor skills, language skills, social skills, decision-making as well as risk-taking, and creativity and innovation.

 

So before you hang up those little art smocks and paint brushes forever, check out my Top 5 tips on easy and low mess ways to encourage art at home.

 

 

Tip 1:  Gather your Supplies in One Area

 

Some ideas:  use a tote, shelf, drawer, or cart.

We use the Raskog cart from Ikea. You can now get them at Michaels and many other stores.

It’s nice because the kids can wheel it to different parts of the house depending on what activity they’re doing. Ex:  really messy stuff might need to be done on the (easily wipeable) kitchen tile as opposed to the carpeted family room or hardwood living room.

Tip 2: Have all of your materials ready to use

I always like to keep a basic stash of craft supplies around, including:

• plain drawing paper (or printer paper in a pinch)
• construction paper
• pencils
• crayons
• markers
• colored pencils
• scissors
• liquid glue and/or glue stick
• glitter glue (way less messy than regular glitter)
• glitter (because sometimes you just need lots of sparkle)
• Chalk
• washable paint or
• watercolor paint
• paintbrushes
• Sponge brushes or sponge
• tape
• painters tape (this is great for sidewalk chalk designs)
• beads
• yarn
• embroidery thread
• inexpensive tin foil

 

Additionally, I often save recyclable materials because you never know when you need to use your imagination and get really creative.

So my favorite recyclable materials to have on hand are:

• egg cartons
• toilet paper tubes and paper towel rolls
• shoe boxes
• used wrapping paper
• old Tupperware/plastic containers (for mixing paints or slime)
• used/cleaned out bottles and jars

 

Tip #3:  Make a designated art space

Decide where you want your kids to create their beautiful works of art and BE SURE that they understand.

For example, if you don’t want paint in the carpeted Family Room, make sure they understand where painting IS ALLOWED.

If your kids are younger, you may want to keep the paint and really messy supplies on a high shelf.

 

Tip #4:  Display the Art

Be sure to set aside a place to display your little Monet’s new Masterpiece.

It’s important for kids to see that their art, as basic as it may be, is supported and appreciated.  This really helps build their confidence in so many ways.

 

 

Easy ways to display kid art

• Go old-school and hang it on the refrigerator
• Use masking tape (removable tape) and tape it to the wall.
• Tape it to a window
• Hang a piece of twine/yarn on the wall and clip art to it
• Frame it

 

Tip #5 Explore the Process with your kids

Create conversations around your child’s art by discussing their creations.  Just ask some simple questions (like the ones I’ve listed below) to get the conversation going.

Some questions to ask are:

 

• “How did you make this?”
• “What materials did you use and why?” (This one’s great if it’s really unusual)
• “What inspired you?
• “What do you like most about it?”
• “What would you do differently next time?”
• “How did you start?”

 

The most important thing is to try new things, keep it simple (don’t overthink it) and just let your kids have fun and explore.

 

 

And remember, it’s ok to let them stop and come back and finish later when the creative juices are flowing again.

 

Please share the love by Pinning this article so more folks can find these great tips and you can reference them again later.  Thanks!!!

 

 

Looking for more fun mess-free art ideas?

Check out these great posts:

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Cherry Blossom Trees made from paper bags

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