N was down with yet another viral fever recently, which meant that I had to find ways to keep him entertained at home. When he was younger, he used to enjoy painting quite a bit, so I decided to get started on our Easter craft: a simple tape resist painting.
To make things more complicated for myself, I allowed the twins to have their first ever painting session. I tried to minimise the mess by putting them all in the bathroom, and giving them large, long-sleeved aprons, but erm, things still got pretty messy. However, I think it was a pretty good experience for the kids, made meaningful by the Easter theme.
I pasted 3M masking tape on sheets of drawing block paper to create a cross, then poured some washable Crayola paint onto a palette for the kids to share.
Mandatory “before” photos
In my haste to get the kids started, I forgot to explain the activity to N, and he started painting ON the tape. Luckily, tape resist art works well for messy painters, and it doesn’t matter if paint gets on the tape or not. I think it’s quite the perfect type of painting for a first-timer, because the end product can be made really lovely by the way the tape is placed. (Check out N’s first tape resist art HERE.)
Painting carefully
Since it was the twins’ first painting experience, I had to demonstrate how to use the materials provided. Didi was quite eager to begin, so I gave him the paintbrush, and he started immediately. He got distracted by N washing his paintbrush after a while, and ended up wasting a lot of paint by washing his own brush after dipping it into paint. I had to keep stopping him, and redirecting him to his paper, but he found washing his paintbrush more interesting.
Meimei was more hesitant, and I could tell that she was pretty bothered by the paint getting on her hands. (It’s a good thing she didn’t realise that N accidentally painted her face!) Whenever someone dripped paint on the floor, she would exclaim, “Uh-oh!” She also kept adding more paint to the same spot on her paper, and I kept pointing out empty spaces to her, so that she could paint those instead. After a while, she refused to continue painting, and I had to hold her hand to guide her.
Cleaning up was a bit stressful because I had to wash three paint-stained kids, so I started with the cleanest one, and worked my way through. (For the record, it was Meimei, N, then Didi.) After that, I removed the tape from their paintings and moved them out of the shower area so that they could dry properly.
N’s
Didi’s
Meimei’s
Final products
I think they turned out quite nice, and these three paintings are currently up on our main door. They’re far from perfect, and didn’t quite turn out the way I had expected them to, but that’s the way art is, isn’t it? All that matters is that the kids enjoyed themselves, right? Meimei in particular still remembers the activity, and points at the bathroom until I ask her if she painted in there. She’ll nod her head vigorously, and seems happy to hear me talk about it.
I’m still thinking about what their next painting activity is going to be, and I’m considering repeating the DIY Wrapping Paper activity which I did with N previously. Not sure if the twins are ready for that yet, or rather, if I’m ready to deal with kids covered in paint and touching everything, so… we shall see.
PS. If you’re looking for a simple book about Easter to read with your kids, I recently read The Easter Story by Brian Wildsmith with N, and we both enjoyed it. I liked that the Easter story is told through the eyes of the donkey, as it brings a slightly different perspective to the events from Palm Sunday all the way to Easter Sunday.