Several weeks ago Sarah got really interested in painting. My excitement over her new found creativity was tempered heavily by the annoyance and waste of squirting every color of the rainbow onto a paper plate only to toss most of it 10 minutes later. A few days and several paper plates later I had a flashback to my early childhood art class in college. Each student had to be bring in two empty egg cartons and I distinctly remember buying the eggs and trashing most of them. Why would I eat eggs when I had box upon box of Pastaroni on hand? (gag)
I digress. Here's the tip.
Egg cartons are the perfect storage items for tempera paint. Squirt a little bit of paint into each egg hole and as long as it gets closed up when your kiddo is finished the paint will last time and time again. If it gets dried out just add a little water or a bit more paint. I've also discovered that if I wet a folded paper towel and lay it in the open lid of the egg carton it weighs the whole contraption down and give Sarah a place to clean off her brush without the mess of a water glass.
Now when Sarah asks to paint she just heads to her cupboard to grab her egg carton "paint box" and I toss her a brush and a wet papertowel.
Try it you hot mamas! (and daddies!)
29 comments:
Great tip! We are actually about to head out to Michael's to get stuff to make Grandparents Day crafts!
PS - did u get my email about BooksAMillon sale?
LOVE that tip!
my girls still love to paint!
tara
Yup I remember doing that in art class too, and totally forgot about it! Thanks for the refresher!
Great "Hot Mama" Tip! =)
i wonder if there's any way of doing this without the actual paint....hmmmm???
Good tip. I read something similar on a "green" blog recently about using a mini muffin pan.
She looks like an artist already.
I puffy heart you!
Such a good idea. I was using little dixie cups for the paint and putting plastic wrap over them to keep them from time to time. This is way easier! Thanks.
great idea but we only have cardboard cartons here and the paint soaks through them so i use muffin tins, but they don't have a lid. Sarah looks all grown up.
Jen does your grocery store sell Egglands Best? Our grocery only has cardboard too but EB eggs always come in styro.
i love it! we did the same thing in my classroom art class in college. it was probably one of my favoite classes in college. so so fun. i wanted to go into art ed, but i prayed about it. . . knew that there wasn't many art openings in the area, and decided to do k-8 ed with an endorsement in gifted education. . . .i still love to paint, and sam does too! she's so cute!!! sarah that is!!!
Thanks for the tip! Anything to make the process easier on myself is worth a try! Maybe I'll also ask a few friends to save their styrofoam egg cartons since I too only get the cardboard kind.
Great idea! Now how do you keep it off her clothes!!!!!!! It doesn't look like she has anything over that super cute shirt!
AWESOME!!! what a GREAT tip! i am so so soooo excited! thanks SO much!
oooh...I'm so glad some of you found this helpful!
Sarah is actually a pretty neat child. At least when it comes to painting. Ever since we switched to using her "paint box" we haven't really had any messes on the clothes. Sometimes I make her wear an apron but not usually.
Awesome idea! I always lay out an individual styrofoam bowl for each color my son uses. It takes up a lot of space, makes things more accident-prone, and it makes it harder for him to reach every color. Using an old egg carton crate is the perfect solution, and I would have never thought of that! Thank you!
Just read the comment about using a mini muffin pan, and that's a great idea, too. And more eco-friendly. Love it!
PS - Went to Michael's today - they had two racks of 90% off! I got paint, foamie stickers and other crafty things for next to nothing! I racked up!
Jeanelle, you've been the queen of all things bargain this week haven't you?!
My kids use to love to paint too - they didn't do it often but when they did every surface in the house was covered with drying artwork. It was especially special because daddy MADE the paint! (discountschoolsupply.com -check out the BioColor and lots of fun art tips!)
Great idea! Leah will be glad you shared this tip so I will be more enthusiastic about painting!
I was SO frustrated yesterday at my lack of keeping something to put the paint in. I'll be putting your tip to use ASAP!
Have you seen tempera cakes? They are like puhnched up water colors-- all the vibrancy (sp?) of tempera in a water-activated form. We were going through GOBS of paint b4 I remembered these from my own classroom. You have to try them!
Amanda
Sorry about the spelling.
:(
Great tip Amanda...can I just pick them up anywhere or do I need to order them? Sounds like a great Christmas gift!
You should add this post to http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/shannon/ She does a segment, "Works for me Wednesday" and this hot mama tip would be perfect for that. You have some of the most creative ideas and are such a good mama to let your kiddos paint. I am not that brave as my boys get a little to crazy in that adventure! :)
that is a PERFECT tip! we could seriously use some new temperas here. alla is way into watercolors and has been for about 4-5 months now but if we EVER get back to thicker, more concentrated paints, this is for sure what we're doing. thanks friend!
What a great idea! I will have to put that one into use!! My girls paint up a storm and if I would let them they would do it all day long every day!!
Ah, this IS a great tip! And yes, I totally remember the egg cartons to school, now that you mention it.. TFS! =)
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