BIG Art for Kids on a Dollar Store ‘Canvas’

ByChristie Burnett

Take one sunny day, three children who LOVE painting and one BIG improvised canvas from the dollar store and what do you have? Lots of fun creating BIG art!

Big Art for Kids on an Improvised Dollar Store Canvas

This project is great for toddlers and preschoolers and works well with small groups of children so it’s perfect for playgroups, home day care services, preschools and play dates.

Big Art for Kids on an Improvised Dollar Store Canvas

The girls had a great time painting BIG! Working side by side…

Big Art for Kids on an Improvised Dollar Store Canvas

… jumping up to see how high they could paint…

Big Art for Kids on an Improvised Dollar Store Canvas

…and even crouching down to find little pockets of space to make marks in.

Big Art for Kids on an Improvised Dollar Store Canvas

Our ‘canvas’ was actually a 100% polyester (not vinyl) shower curtain that I bought from the dollar store a while ago. I had planned to tie it to our pool fencing but as we ended up creating at a friend’s house we instead tied it with string to the poles supporting her trampoline net.

Big Art for Kids on an Improvised Dollar Store Canvas

We used regular child friendly acrylic paints (ours were from Micador’s Easy Wash Paint range) and chubby brushes.

Painting BIG on a Dollar Store Canvas

It was HUGE fun! And the best part, I am pretty sure that if I hang the shower curtain out next time it rains we will have an all new, fresh and clean ‘canvas’ to paint on again!

Do you know someone small who would love to paint BIG?

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Christie Burnett is a teacher, author and mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to find engaging, high quality learning ideas.