In my book, Time to Create: Hands-On Explorations in Process Art, I have included many practical ideas for minimising the mess when being creative with kids. One of those tips is to choose your creative space wisely.
And what better way to contain the mess then to take your art materials into the bathroom to let your children get creative in the bath or shower. It’s the perfect way to avoid messy, painted handprints on your nicely decorated dining room walls and has the added bonus of being a space that is easy to clean down afterward.
Immy recently began acting up at bath time, reluctant to have a bath or shower as she knows this is the first step in our ‘get ready for bed’ routine. As Mums we know that there is little more frustrating than delay tactics at nighttime when we are tired and just want to sit down and enjoy some adult time. So my solution, out came Dad 101’s shaving cream which I sprayed directly onto the shower screen and we had a great time ‘painting’ pictures and writing letters and names on the lovely, creamy surface. Now it has become part of our nightly routine. Sometimes I will add a little food colouring to the shaving cream as an extra special treat (just be aware that the very intense colours can stain hands, it doesn’t bother me as it does eventually wash off but if your child likes to body paint then you might not want to head out with a bright blue child the next day. As always with food colouring…a little goes a long way!)
Bath time is much easier in our house since we added a little art to our shower time 🙂
Do you have a favourite creative activity just right for bath time or another suggestion for getting kids to love their bath?
Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.
Read the comments or scroll down to add your own: