If there’s one sentence I fear more than any other, it’s this: “Mum? Mum! MUUUUM! Can I do painting?”
Well, there goes my afternoon, I say to myself as I wonder just how big the radius of paint splatter will be this time.
I’m no artist. Yet somehow, an afternoon of painting always ends up with me holding the paintbrush while my daughter plays art director. “Now, do a dinosaur. NO! Not a purple dinosaur! A green dinosaur! Now paint a caterpillar. Now paint Harry Potter. Now paint Elsa and Anna in the castle with the ice magic and the scary snowman and Olaf riding the donkey.”
It’s not that I dislike art. I know it’s important for a child’s development – motor skills, language development, visual learning, decision making, creativity and imagination. Also, it’s fun. But why does it have to be so messy?
It’s a fact of life: kids like to get messy. So, if they’re going to get arty and messy, the best place for them to do it is outside. Outdoor art is a parenting trifecta – your house stays clean, your kid gets their creative juices flowing, and they get a healthy a dose of Vitamin D.
Better yet, art doesn’t have to be all about painting. There are so many simple yet fun arty activities your littlies can do outdoors. All you need to do is set up a table or mat with some newspaper on top, and find some bits and pieces around the home and backyard. You could make things even easier by keeping a plastic tub full of crafty items outside or in the kids’ cubby house for easy access.
Here are 10 arty projects that are perfect for doing outdoors:
As you can see, you don’t have to spend hours setting up and cleaning up next time your mini Picasso asks if they can pull out the paints to create another masterpiece. By taking art outside and having a few simple items on hand, your kids can let their creative juices run wild – with minimal (or, at least, manageable) mess.
Written by Lauren Shay from Full Stop Publishing on behalf of My Cubby – makers of the coolest cubby houses in Australia. Helping get kids into happy, healthy outdoor play
Now that we are well and truly back into the school year and daily grind, it’s easy for parental guilt to sink in.We’re so busy with work, life and endless to-do lists, we’re exhausted, and playing with our kids is not always our top priority. And it shouldn’t always be,
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