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Outdoor messy play

10/07/2010 by Cathy James 13 Comments

Warm, sunny weather gives a great opportunity to take your play outside. How about some outdoor painting? Even if you’re usually reluctant to let the kids do messy play indoors, when you’re outside you can relax a little and let them get creative.

We used a wipe-able tablecloth to give the floor some protection and used washable paint. It was too hot to get wrapped up in coveralls so we wore old clothes. The plant pots did a great job holding our big roll of parcel paper in place. We had a washing up bowl full of water and a tea towel handy – good for washing off our feet!

We experimented with big brushes, washing-up scrubbers and the rake from the sandpit.

This was an ‘open-ended’ craft session where the kids had the opportunity to use the paint their way, rather than us making anything in particular.  Little especially enjoyed using her hands and feet to paint with and Big experimented with some splatter painting.

Why not try this with your children and see what they create?

Happily shared with…

We Play

Filed Under: All Crafts, Messy, Misc, Sensory Tagged: Messy, painting, pre-school, School Age, toddler

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Comments

  1. TheMadHouse says

    10/07/2010 at 6:44 pm

    I love doing this with the children. Ikea do a great big rool of paper for 3.99 which is just perfect for it

    Reply
  2. jenny says

    11/07/2010 at 3:24 am

    Looks like good old messy fun 🙂

    Reply
  3. Katie Bryson says

    11/07/2010 at 10:50 am

    It’s so great when the weather’s warm so you can do messy play in the garden. My four year old adores getting the paint out – but at the moment it’s more about ‘experiments’ and ‘mixutres’ than actually making any art. He loves filling the pots with different colours and mixing them up – then maybe adding leaves, stones or whatever he can find in the garden!

    Reply
    • Cathy @ NurtureStore says

      11/07/2010 at 2:00 pm

      Hi Katie, Sounds like fun. There’ so much fun, creativity and learning involved in just mixing and experimenting. 🙂

      Reply
  4. amandab says

    21/07/2010 at 11:14 am

    Painting outside was a favourite acitivty at our old house .. often done in just a nappy, using hands, feet and bums as as painting tools! Nothing is more fun on a nice day 🙂

    Reply
  5. Jackie says

    21/07/2010 at 7:33 pm

    I love how open ended that was. When my son paints he likes to just do his own thing. If I try to make it structured he has no interest. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  6. Becky says

    22/07/2010 at 2:51 am

    I love this kind of play, as do my girls. I can’t wait for it to warm up here so we can do more of this kind of thing.

    Reply
  7. Philippa says

    22/07/2010 at 12:02 pm

    we love messy painting actually we love most fun messy activities … bring on some warmer weather so we can get outside and get messy 🙂

    Reply
  8. joyce:waddleeahchaa.com says

    23/07/2010 at 3:44 am

    Anytime spent with paint is too fun! I love the green and blue color.

    Reply
  9. Christie - Childhood 101 says

    26/07/2010 at 12:16 pm

    I love the open ended, experimental nature of this experience, the perfect way to create art 🙂

    Reply
  10. maryanne says

    29/10/2010 at 2:38 am

    What lovely outdoor artistic play!

    Reply
  11. kelli says

    29/10/2010 at 6:17 am

    great idea. I use the plastic table clothes too, they are great as you can peg them on the clothes line and hose them off

    Reply
  12. Michelle Willow says

    07/11/2010 at 8:04 pm

    We had a same theme last week 🙂 If you want, you can add your posts to our weekly linky: http://best-toys-for-toddler.blogspot.com/2010/11/fun-with-toddlers-linky-party-messy.html we have different theme each week so… stop by. 🙂

    Reply

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