Painting with Kids

B loves to paint, but doesn't love it for long.  So, it's not my first choice for an afternoon activity...too much prep and cleanup for 7 minutes of fun.  However, right before Easter he found an egg painting activity and insisted on doing it.  I decided to give in, in the spirit of the holiday, and accept the fact that I would be wiping paint off of everything in about 8 minutes. 

And then IT happened.  My BRILLIANT idea.  The IDEA of a lifetime.

I had some tons of contact paper left over from the Easter activity B and I did earlier that day.  So, I cut a large piece and slapped it down on the table in front of B.  I then gave him the egg and paint and said, "Go!".  I told him it was OK to get paint on the table, but to try his hardest to avoid it.  (I didn't want him to think he could paint all over the table whenever he wanted.)

And this is what happened.  After his first stroke of the paintbrush on the contact paper (the table in his eyes), he looked up at me wide-eyed waiting to see if he could do it again.  I just laughed and told him to go for it.

He LOVED this.  He felt like he was painting all over the table and I knew all I had to do was peel it off when he was done. WIN WIN situation.   Bring on the painting projects!

Slap down some contact paper and let the paint fly! 

I'm sure many other awesome moms/teachers have already thought of this, but because I didn't see this on Pinterest (SHOCKER, I know!), I'm claiming it!  Here in my little world, I'm a modern day genius.  Thank you very much!