Messy Art Projects

As school has become more focused on academic achievement and test scores, the opportunity for kids to experience art has decreased in many of our schools.  After-school is the perfect place for kids to experience art.  Now, you can certainly do this in a cerebral, art appreciation way, reviewing the works of great and not-so-great artists, but at the core of the art experience is creation—and creation can be messy. 

Most would agree that paint is one of the messiest of art mediums.  Paint can end up getting on everything and everyone.  So how can you give kids the opportunity while minimizing the negative aspects of messy paint project?

1.  Have kids wear a shirt or apron to help keep clothes clean.

2.  If possible, have students keep one hand clean so they can open a door, scratch their nose, and turn the water on.

3.  Have clean up materials readily available—including water and paper towels, as well as paper that can be picked up acting after it has  acted as a protector for tables and floors.

4.  If it makes sense, do the art project outside to help clean-up be as easy as possible.  Be wary of a messy art project on carpet.

If you need some ideas about what you might do for age-appropriate messy art, check out one of these two websites, http://hubpages.com/hub/Kids-and-Messy-Art-Projects which currently offers up four different activities to do with paint, and http://www.artismessy.org/ which has a wide variety of activities to do with students.

Figure out how to contain the mess, but don’t shy away from messy art activities.  The act of creation is seldom neat and tidy.

Consult 4 Kids has a long history of advocating for youth and the adults who are their positive role models and mentors.  To learn more about our work, please visit our website at www.consultforkids.com, email us at support@consultfourkids.com or call us at (661) 617-7055.