Tips for Watercoloring with Kids

I’ve always loved painting, art, and pretty much all things creative. In my pre-mom days I had these visions of beautiful afternoons spent painting with my future children. After becoming a mom, the reality was I would actually cringe when the kids requested to paint — things just get messy so fast, and as moms we try to avoid messes, right?

Yet painting was something I really wanted to be able to enjoy with my kids. I still don’t have the nerve to really let the kids loose with acrylics or craft paint, but I have figured out some simple ways to make watercoloring easy to manage with the kids, and I’ve partnered with Munchkin to share them with you all today.

One of the biggest problem we would run into while watercoloring is that my kids would frequently — as in nearly every time — knock over their cups of water. Of course the water would run everywhere and often ruin the masterpiece they were working on.

My friends at Munchkin sent me some of their Miracle toddler cups to try — they have a 360 Miracle Cup that is a replacement for sippy cups (and trust me you will NEVER go back), they also have these No-Tip Toddler Cups, which are clearly an ideal solution for watercoloring… and dinnertime.

Maybe my family is just incredibly clumsy… I swear, before we got these cups, at least half of our meal times would involve a spill of one kind or another. Even my older kids would frequently knock their cups over. Does this happen to you too?

Munchkin’s No-Tip Cups have a weighted base that make them difficult to accidentally knock over. When I first got these cups, I expected them to be heavier in hand, so I played with one a bit to see just what it would take to knock it over. I was super impressed — this cup is not spilling unless someone intentionally dumps it. Sounds perfect for watercoloring, right?

Have you ever noticed how quickly paper, even watercolor paper, begins to curl while painting? When my older girls were taking an art class last year, the teacher had them tape down their paper using masking tape on all sides, which kept the paper nice and flat.

I’ve tried this solution for my young kids, but they are so prolific with their art — turning out those masterpieces very quickly, and I’ve found it usually isn’t necessary to tape them down, but my older kids do it every time they paint. As an added bonus, the tape also creates a nice little border around the edge when the artwork is finished.

The art teacher also showed the girls a fun trick for painting these beautiful aspen trees using tape as a resist. You place tape where you want to trunks of your trees to be, then you paint in the background. Once it is nearly dry, peel off the tape and finish by adding in the detail for your tree.

This post is brought to you by Munchkin. Check out their awesome spoutless toddler cup collection.

SOURCES:
No-Tip Water Cups
Watercolors
Paint Brushes
Watercolor Paper
Masking Tape