As an early childhood professional, I love messy, process art. As a working mom, I need manageable, easy-to-clean art. Over the years, I have had to learn what “manageable” means for me in our home. It took countless stressful messes, but I think my girls and I have come to an understanding. They know I will always provide them with options, and I know that those options will always be messier than anticipated. My hope is that these tips and activities will spark ideas for manageable art in your home!
Disclaimer: These activities are not guaranteed to be mess-free. The joy of process art is that it ignites curiosity, which is just teacher-talk for saying the potential for mess is endless.
Tips to Consider
- Don’t have an end product in mind. Take away all the expectations you’ve built up about how cute the art should be. No expectations = less stress.
- Messy trays are a must. Young children need visual supports. Trays are an easy-to-clean way to define the messy space. Below are some ideas for trays.
- Baking sheets
- Reused sustainable packaging (like wooden boxes from Melissa and Doug toys)
- Plastic art trays (search “art trays for kids” on your go-to shopping site)
- Know your limits for that moment. I only offer my girls options that I can manage in that exact moment. If I am already overstimulated, maybe I give them a cup of water, a paintbrush, and rocks to “paint.” I’d choose water to clean up any day over actual paint.
- Have a variety of traditional and unconventional materials. Messy art doesn’t just look like paint all over your child and their paper. You can have paint sticks, window markers, liquid glue, or gel glue sticks. You can swap the paper and create on tin foil, inside gallon bags, on recycled cardboard, or with nature. The options are truly endless.
Chalk Smash
The name and pictures say it all. My five-year-old and almost 2-year-old loved it! It also gave purpose to all those small pieces of chalk.
Layered Process Art
This is real simple. We choose one material to use at a time, like glitter glue sticks, and we add a layer onto a canvas. Once it is dry, we choose another material to use and add the next layer. Sometimes we add layers weeks apart. Now, I know I said not to set expectations for finished products, but trust me, this is the masterpiece you will want to frame when it is finally done.
Anything But Paper
Try painting on anything that isn’t paper. This can get messy, but keep it manageable. You will want to use a tray or materials that are easy to discard, like tin foil.
“No Mess” Messy Art
When all else fails, drop some paint onto paper and toss it in a zip-loc bag, or improve that old wine-and-canvas masterpiece with some fresh paint, wrapped in plastic wrap.
