16 Things to Paint Besides Paper

My girls love to paint.

Okay, so my three-year-old loves to paint.

My one-year-old loves to suck on the paint-covered brushes. Or (more accurately) she loves to see my reaction to her sucking on the paint-covered brushes.

But seriously, they both spend a lot of time painting. (Often with edible paint for obvious reasons.)

Usually we just paint on paper, but my daughters have recently discovered white ceramic figurines (like this car bank). I like them too, but I’m too cheap to let them each paint a new one every day (even though I get them for $1 at Walmart). So I’ve been searching online for things to paint on besides paper. I found a bunch of fun ideas, so I thought I’d share them with you! Bonus: decorating a blank canvas of any texture or type is a great form of process-based art. Process art encourages confidence in their artist abilities and gets those little creative wheels spinning!

16 fun things to paint besides paper

Board books–I think this idea on Creative with Kids is brilliant!

Cork Board –something I never would have considered! Great idea from Buggy and Buddy.

Toast using edible paint from Learn Play Imagine.

Canvas--while there are plenty of obvious ways to paint on canvas, this name-resist idea from Mama Papa Bubba is the one I want to try most.

Wooden airplanes are another favorite at our house. You do know we’re obsessed with airplanes, right? 🙂 And Jessica from Play Trains shared great ideas on how to paint/build/assemble train sets with little ones.

Out of the ordinary paint canvases! Wooden airplanes

Have you made suncatchers? If not, try this pretty version from Fun at Home with Kids!

Trees and bubble wrap. I want my girls to go to Stephanie from Twodaloo’s co-op school so they can do things like this!

Aluminum foil as seen on NurtureStore. Why I haven’t I tried this yet?!

The sidewalk. Need a recipe? Try this fizzing sidewalk paint from Kids Activities Blog.

Snowsnow paint has just two ingredients!

Out of the ordinary paint canvases--snow paint

Painted tea towels would make a nice gift for the practical relatives in your family.

Rocks. This was 100% my daughter’s idea. She had a few big rocks, and she asked if she could paint them. We have plenty of rocks near our house, which makes this one of the cheapest options! Good thinking, kiddo! Similarly, my girls decorated little handmade fossils at our local Earth Day celebration. How fun!

Picture frames — if I were to receive a gift like this one from My Life of Travels and Adventure, I would be a very happy mama.

Mirrors-– I’ve been checking yard sales for small mirrors so my girls and I can try things like this from Happily Ever Mom.

Your bathtub. We like to fill a cupcake pan with shaving cream and different shades of food coloring. Bath paint is fun paint.

Seashells–this idea from Fantastic Fun and Learning resulted in beautiful, brilliantly colored vacation souvenirs!

What do you paint? Let me know if you think of other ideas so that we can try them too!

 

 

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