The logistics of painting with a 13mo

[ellesabe]

Hi all,

I bought some finger paints for my dd to have a go with and am looking for some advice about how to tackle this without it all ending up on the floor or in her mouth! If it were the summer I would obviously strip her off and do it in the garden but I don't want to restrict her creativity just because of the season!

So what do I do? Stick dd in her highchair, plop some paint onto the tray and just get on with it? I'm unsure as to what exactly she'll be capable of doing but I assume someone out there has attempted this before and may have some pearls of wisdom! Anyone??

Elle x

Put a mat on the floor under the high chair and have clothes/wipes handy.
Or you could put her naked in the bath with them and let her paint the bath and tiles if you don't want to keep her masterpiece!

accept that some will go in her mouth and on the floor

yes, highchair, a big bib or one of those painting aprons (except they ain't very flexible IME) and then let her loose

a nice way to paint is to use cooked spaghetti and a stiff piece of card or one of those canvas squares

great ideas to nick here

At that age i put an old adult size tshirt on DD, kept her covered better than a bib.

Shower curtain for the floor. Roll of wallpaper lining paper for the paint then stand clear!

I used to do it in the kitchen, right before mopping the floor.

We used to have a peg of "painting pinnies" my mum made - my dad's old work shirts with the buttons done up and then stitched down the join (to make a dress), stiff cuffs cut off and the end of the sleeve folded back with a piece of elastic threaded through to make them stretchy (stop paint going up the arms) and then folded back at the shoulder and tacked in place so the sleeves could "grow" with us (untack, unfold a bit, then retack).

Sorry if that makes no sense at all.