Painting Just For The Sake of Painting

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Please tell me that I’m not the only mom who struggles to do organized crafts with her kids.  We do a lot of drawing, coloring, singing, dancing, and reading in this house, but step-by-step crafts just aren’t happening.

I like to think of myself as an artistic woman.  I studied theater and video production in college.  I loved taking art and photography classes.  You would think that I would plan elaborate crafts for my kids all year long, but instead I cringe when doing finger paint and have very few crafts saved on my Pinterest boards.

Despite my lame attempts at crafts in this house, we bought Grace this 12 pack of tempera paints and assorted brushes set for Christmas.

The other day I decided to break out the paints and let Grace and Noah paint just for the sake of painting.  I remembered this post from Meg Duerksen and gathered some egg cartons for the kids to paint.

There was no plan.

No cutesy craft.

We just painted for the sake of painting.

6 Reasons Why I Fell In Love With Painting Egg Cartons

1) I finally have a good use for all the empty cardboard egg cartons I’ve been saving!  Recycling something from around the house and turning it into art?  That is definitely a good thing.

2) Ditching flat paper just feels good.  Am I the only one that sometimes feels pressure when looking at a blank page?  Like I need to come up with a plan?  The random shape of the egg carton eliminated the need for a plan.  I could just enjoy the experience of playing with the different colors.

3) It didn’t take any planning or thought.  The extra effort of planning a craft in advance and making sure I have all the necessary supplies is a bit more than my stressed-out-mama-brain can handle at times.

4) It is free.  I didn’t have to pay for special canvases, wooden painting kits, or other art supplies to finish the craft.

5) It is good for kids developmentally.  My friend Diana was an art major in college and she had this to say about our project:

Creating art is a fun way for children to develop skills for self expression and communication. Fortunately, for those of us that aren’t so creatively inclined, a simple paint brush, paints, and any object that you’d like to use as a canvas is a fantastic way to allow your children to express themselves through the arts.

– Diana, from My Humble Kitchen

If egg carton painting is good enough for an art major than it is certainly good enough for this mom!!

6) There wasn’t a “right way” to do it.  If I’m completely honest, one of the reasons I don’t enjoy crafts as much is because I get a bit frustrated when they don’t turn out right.  I find myself biting my tongue at times, struggling not to correct my little one when she isn’t following directions properly.  Of course there is a time and place for Grace to learn how to follow directions, but… Sometimes mama just needs to chill out a  bit.

The Logistics:

Clearly this isn’t a complicated project, but if you want to recreate it I have some tips for you.  First, use cardboard cartons because the paint won’t stick to Styrofoam or plastic ones.  Second, I used a plastic egg carton and cut it down to hold 4 different paint colors for the kids.  It worked much better than letting them have full access to all 12 colors.

In case you just can’t stand not doing a full fledged craft, cut the egg cartons in half, add googley eyes and pipe cleaners, and you have yourself a caterpillar.

Are you a crafty parent?  What kinds of things around the house have you turned into art projects?

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