Ever since I visited a Montessori classroom, I have been using this method to enable my small children to paint pictures as often as possible with as little trouble for me, and without a permanently messy table or corner. I keep individual colors of watercolor paint, cut-up rectangles of paper, a small brush and a bottle cap on a small tray on top of the refridgerator. When my children need something to do, I take it down and let them paint. The key to low mess is keeping the amounts of paint and water small. Like the Montessori teacher suggested, I cut up plastic strips of watercolors from the store into individual colors so that small children can focus on one task: using the brush correctly. I show them how to 'tickle' the paint gently with the brush with the very end of the bristles in order to make a painting.
Older children can have more colors so that they can experiment with mixing colors (what do yellow and blue make when you put them together?) or with creating their own masterpieces. The tiny bottle cap of water ensures that there's not much mess to clean up, and the small paintings don't take up much space on the table for drying or on the wall for displaying.
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