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Kids gather many of their perception of the world through playing. No matter how old your child is it is extremely essential to spend time on choosing the right toys or finding new activities that will boost child’s development. The big mistake parents often make when they think only of the intellectual part of development, refusing to pay attention to the creative side of the mind. Parents need to be careful not to stifle the imaginative side of kid’s brain. Innovative ideas are usually created by those whose parents nurtured creativity in their young minds. Though there are many ways to stimulate right brain development. Painting has proven to be one of the best. But not every child loves painting or he/she can get bored painting over and over again cars or princesses. Offer your kid to create something new, something unusual and do it together. Nothing unites people like joint work, and when a child learns something new with parents – there’s no limit to the joy and happiness. Everything unusual always beckons, especially for babies. It’s so interesting and fun!

If you think that you can only draw with pencils, markers or paints, you are deeply mistaken. There are numerous ways and instruments to try, by the way many of them you will find in your house. So, here are ten of the best and most unusual ways to paint and have immense fun together. (These are all certified and approved by me and my nephew as cool!)

1. Hand and Finger Painting

First of all I would advice to dress your kid in some old clothes. No matter how neat you or your precious child is, after these experiments everything will be covered in paint. By the way, it would be great if you could manage to play outside the house. This would be a fun outside activity! What you need… Paints of different colors, sheets of paper and a child with desire to create. By the way there are special paints for finger painting, but it is not necessary to buy them. The simple paint works great. Let kids have fun, they love to explore everything with their hands. It is easy to make a sun or a tree on the paper with the kid’s palm and fingers. For example: paint with your finger you develop a tree body and paint with a full hand gives you leaves. Kids use their fingers and hands better than brushes or pencils, so they will be satisfied with the result. But, don’t stick to boring shapes, let them create whatever they want.

2. Bubble Wrap Painting For this activity you will need bubble wrap, paper and paints. You can use a brush to ink the bubble wrap and then make prints of on the paper with kids. But, there are more entertaining ways to use bubble wrap. Simply wrap your kid’s feet with it, prepare containers beforehand with paint that fit kid’s feet (for instance try using old wash tubs). Let them step into the tubs and then print and paint with their Bubble-wrapped feet! Even put on some music for them to ‘dance’ to while they are doing their painting…move over Jackson Pollock!

3. Roll Painting Find anything small that can roll. That can be either small balls, or plastic/wooden eggs, or marbles. You will also need a paper and a round container, e.g dish or bowl. Cover the bowl with the paper and prepare the container with paints. Kid can dip a couple of marbles/balls/eggs into the colors he likes, then put them into the bowl and roll!

4. Vehicle Painting

This is the most interesting one for boys. Simply grab any vehicle toys, tell your kiddo to paint the wheels of the car with the paints he likes, using brushes or simply dipping the wheels into paints and then move the vehicle on the paper the way he likes it. This one is very easy and not that messy. Boys of any age like this kid of painting. Sure, you are both playing with your favorite car and making a beautiful art project, why not! Another variant: If you have a really old car in the family and dad is OK with decorating the clunker with a new paint job. OMG! a boy’s heaven to paint a real vehicle himself. And if you use water base paints you can wash it off and do it over and over.

5. Letter Stamping This method can also help you to teach a toddler new letters. Use any plastic letter you have. Again show your child the way to paint – dip letters into paints and make stamps. You can extend this activity; ask the child to write some words in different colors. It’s great fun and an extremely useful way of painting – actually combines mental and creative thinking.

6. Ice Cube Painting

This type of painting requires preparation. There are two ways to make colorful ice cubes. You either can add couple of drops of food colorant to the water and then make it freeze or simply freeze liquid paints. When the cubes are almost frozen add wooden sticks into them. It is not necessary, but will be easier for kids to hold the cubes and they won’t feel cold this way. Let your child show his imagination. Children love this way of painting too, and the result looks incredibly great, the combination with water makes it look a little different.

7. Blow Painting Another fun activity and easy to perform. Get somedrinking straws, prepare some sheets of paper (colored paper would be even better) and thin paint out with water (you need the consistency of milk). Better use watercolor paints, they look better when combining with water. Now ask your baby to drop one end of the straw into the paint, put it then on the paper. As soon as there is some paint simply blow. The paint should be thin so that it could easily move around the paper.

8. Sponge Painting

This one is also easy to do and you don’t need any additional preparation or to spend money on materials. You can make a lot of different art actually with the sponge. E.g ink the sponge in colors of rainbow and have your kid draw it with a simple move. Or you can cut out letters from the sponges and again make stamps.

9. Magic Painting Who doesn’t love magic? Show your kid a little of magic or even better teach him how to stun his friends. You will need a candle, white piece of paper, brushes, paints and water of course. Draw something beforehand with the candle and then together with your baby paint on top of your secret drawing with watercolor paints. Your kid will be stunned to see the magic appear before his/her eyes. Then show what you did so that your child will be a part of the magic next time.

10. Water Balloon Painting

This one is the funniest yet the most messy one. It is sooo messy and sooo colorful that it can only be performed outside. Well, as summer is almost here we can manage to find the place outdoors to have immense fun. First of all you will have to prepare water balloons. You will need: some paint (it would be better to use washable paints as everything including your precious child will be covered with paints later), water bottles with a spout and of course balloons. Add some paint to the bottle, fill it with the water till the end and shake, shake, shake. Then take a balloon and stretch it as hard as you can but be careful and don’t tear it up. Your next step is to put a balloon over the spout, turn the bottle upside down and squeeze. Don’t pour too much paint as the balloons can easily pop. Now you have water balloons! I suggest two ways of painting with these beautiful water balloons. The first one will be better for the older kids. Find the wall, stick some paper on it and tell your kids to throw water balloons as hard as they can to pop it. If there is no wall you may find a tree, I guess Mother Nature won’t be angry with you). For the younger toddlers lay the big sheet of paper on the ground, give your kid a wooden stick, tell him to place couple of water balloons on the paper and pop it with the stick. Don’t forget to dress your kid in old clothes, it’s gonna be messy!

Well, there you have it! It’s not the whole list of painting activities but certainly enough to get you going as the weather gets warmer and the kids want some cool activities. Do not stick to boring brushes, use everything you have in your house – plastic bottles, kitchen utensils, glasses and other item will work good too. You can even ask them to find painting tools by themselves. Be creative and teach your kids to be creative, too. Have fun!