I have said it before: I am not a fan of messy play. I still want my children to grow up having fun and getting opportunities to get dirty just for fun.
My mum bought them finger paints and stamps in the summer. I was dreading the time they would ask to play with them to be honest. As they asked paint the bath on Thursday night, I thought those paints would be perfect! I let them paint the bath before and they loved it!
I gave them the paints, the stamps and three paintbrushes.
After they got undressed, they went in the empty bathtub, with instructions to paint the bath only, not the whole bathroom!
As they were washable finger paints, I was not worried about them getting paint all over themselves.
They had the time of their life, and even painted each other!
Once they had had enough, I have them soap to clean themselves as well as the bath and I rinsed them quickly.
We then filled the bath, adding lots of bubble bath to end on a fun not and make sure there was no paint left anywhere. Apart from a bit of soap in their eyes, it was all giggles and smiles!
It was simple, improvised fun and even though it was a particularly messy activity, it did not leave anything for me to tidy; just a shiny bath and three clean kids!
Là MOI JE PEUX PAS, MËME DANS LA BAIGNOIRE!!!, je te jure rien que de le voir j’ai envie de nettoyer!!!!! voilà qquns de mes tocs. Quand Léa était malade la psy avait dit:” laisser la jouer avec la nourriture, ça doit redevenir un jeu, un plaisir” mais je peux pas, même dehors, faut que je débarbouille!!!!
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Oui mais bon, jouer avec la nourriture, c’est autre chose. Je ne pourrais pas les laisser faire (faut pas pousser!), et puis dans le bain, tu ne peux pas, il n’y a pas de baignoire chez toi! Il faut que tu essaies dans la douche, Léa adorerait (et puis elle te la nettoiera avant que tu la laves!). xxxx
I can just about cope with messy stuff in the bath…..just x
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Same here. They did have a lot of fun and there was no mess in sight afterwards!
Wow, I bet they enjoyed that! It looks like so much fun. We’ve not tried painting in the bath before, but is a great idea. #MagicMoments
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They loved it! We had done it before and they kept asking me to do it again. It was a nice treat for them!
Fabulous! We haven’t done this for awhile, and the last time was with shaving foam paint 🙂 I have some bath paints which I keep forgetting about, must find them x #MagicMoments
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Go on, look for them, Sara! The kids will love it.
What a great idea Mel! You know about my bad experience with messy play haha so this might well be the future!!!
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It is as messy as messy gets, but as easy as it can be to clean: they do it themselves happily!
Brilliant idea Mel! I wish I’d thought of that. My kids also love washing things down too so that’s win win! 🙂 X
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It is, isn’t it?
Hello there, I understand what you mean about messy play but I think this looks pretty good-especially painting each other! Maybe this could be something from Father Christmas-perfect for the gloomy winter months! x #magicmoments
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Last year, I had this as one of their advent calendar activities and they really loved it, especially the first time as they did not expect me to allow them to paint the bath… or themselves!
Brilliant!
That’s a brilliant idea – never thought about doing something like that in the bath. We did footprint painting in the garden in the summer and used the paddling pool to clean off in afterwards which made it so much less stressful for me! Will have to try getting out the finger paints in the bath – Jessica would love it! 🙂
Author
I love your idea of footprint painting in the garden. We will be doing that next Summer! X
OK! Brilliant idea! I hate mess too…it is very hard when you have kids though isn’t it? I try my hardest not to let it stop them doing things but there are a few things that I have to put a stop to!!! This is great though…I could cope with mess in the bath…although knowing my two they would have the whole bathroom covered!!
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I know, it is incredibly difficult to keep things under control! You think you have a room sorted to realise they have smeared chocolate all over the walls next door, and written on their arms and legs with permanent markers…
Ah ça me tente bien ça… Sachant que c’est pas trop mon truc non plus le messy play avec ma moquette beige partout (qui morfle tous les jours…). C’est de la peinture spéciale ? Les enfants adoreraient !
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C’est juste des ‘finger paints’, que tu peux trouver au £ shop, Hobbycraft ou faire toi-même (recette : https://lecoindemel.com/edible-gluten-free-finger-paint/). xxx
ok, je vais me pencher sur la question 🙂 – Merci !
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De rien ma belle!
Fantastic idea!!! I haven’;t been brave with paints yet with Z but I love how you’ve done it in the bath. I might steal it 😉
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Please do! Homemade finger paints are also really easy to clean (my recipe is on the blog). x
The bath is the best place for messy play as it is so easy to clean up! Looks like they had loads of fun, just fabulous! Xx #sharewithme
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They had a good hour and a half of laughter and squealing That is a successful activity in my books!
Great idea. I’m with you – not keen on messy play but can just about tolerate it in the bathroom and outdoors.
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Playgroups are pretty good for that as well. The girls get their weekly fix of painting and playing with sand there. They generally stick with trains, puzzles, small world play, dens & dressing up at home.
What a great idea, messy play can always be a bit of a drag when you have to clean up afterwards, doing it in the bath is such a great idea. Dropping in from Magic Moments.
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I like ‘easy’ messy play when it happens indoors. I am a lot more relaxed outdoors, but we only have a tiny garden.
I hate messy play too! I feel like I am robbing my kids because I don’t let them do it at home. This is such a great idea. I would have never thought to be messy in the bath and then easy to clean up. Thanks such a great idea and linking up to Share With Me #sharewithme
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Always a pleasure to link up! I like thinking of ways to enable them to get messy whilst not stressing about it. I definitely do not want them to become too obsessed with cleanliness. x
What an absolutely brilliant idea! I hate messy play too, but I definitely should try this one out 🙂
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Do try! I am sure the girls would love it.
votre blog est fantastique!
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Merci, c’est adorable!
Great idea! Sounds like your bath might have actually been cleaner by the time they were finished. 🙂
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I think it was! x