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!

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