In my classroom, I loved doing  crafts with my students (when we had the time!) to hang from the ceiling. The kids looked forward to our monthly projects and were always excited to guess what shape we would be using for that month. Because he has a crafty teacher for a mom, Quinn will be doing lots of art projects…and messy ones, at that! Now 3 months old, he is really starting to grab and hold onto things. He loves bright colors, too!  So I decided it was time to get the paint out and do a little project with him!

The supplies needed for this project are acrylic paints, cardstock, and ziplock bags. I picked out some fall paint colors;  however this can easily be adapted to different holidays and seasons! I put a few squirts of each color onto the paper and then slid it into the ziplock bag.

The first thing I tried with Quinn was having him lay on his boppy pillow and reach down at the paint. But his arms were just a little too short, so I held the paper up to him and he had fun batting at it with his fists.

He loves sitting up now, so we tried the highchair next. We had a spit-up incident (which is why I have a ton of these around the house!) so he ended up shirtless for the rest of the project…because who knows how long the attention of a 3 month old will last…and mommy needed pictures for her blog post! =)

I ended up cutting the paper into fourths and putting them into smaller ziplock bags which allowed him to grasp them better and really squish up the paint.

The end result would be cute mounted on some coordinating paper to hang on the fridge, give to grandma & grandpa, or add to a memory box. Because I love using my cameo, I cut leaves out of the painted parts of the paper and mounted that onto some orange cardstock. I also cut some smaller leaves and machine-sewed them into a chain to hang on our fridge. 

As Quinn gets older, this will be a fun go-to project for holidays and seasons. I can already picture making some painted hearts for valentine’s day. And what grandmas & grandpas don’t love getting artwork from their grandkids!

What is your favorite craft or art project to do with your kids? Do you like messy projects or do you stick with coloring books & stickers?