With the weather getting warmer there has been one activity I have been really keen to have a go at with Monkey – outdoor painting! Obviously with it being outdoors, the idea is that kiddies can be a bit freer to get really messy, but in all honesty I was still a bit worried about the mess! With all of the hard work that has gone into making our garden a much nicer place to be, I wasn’t particularly keen on paint going all over our lovely new patio. Even though the paint is supposedly washable, I was concerned about stains – as I know some of Monkey’s clothes have ended up a little stained from them!
My initial idea was just to use the Tuff Spot outside, on the grass, and to try to keep the paint in there but I still had concerns of painty feet making their way to the patio! I was determined to do it still but was ever so slightly reluctant. Then we got a whole load of cardboard with our new garden furniture and suddenly I had a solution!
Then one sunny day last week, I was supposed to go out with some friends and their kiddies to a water park, but one kiddie had a nasty cold and the other, would you believe, got hand, foot and mouth disease, which is very contagious. Not a good idea for either of them to be running around in a wet play area with loads of other kids! So with suddenly no plans, Monkey dressed in old clothes and a pile of cardboard available I decided to stop being a wuss and give some outdoor painting a go!
So I popped the cardboard onto the grass, initially just to form a bigger protected area for the mess, and my idea was still for the painting to be done on paper in the Tuff Spot. This was how it started, but not how it ended.
Soon enough Monkey discovered he could paint the cardboard, and obviously I had no problem with that at all, in fact I encouraged it quite a bit!
He had so much fun out there, and got completely covered in paint (thank goodness for the old clothes!). He was happy to paint his hands and legs, so I showed him how to paint his feet too so we could do some footprint painting! 🙂
But for the most part I basically just let my little artist have a free reign on the cardboard, to see what he created!
He kept requesting more and more paint and, well, I was only happy to oblige, though it did get a bit slippy and he fell over a couple of times, though that just made him giggle so it was all good 🙂
I had taken a bowl of warm soapy water, fresh clothes and a load of wipes out with me, but looking at him I realised this wasn’t going to be enough for the clean up operation that was going to be required. With a plan forming, I popped inside for less than 1 minute to grab a towel and came out to find Monkey with a paper plate full of paint up to his face. He took it down and his hair, face, nose, lips were covered in red and purple paint! Honestly I was inside less than a minute and he had to do it then! Sadly I didn’t get a photo as my phone wasn’t in my hand and my priority was getting the paint off his lips before he could eat it! Shame though 😉
Anyway back to the clean up plan – as the Tuff Spot had barely been used for actual painting I decided to put it to use as a bit of a bath. I could have taken him inside to the bath, but I can’t really carry him anymore and I did not fancy trying to get him all the way upstairs without paint getting on anything! So I filled the tuffspot with water from the hose and Monkey was straight in there having a splash around while I gave him a bit of a scrub! 🙂
I think that was almost as fun as the painting!!
Why not give it a go?
Such a good idea especially with the cardboard boxes under the tuff spot. I think this would keep z entertained for hours!
It was so much fun and Monkey couldn’t get enough of it so I am sure Z would love it too 🙂 xx
Aww what a lovely idea, looks like lots of fun 🙂 very creative 🙂
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Brilliant post! He obviously had loads of fun doing this activity! I wish my two didn’t have such short attention spans as we did an activity like this last week too but it only lasted about half an hour for us! And they don’t like getting too messy…oops think that might be my fault!!x #creativemondays
Thank you he did love it! i know what you mean about short attention spans, although thankfully as long as I kept him supplied with paint we didn’t do too badly! Not sure what to suggest about not liking the mess though! 🙂 xx
What a wonderful time your little one had. Painting outside is a fantastic idea. No way would you want to do that inside, would you?
haha definitely not! Was a fantastic idea for outdoor play though! 🙂 xx
What a great activity! He looks like he enjoyed it A LOT 🙂
Thank you, he really did love it! 🙂 xx
loving this idea and it looks like Monkey did too!
thanks for linking up with #MagicMoments xx
Thanks Jaime, he really did love it 🙂 xx
Looks like he had so much fun! And I love the idea of a tuff spot bath – I’ll have to remember that next time we do this!
Thanks jocelyn, definitely worth remembering, saves risking paint all through the house and it was so warm the water warmed up really quickly 🙂 xx
I love seeing kids covered in paint!! We’ve done it outside, on the patio a few times. I’m always deluded by the thought that my son will stay on the mat laid out, cue little footprints on the patio. Great idea to use the tuffspot for your clean up operation, two activities in one. #letkidsbekids
Thanks, me too! haha love it, the tuffspot bath really did work well! 🙂 xx
That looks like lots of fun, even though rather messy! I bet he had a fantastic time. I love seeing children get stuck into some creativity 🙂
Thanks for linking #LetKidsBeKids
It was great, very messy but was so lovely seeing him so engrossed in what he was doing, just lovely 🙂 xx
Lots of fun and planty of space to make the mess too. A lovely post with gorgeous photos. Hope it comes to Country Kids too
Thanks lovely, he had so much fun! I have too many posts I could link up to country kids at the moment!! xx
Yep both the painting and the washing is fun! I got my son some colors and I am slowly letting him use it too outside. I was scared to let him use paints as I am scared for our wall but now that the weather is better I let him do some painting outside too =) #LetKidsBeKids
I can totally understand that, paints are a bit scary when it comes to your home and furniture etc, I did like being able to let him loose with it a bit though! 🙂 xx
I think I certainly will give this ago…ahem..mean let my daughters give it a go! I love your idea of using a big piece of cardboard!
Haha I bet you.. I mean they” will love it! It is definitely a great use for a big old piece of cardboard! xx
Cute idea! Looks like your son a wonderful time! #magicmoments
Thank you, he did have such a fab time! xx
He looks like he’s having so much fun and is so engaged! Fantastic and very cute #letkidsbekids
Thanks Ciara, he really did have so much fun! xx
That looks like brilliant fun! Love it 🙂 he is clearly having such a brilliant time! #MagicMoments
Thanks lovely, he did have such a good time! 🙂 xx
That looks like so much fun – Monkey looks like he is loving every minute of it. Great idea to use the Tuff Spot to help with the clean-up operation too! 🙂
It was great, he enjoyed every minute – including the tuff spot bath at the end too! xx
We love to bring our art outdoors as well. We had great fun painting with our hands and feet onto an old sheet then the kids all hopped into the paddling pool to finish cleaning the paint off! It looks like your son had a great time with this which is what arts and crafts should be all about. # letkidsbekids
Aww that sounds like a lot fun too and I am sure an old sheet would work just as well as cardboard. I am 100% with you there, love letting him explore his creativity! xx
He’s having soooo much fun! And excellent way to bath him 😉
haha yep, it was fab! 🙂 xx
That looks like great fun, my two would really love to be let loose like that, they like to paint themselves too. #letkidsbekids
haha well you should definitely try it next time you have some spare packaging! xx
Brilliant idea. I do love the summer for being able to have fun outside without too much worry over mess and cleaning up! We had the water slide out last week-cue chaos but it’s lovely to see and hear the giggles isn’t it. Great idea to use the tuff spot for an impromptu bath too 🙂
Thanks Iona, aww the water slide sounds like great fun! I used to love doing that as a kid!! The giggles are absolutely the best bot about this kind of fun 🙂 xx
Lucas says – Monkey – you are one of the coolest dudes I have ever ‘met’!!!! You are AWESOME!!!!!!!!! This will definitely be one of our Top 5 over the next few weeks. Keep that messy play going dude 🙂
Thanks for linking to #minicreations
haha thanks Lucas! He loooves the messy play 🙂 xx
Oh love him! What gorgeous pics and what a lovely morning. It sounds like he just had the best time. Thanks so much for sharing at the Outdoor Play Party. I love it 🙂
Thanks, it was a really fab morning and a great activity 🙂 xx