Like I said yesterday Lil’s cousins Brock and Bryce were over a few days ago.  After they finished their Popsicles they wanted to make a tent out of the sheet they had been using to sit on while eating their snacks.  While Rita (My Mother in Law) was making the tent I grabbed 3 paint brushes that I wouldn’t mind if the bristles got ruined, some sidewalk chalk and two bowls of water.  I put the bowls down on the patio and laid the brushes in the bowls. I explained to the kids that they were painting water and told them to have fun. They all loved the idea of painting and started making designs on the patio.  Once Rita was done with the tent they even started painting the tent sheet.  Brock (almost 4) was happily painting away, but kept saying to me “why are we using water? My Mom has paint for us to paint with”. I laughed and said that I have paint too, but today we were doing something different. He probably brought it up 4 or 5 times. I thought it was hilarious that he was totally having fun with the water, but wanted to know where the paint really was. I had a couple of opportunities to point out that if we had been using real paint we couldn’t do this or that and he still wanted to know where the paint was.

I highly recommend this activity.  It kept the three of them busy for 30 or more minutes and I only had to break up a few squabbles.

After a while Lily decided to try the broom as a painting tool.

She seemed satisfied with the broom, but I think my bowls were just way too small.

Of course in the end everyone ended up inside the tent. And no one ever touched the sidewalk chalk.

I’d say this gets a 10 out of 10 crayons. It’s easy, cheap, has a very low mess factor, and everyone loved it.