Q&A: Toddler Art Exploration And Clean-Up
I’m starting a new Q&A series! I get a lot of questions from readers that I think are universal challenges when it comes to kids and creativity. After sending long e-mail responses to these questions, I realized that I should be posting them here on the blog so that others can benefit as well. So if you have a question, please fee free to send me an e-mail or ask in the comments below and I’ll do my best to post my answers to each of them.
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Reader Question:
“I purchased your New Playroom PDF and love it. Thank you for sharing such great info. My 18 month old is very excited about art. I’m happy to sit alongside her while she explores. However, how do you allow “creativity” without overreaching? I want her to respect the materials in time but feel free to be as creative as she wants (without painting on our walls and without me watching over her every second when she’s creating). Therefore, do you recommend any wall and floor coverings for easy wiping/cleaning so I can let her experiment more without me? Also, she obviously wants to paint herself, her clothes her face and the furniture as well as play with the water for the paint brushes (as an example). Where did you as a mom draw the line? I’m okay with her exploration but don’t want our house covered in all things art :) Lastly, any aprons you love? Again, your help is so much appreciated. I feel I’ve lifted the reigns and opened a world for our kids I never thought I’d be interested in offering.”
My Answer:
Preparing For The Mess
When you’re worried about the mess, it’s important to be prepared with floor/table coverings and aprons. For table and floor coverings, check out these splat mats
My favorite aprons are ones that are wipe-able, washable, adjustable, and not too stiff (so kids can move around freely in them). Unfortunately, the ones I use (see photo above) have been discontinued, but it looks like these ones are just as great. These aprons
In general I would suggest using super washable paints. These are my favorite washable tempera paints
If you want to cover your walls you could try putting up one of the floor coverings mentioned above. Use an adhesive putty
Tips For Cleaning
This sponge
Use trays when working with messy supplies. I always have a few large plastic trays for my kids to use whenever they are finger painting, gluing, or using other messy materials. These trays from Ikea are my favorite, but I also use these colorful trays that come in a pack of 5.
If you want to see our current clean-up process in action, watch our video here.
Allow Messy Exploration
I can’t stress enough how important it is to allow toddlers to explore materials in their own way. As long as they are following your house rules, I suggest allowing plenty of freedom without micro-managing them, even if it makes you uncomfortable. When my girls used to paint their bodies I would have to stay close by and carry them into the bath tub when they were ready to clean up. I have also set up painting projects in the bath or outside so they can get as messy as they want.
Toddlers love exploring with water especially when you include liquid watercolor, food coloring, or other art materials. You can keep water play somewhat contained by using a tray and some little cups for pouring and exploring with water and paint. I use old plastic applesauce cups or old baby food jars (glass), which are a great size for toddlers to mix and stir and pour. This could keep a toddler busy for a while!
When I taught toddler art classes I would have a large bucket of warm soapy water on the floor (with a towel underneath) where they would wash their hands and their art tools at the end of class. I used this 18 gallon bucket with a snap-lock lid and would keep the lid on until they were done with the project on the table. Towards the end of class I would invite them to clean their tools in the warm soapy water. This was often their favorite part of art class!
Re-Directing
Whenever a toddler in my class would try to paint the floor, I would always say, “We don’t paint on the floor, but you can paint on this…” and I would place a large piece of paper right there on the floor so that they could continue to explore painting in the same way. Every time I did this they happily switched to painting the paper instead of the floor.
When re-directing, I try to put myself in the child’s shoes and figure out why they are doing what they are doing and then offer an alternative. When my daughter tried paint her chair, I thought about how different it must feel to her to paint this 3-D wooden object and wondered what I could offer her to paint instead of our furniture. So I dug through our bin of recycled items and found an old wooden sculpture and gave her that to paint instead (but even a cardboard box would work). It offered the same kind of experience as painting the chair so she was happy to make the switch.
Re-directing works well when kids are curiously exploring their materials, but not so much when they are acting out and engaged in a power struggle. In my experience as a teacher and a mom, children are less likely to engage in a power struggle when we put ourselves in their shoes and offer appropriate alternatives in a fun way.
The Balancing Act
Overall, you need to find the balance between being prepared for some mess, gently teaching and modeling how to respect the tools and the house, and re-directing. It might take some exploration on your part to figure out what works for you, but if you are open to it, I know you’ll get there!
Do you have a question about kids and art or creative spaces? Send me a message here or post in the comments below!
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Photography by Sarah Hebenstreit of Modern Kids Co
Love these ideas, as an art teacher who has taught all ages , You are not stifling creative expression by giving boundaries and redirecting. They learn to respect the tools and the space. Sometimes we get paint on ourselves accidentally, but we don’t paint ourselves isn’t going to hurt creative genius.
I find toddlers love to clean up and love that they get to use real tools and learn how to care for them. I cut sponges in 1/2 so they are just there size, and have lots on hand so when one is full another is handed to them.
Yes, agree! It’s up to the teacher or parent about what they feel comfortable with and can set boundaries or redirect based on that. I used to cut sponges too! They loved cleaning the table with them as well.
These are great tips. i just started teaching a toddler art class and I’m getting so much inspiration from your site. Question: what do you use to dilute paint for toddlers? They go through so much in the course of their exploration. I have tried cornstarch – too thick and liquid starch which is too sticky.
Hi Evan,
Toddler art classes are the best! When I was teaching toddler art classes, I didn’t dilute the paint. I just used Colorations brand washable tempera paint from Discount School Supply, which is fairly fluid. I would purchase the huge gallon jugs and they would last a while. When I used liquid watercolors, I would dilute them with water and the colors were still vibrant.