When I was a young girl, one of my favorite movies was The Princess Diaries. I am not an artistic person, but there was one scene that I always wanted to try but never got around to. You know which one I'm talking about??? The one where the girl and her Mom are wearing ponchos and throwing darts at paint-filled balloons to create art! The Mom and girl were just laughing and having so much fun, and it was a moment that resonated with me. 

Even though I am not an artist, I always wanted to bring that type of joy with art. Seriously....my stick figures are curvy... but I digress. I thought about trying that with my daughter, but as it played out in my head, I realised that darts in the hands of a 3-year-old would be dangerous. However, I knew I still wanted to do a hands-on art project with her, so I went to the internet and began to look for alternatives. I found a winner!! It was inexpensive and can be used over and over again!! 

I took a waterproof shower curtain and hung it on the monkey bars of our playset. I then took the washable paints and put three colors per paper plate. I then stood back and watched the magic happen.... well I tried. The magic needed a little push. The daughter looked at the paints and then at me like, "Mom, what am I supposed to do with that?". So I modeled for her to dip her fingers in paint and then put the paint on the shower curtain. 

Once she understood what she was supposed to do, the imagination and pure feralness took over. She looked at me, smiled, began to giggle, and mixed all of the paints together. She then lathered her fingers in the paint and smeared it all over the shower curtain. My daughter is a lot like me in that she doesn't really like to do "art," but let me tell you, it was a wonderful thing to behold, watching my child take such joy in doing art.  

Once we used all of the paint that was on the plates, we moved on, but this is definitely something we plan on doing once a week. The best part is, we can! Because of the nature of the shower curtain being waterproof and the paints being waterproof, the shower curtain cleaned right off and is ready for the next use!

1. Wash the shower curtain sooner rather than later. I let it bake in the sun all day, and it needed so scrubbing with a wet paper towel in some spots.

2. Decide on the outfit! Since you are using waterproof paint, it will come out of clothing, but consider what type of clothes your kiddo will wear for this activity!

3. Make sure the pets are put away. As you can see from the pictures, our loyal guard fluff, aka the cat, began this journey in a supervisory role, but towards the end became very interested in the paint, and I had to continuously shoo him away from the paint.

4. Have wipes, wet paper towels, or a garden hose on standby to clean up your kiddos! I did not think that one through and ended up with paint handprints on my back door. Again, thank goodness for washable paint!

I hope you and your kiddos have fun with this! Remember to be in the moment and join in! Let your inner child free!