Painting with toddlers

I think it's common for parents of young kids to shy away from letting their kids have open exploration of art materials.  It's messy, potentially very messy, and potentially covering your walls messy if you really let it go (as seen to the left).  But the joy of watching a young child freely explore and a little prep before hand makes everything worth it.

My amazing friend Heather Chelmecki smartly set up an art play date over the winter break.  We had kids between the ages of 1-4 collaborating together, creating expressive artworks.  Heather set up a tarp on the floor, tipped a folded table on its end with taped blank paper, and supplied non-toxic, washable paint, and followed all that fun up with complementary tub time.  Everyone had a blast creating as seen below!  

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