Those who have been reading Magical Childhood for a while know that I often recommend sheet painting. It’s even one of the first crafts I put up on the original Magical Childhood site.
We have been using an old white bed sheet for crafts and sheet painting for over a dozen years now.
In the summer time, we hang it on the clothes line and the kids use paint to decorate it.
Sometimes we put it on the ground and they decorate it with their feet.
Sometimes it’s washable paint, sometimes not.
The sheet looks different every year and every project.
In the winter time and on rainy days, the sheet is our art tablecloth. It doesn’t matter how messy or staining an activity is, because if it stains the craft sheet it just adds more character and another memory.
I love my craft sheet and it makes me smile every time I spread it on the table or hang it on the line for another round of staining.
It’s so amazing to look at little one year old Fiona using it now and remembering when her teenage sisters were making those stains.
You can use any old flat bed sheet for an art cloth or pick one up for a dollar or two from a thrift store.
I highly recommend starting your own.
You’ll never find another bunch of stains to make you smile more. 🙂
What a fantastic idea! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
This one’s going on my Pinterest board!! (Speaking of which, are you on Pinterest?)
Yes, I’m on Pinterest far too much. 🙂 Here’s my boards. http://pinterest.com/magicandmayhem/
Oh I love this idea! It’s such a treasure for the family. I need to start one this summer now that I have a teen and a new baby, a craft sheet of our own is sure to make for years of joyful memories for them both.
Reblogged this on Willow and Birch and commented:
There are hundreds of reasons to rear Magical Childhood, this is just one of them.
love it! doing it next week 🙂
What a wonderful idea! I have a question: if you use washable paint, do you have a problem with it bleeding off when it gets wet? What do you think works best?
I find that most “washable” paint still ends up staining when I wash it regularly in hot water, but I like it that way. Some has completely gone away and others have been absolutely permanent. I’ve never had a problem with the cloth bleeding paint when it’s wet with water inside, if that’s what you mean, but I do wash it in hot between each use and I think that sets it or washes it away, one way or another. Acrylic paints are very permanent and bright but they dry harder and I’m not such a fan of that. Those are the little paint bottles that you get for .69 or so at the hobby stores. Tempera works pretty well and sometimes stains and sometimes doesn’t. We’ve also made homemade paint by just mixing up flour or corn starch or whatever with lots of water and food coloring and using it in ketchup bottles and squirting it on or painting it on with a big brush, and also have just done brightly colored water (with food coloring) in squirt guns and spray bottles too. Anything goes! 🙂