We love to paint, so I am really excited to be part of Emma Owl's Paint-A-Thon, featuring 101 painting ideas for kids! Our project is a really fun one that my preschoolers enjoy, but can easily be done by younger toddlers too. It's no mess, which is awesome, and kids love it because they can shake, wiggle, and make noise too!
Love this idea? Check out how we used it to paint pumpkins for Halloween here!
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Shake It Up: No Mess Painting Activity
Setting up our Shake It Up painting activity is really easy. You'll need:- Clean, empty jar (a peanut butter jar works great!)
- Washable paint (we used neon paint)
- Dried beans (we used black beans)
- White card stock or heavy paper
Start by cutting your card stock to fit into your jar. I used a large peanut butter jar and cut my paper in half to fit perfectly.
Carefully add a couple of drops of paint to the bottom of your jar. I used three colors, and just a small amount of each.
Now for the fun part... Shake It Up! Let your child go nuts shaking, rolling, and moving the jar around. This part is super fun and they love the noise the dried beans make in the jar.
When you're done, carefully remove your painting. Pick off any beans that may be stuck to the paper and allow to dry. That's it! If you use washable paint, you can then easily dump out the beans, rinse, and try again.
You can experiment with different color combinations and make it a great lesson for kids on color mixing too. So fun!
See It in Action!
More No Mess Fun with Shake Painting
We've had so much fun with this project that we've done it a few more times! Check out our No Mess Pumpkin Painting perfect for Halloween, or our Shake It Up Hearts for Valentines's Day!
