5 Ways To Ease The Art Mess

by Nikki Nixon

Yes, I am a messaphobic!  The thought of having to clean up messes scares me.  I seem to be cleaning messes all day long with 5 active children in the house. 



Do you do art? - Part 1 of 6 - The Mess! - This is the first of a series of interviews with real home school moms on how they integrate art into their week. How do you deal with the mess?

Proverbs 14:4 says, "Where no oxen are, the trough is clean; But much increase comes by the strength of an ox."   This nugget of wisdom is useful in so many situations.

I like to say, "Where no art projects are, the house is clean; But much increase comes from allowing the children to be creative!"

Here's five ways I've found to lessen the mess so we can all enjoy being creative.

1. Set the expectations.

- Teach the children how to set up and take down for each lesson. 

2. Understand how to care for the supplies.
-  Watch the Understanding Your Supplies videos on FineArtExperience.com.

3. Keep things organized.

-  Store supplies in buckets on bookshelves.

4. Make clean up easy.

-  Cover workspace with a shower liner.  When the lesson is done, fold it up and put it in the bucket.
-  Have the children wear paint shirts.  Store the shirts in the bucket.

5. Put it on the calendar.

-  Do art once a week.  Decide the day and time and stick to it. When the children want to do art at other times, remind them that art will be done at the scheduled time.

For more ideas and pictures join the FREE Fine Art Experience Community at FineArtExperience.ning.com