Here’s a recipe for plaster fun for a range of ages

My 4 year old had been begging me to do some plaster fun painting.

I’d promised we would do it one afternoon when his little brother was asleep. But it didn’t work out, chores and visits to nana’s prevailed and the opportunity didn’t come up during the week. So I thought ok,  let’s brave it. We’ll involve the little guy too, invite the cousins over and have a morning of plaster art.

Ingredients:

1 x one year old
One x two year old
1 x four year old
One x eleven year old
A mix of plaster pieces
Paint
Paintbrushes
Old towels
Table

Method:
This was created on a hot and lazy Saturday morning

• Lay out the plaster pieces for the kids to choose
• Set up a table for the kids and cover with old towels
• Ask Miss 11 to set up & mix paints, creating some new colours
• Round up Mr 1, Mr 2 and Mr 4 and let them choose a plaster piece to start off their plaster fun

Results:

Everyone sat down with a huge smile on their face.  My 1 year old nephew picked up a brush and started to paint his piece of plaster. I’m thinking yessss, he wants to actually paint the plaster mould!  Then, when he thought we weren’t looking he sneakily put the paintbrush in his mouth and had a lick, painting his mouth green and eating a little in the process. We tried to direct him back to painting but he had decided that painting his lips to look like the Incredible Hulk was MUCH more fun.

Eating a little green paint never hurt anyone, did it?

My 2 year old couldn’t get enough. He was painting in a hurry though – and couldn’t wait to get on to the next piece. A bit of colour here, a splash of colour there, then running back to the fresh plaster pieces and choosing another piece to half-paint. Oh well, we’ll just re-paint those ones next time buddy.

My 4 year old is in heaven. He’s totally immersed in his painting. He has that ‘flow’ thing going on, where it’s just him and the paints and the plaster, and nothing else in his little world right now. He got super excited showing me each piece as he was done.

Same for my niece, 11 years. She was concentrating hard and wanted to produce perfectly painted pieces. She was really enjoying it too – except for when my 2 year old decided to paint a sneaky line on her beautiful star trinket.. oops.. Cheeky!

Although the little ones aren’t going to paint their pieces properly, it’s still a really enjoyable experience for them. You do have to supervise more but it’s nice for them to be a part of it.

We put the pieces on the grass to dry. They were soooo proud of their little creations.

Let’s play ‘spot the half-painted pieces’!

It was a really hot day, so I filled up some big plastic toy containers with water when the painting was done, and they hopped in those to cool off and wash off the paint.

Plaster Fun Recommendation

So.. would I do it with the under 3’s again? Yes. I would. They really loved it, and for the cost of a couple of pieces of plaster it was totally worth the look of joy on their faces. If you are after properly painted pieces of plaster then maybe it’s not the best idea. But if you want to make plaster painting a bit of fun for everyone, then definitely give it a go.