Mess-Free Marble Painting for Babies

Mess Free Painting for Babies | Mama Papa Bubba

Welp, it’s been exactly one week since my surgery and I’m officially ready to be done with resting and being low key…  Sadly though, my body’s not feeling the same way. :/  While I think I honestly thought I’d just hop up off the surgery table with my three little incisions and be on my merry way, this whole having my appendix removed thing has slowed me down more than expected.  What I really wanted to do today was to pop Sam into the stroller and go for a long walk in the sun, but with our neighbourhood still being incredibly icy and snowy, I decided not to chance it just yet.  For today, my little man and I settled on some indoor fun that was sure not to cause a fall or popped switches – mess-free marble painting.

Last time we painted, Sam was 8 months old (5 months corrected) and we were really working on strengthening his neck muscles, so we went for a mess-free painting technique that was done in a tummy time position.  At 14.5 months / 11.5 months corrected, however, he’s a lot stronger and loves nothing more than to boom, bang, throw, and make noise, so we decided to go for some mess-free marble painting instead.  Remember putting a piece of paper in a box lid and then adding some paint and a marble or two before tilting and shaking the lid as a kid?  Well, this is exactly that, but with a lid on top, which makes it virtually mess-free and perfect for babies.

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Here’s what we used to create Sam’s gorgeous little masterpieces…  Containers with locking lids, card stock to fit inside the containers, paint, and marbles.

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Here’s what I had all prepped and ready to go when I invited my little mister over to paint…  A piece of card stock taped into the bottom of the container, a few little dollops of paint on the paper, and the lid and marbles all ready to go.

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Once he came over, I showed him the marbles and explained that we were going to put them into the container.  Now I will say this – while I thought this might help to capture his attention and get him interested in the activity (the boy LOVES balls), it really just made him angry.  Why?  Because he wanted the marbles and he wanted the marbles to be in his mouth.  {Oy.}  I don’t know if it would have made a difference if I had presented him with the container already fully prepared (marbles in, lid on), but it might have, so I’ll be sure to try that next time.

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Either way, with a little bit of encouragement, he did eventually get into it.

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And then the shaking {and throwing} began!

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Shake, shake, shake!!

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When he stopped shaking and began investigating the artwork inside the container, I took it as a sign that his masterpiece was done. :)

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Here it is!

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While he was still into it, I gave him the second {bigger} container, which he thoroughly enjoyed flipping and holding up high above his head.

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All done!

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Here’s what the inside of the big container looked like…

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And these are the two finished paintings!  I know it’s just marble painting, but there’s something so cute about artwork that a baby has actually created himself, isn’t there?

 

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5 thoughts on “Mess-Free Marble Painting for Babies

  1. Thank you for this very cool idea! My kids love to paint, and I’m still working on being brave about paint in their hands ;-) We had a half an hour today for an activity, and I’d read this post in the morning– and it was the perfect thing! I had everything on hand, and my kids had a wonderful time making their “marble paintings.”
    As I look at them stuck to our refrigerator on display, they make me think of bubble chamber images! Next time, I might show my kids some of the actual scientific images and ask them to see if they can figure out how to emulate them more closely.
    Thank you again. This mess-phobic mama is delighted with this no-mess-but-painty project!

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