NON-MESSY+Art+Projects

materials: egg cartons tempera paint lots of q-tips 8x10 paper Cut the egg cartons in half so you have six cells (3x3). Not the long way or they won't stand up! Fill each cell with a bright color of tempera. Supply lots of q-tips, encourage the child to use both ends to limit the waste. When you're done the clean up is easy. Just toss it all.
 * __Q-tip painting__**

materials: an electric hors d'oeurve warming tray* peeled crayons a few craft sticks paper cut into shapes (I've used: fruit shapes, fall leaves, hearts, stars, fish, cats, Pokemon characters,bookmark strips,butterflies,..on and on) Cover the hot ray with foil. The paper shape is placed on the foil and the crayons are drawn and melted on the shape. The craft stick is to hold the paper so the kids won't use their fingers. Ouch! It doesn't get hot enough to cause a serious burn but kids will only touch it once! :) The kids LOVE this activity. I always have a hot tray set up in a corner of the studio. And it always has kids around it.
 * __Hot Tray Art__**


 * These are a dime a dozen at yard sales. Ask your parents if anyone has one in their garage. You'll get a few!

materials: a set of GOOD colored pencils (I use prismacolor with my kids) black matte board cut into smallish pieces (4-6") an assortment of fruit, or one apple, or one beautiful pear, or different colored peppers... (keep the subject simple) The child carefully draws the outline of the subject and slowly fills in the color and shading with colored pencils. Kids don't need too much instruction with this. Except: "go slowly, take your time, try laying on different colors.." These are beautiful!
 * __colored pencil still life__**

materials: a nice set of oil pastels (peeled) fresh leaves in different shapes soft paper Tape the leaves to the table with a loop of tape under them. This is more important for the younger child who can't hold it in place and rub at the same time. Hold the paper over the leaf and rub with the side of the pastel. Keep changing leaf shapes and colors until the page is covered. This project is much nicer with oil pastels than with crayons.
 * __Oil Pastel Rubbings__**

paper scraps and glue sticks cake watercolor sets colored pencils oil pastels crayons tracing paper and pencils carbon paper with paper and pencils dyed macaroni necklaces chalk and small chalkboards wipe-off boards and (non-toxic) wipe-off pens rubber stamps felt pens body tracing play dough bracelets made with beads strung on telephone wire ||
 * other simple ideas for non-messy art