Aidan is two and a half which is roughly the same amount of time he has been involved in arts and crafts.
He honestly loves creating and when he saw the Santa Sack I made him (I also happen to be selling these through Oh!Boy) he immediately asked if Santa could fill it with crayons and glue – That is how into arty things he is (for now)… So I thought I would share some of the “hacks” I use to keep the mess and cost down when crafting, because the holidays are coming up and the “how do I keep my kid busy” question is about to rear it’s ugly head 🙂

1. Chalk board paper…

This is extremely quick and easy, basically a roll of contact paper which can turn any surface into a chalk board (Sidebar: every surface in my studio/office is already a chalkboard to keep Aidan busy when I work) You can stick a piece of this down anywhere which is pretty great for play dates and it comes off really easy also it’s around R30 a roll at places like Makro and Game

2.  Ice-cube tray painting…

Aidan loves to paint but I am not nearly ready to let him run wild with the paint so I fill these with different colours and it keeps the mess down (you know as down as it can be when a two year old paints)

3. Get a smock…

If you don’t have a fun little apron like the ones I’m selling at Oh!Boy (shameless self promotion) why not make one from a t-shirt like I showed you here…




Make this 5-minute smock

Or buy this

4. Craft on the go

Why not convert a old DVD case into a travelling art station you can use with dry erase crayons and as a play dough mat – I showed you how to do it HERE

5.  Foam stickers FTW!

Aidan loves stickers but the paper ones end up with me having to loosen them for him (Ain’t nobody got time for that) So the foam ones are great and are rather inexpensive. Under R10 a pack.
And bonus, if you stick them on a hard surface like a big lego it becomes a paint stamp which you can just dismantle when you are done