Fun ideas for Children's Art Week

It's Children's Art Week, which gives us a great excuse to keep little ones busy with some crafts! There's 3 themes over the next few weeks to get involved in...

Week 1 (from 29 June): The Natural World
Week 2 (from 6 July): Connecting across generations
Week 3 (from 13 July): Literacy and creative writing

So to kick off The Natural World, here's some ideas from us:

1. Baby safe paint

If you're worried about baby putting paint in their mouths, make your own with these quick recipes:

Flour

• Mix one cup of flour (any will do) with one cup of warm water
• Divide the mixture into a few pots or bowls
• Add a couple of drops of food colouring to each one and mix

Fruit

• Simply blend an array of different coloured fruit. Try banana for yellow, blueberry for blue, kiwi for green and watermelon for red
• Add a drop of food colouring if you want a more vibrant colour

Both of these will be messy so you might want to put a splash mat down or do it outside. Also try sitting baby in their highchair while they paint.

2. Flower power

Any chance the kids are eating a lot of ice lollies at the mo? Yup, here too. Save the sticks, let the kids paint them green and leave to dry. Meanwhile, make a flower head on some card (they could paint, draw and colour, cut and stick shapes). Cut out the flower head and glue it to your ice lolly stick with pva glue to make the stem. Once dry, stick it into a small ball of playdough, grab a little pot (yoghurt pots work well) and a small amount of compost and 'plant' your flowers (covering the playdough). Now that's the kind of easy gardening we like!

3. Painting with fruit and veg

Apples and potatoes cut in half make fun paint brushes for little hands! The shape is great for creating:

• Flower petals
• The hungry caterpillar: one red stamp for the head and five green for the long body
• The bushy leaves of a tree
• The wings of a butterfly
• A beach scene, with stamps of yellow sand at the bottom and blue for the sea

4. Colour in our free templates

Our super cute characters who star on our eco nappies and biodegradable baby wipes make great colour in sheets. Simply download for free and print:

Mum & You colouring in sheets

We'd love to see your creations on Instagram.  Just use the hashtags #GetKidsCreating and #ChildrensArtWeek