Keeping Clean With Art

Early Childhood News

By Nancy P. Alexander

Teachers often avoid messy art projects because they are concerned about the time it takes to clean up. However, there are many ways teachers can prevent problems and make clean-up a breeze. No one should omit art because it might make a mess.

Be Prepared: Plan Ahead for Spills and Mishaps

Set up your activities to prevent messes and facilitate clean-up. Plastic table cloths, shower curtains or old bleach towels are great floor coverings underneath easels. Inexpensive drop cloths work well also and can be cut to the size you need. Drop cloths can be purchased at your local building supply store in the paint department. Even newspapers or large sheets of paper will work, but paint will sometimes seep through onto the floor. Use masking tape to hold your floor protection in place and prevent slips.

Smocks to protect clothing can be purchased inexpensively. Be sure that the smocks are easy for the children to get on and off with little help. Men’s old shirts, especially short-sleeved shirts, worn backwards also work. Short-sleeved shirts are better because they do not get in the child’s way. If you provide clothespins, children can help one another fasten their shirts in the back. There should be enough shirts or smocks available so that clean ones can be given to the children as needed. Make sure you keep smocks and shirts handy and close to the easel and/or art table. If they are not convenient, children are less likely to remember to use them.

Keep several old towels, a supply of rags, and large sponges in each classroom for wiping up paint and other spills. Small towels work best, since large ones are difficult for children to handle. Cut large ones in half to make them a more convenient size. Terry cloth or other absorbent fabrics and sponges work best for cleaning up spilled paint.

Limit the Risks

To eliminate (or at least significantly reduce) messes when using tempera paint, put only a small amount of paint in a container for the children to use at one time. Then, if there is a spill, it will be a minor one. Wide, low containers are less likely to be knocked over than tall containers. Refill the containers as often as needed. If you use powdered tempera, mix the paint in a large quantity and store in a milk jug.

When a child does get paint on his or her clothing, be sure to tell parents. Remind them to pretreat the spot and wash it right away. Tempera paint is usually washable, but if it is not treated and washed properly, it can become a permanent stain.

In addition, let parents know that they should not dress children in their best clothing. Art and other potentially messy projects are an integral part of every program. Be sure that they understand that while you try to control messes, some spills will occur, and children will get their clothing dirty occasionally.

Try Taking It Outside

Art can be a lot of fun outdoors. Make easels a regular part of the outdoor equipment by taking them outside. Some easels even attach to fences. By painting outside you do need not to worry about spills. Fingerpainting, too, is a great outdoor activity. If you move your table outside, just wash it down with a hose when children finish for the day.

Innovative Solutions

Old telephone books are great for preventing messes while gluing or pasting. When you remove the telephone book’s front cover, you have an absorbent pad of paper that is easy to work on and protects tables when using glue or paste. After the children finish gluing, just tear off the messy top page and throw it away. The pad is free and will last a long time. If it is too large to handle easily, you can divide it into sections and make several pads.

Single sheets of newspaper can be separated, folded once, and stacked. Children or teachers can then easily pick up a single sheet to put under messy work. Separated, folded, and stacked sheets are more manageable and look neater than piles of old newspapers. Preparing the newspaper for the children to handle will eliminate getting newspaper scattered around the area when children try to get just one sheet.

Fingerpainting with shaving cream is a good activity that is easy to clean up. It has the added advantage of cleaning your tables and adding a nice smell to the room. Try it at the end of the day. When parents come to pick up their child, they will notice the nice, clean smell.

Use trays for activities such as playdough. The trays make it easy to keep the materials together and to contain the mess where it is easy to clean up. Trays are also handy for numerous other messy projects such as collage.

Displaying Children’s Art

We readily recognize the importance of showing our respect for children’s creative efforts. Exhibiting the work for a few days in the classroom is one way to demonstrate our appreciation. Displaying quantities of children’s art, however, can be a challenge to a teacher’s ingenuity. Numerous works of creativity can easily become visual clutter. Here are some tips to display art attractively:

  • Clothes Line. Hang a clothes line across the wall. Then use clothespins to hang children’s art work. As an added advantage, preschoolers can hang completed projects themselves.
  • Bulletin Boards. Group smaller projects together on a single bulletin board. This gives a neater appearance than many individual pieces on the wall.
  • Frames. Purchase large frames to display children’s art. You show your appreciation for their efforts when you give it that extra attention of a real frame. You can also cut poster board or construction paper frames.
  • Hide the Tape. Roll masking tape with the sticky side out and put it on the back of the art when you hang it on the wall. Then the tape does not show and detract from the art. While it may take a few seconds longer, the effect is much more attractive.

The Benefits of Messy Art

Busy children are happy children. Art is fun, and will keep children actively involved for long periods of time when the choice of what to do and how to do it is theirs. The time spent by the teacher in preparing ahead and in valuing children’s creative efforts is time well spent—time invested in good experiences and learning.

Nov/Dec 1998