Keeping it neat & purdy...

A painting tip. This is probably best for one or two children or maybe the kidlet who prefers to stay free of paint and goo.

When I ran a storytime and art program for kids I would sometimes have more than fifty kidlets all clamoring for their supplies. This all taking place in a retail atmosphere I would need to plan it for lickety split clean up and so we used broken down boxes for "tables" and nut cups, dixie cups or cupcake liners for paint and glue. You know the story "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" Well, that is what I have found with the kidlets. Give them the glue bottle and they use ALL of it. Give them a little cup o' glue and they use all of it and are quite happy with the smaller amount. We also used popsicle sticks and coffee stirrers to spread the glue. Some would use their fingers which was cool also. When your kidlets are young and you need to stay on a budget, dishing out the amount of paint they use will not deter them from their creativity as long as they know they can ask for more. Putting just a little in nifty printed liners makes for such an inviting atmosphere what kidlet (and grownup) wouldn't want to paint?