Containing the Mess

So after unpacking my tempura paint for the no mess finger paint bag,
I thought J should have a chance to paint with real paints other than watercolors. I normally love watercolors for her because it's so easy to clean up but I ended up having some stuff handy to prevent a big mess. I used and old plastic plate with sections on it (the kind for picky eaters so the food doesn't touch) and this plastic lid that went with a disposable lasagna dish we received from one of the many kind people who brought us meals after the birth of our new little guy. I put a small cup of water in one section of the plate, then paint in the others and put her paper inside the plastic lid. It worked out great...no mess at all. I got to work in some bonus learning time too because I only gave her the primary colors, plus white and black...so when she started asking for other colors like green, orange and pink, I got to show her how red and white make pink, yellow and blue make green, etc. So we were both happy, she got to expand her knowledge of art mediums and I didn't have a big mess to clean up and I got to recycle the crappy old plastic plate I just knew I'd find a use for as well as the plastic lid since we couldn't save the foil bottom part that had ripped.