Blogger / 19 July, 2020 / Nanny Anita

Have Fun Painting with Balloons (WARNING: This craft is messy!)

Have you ever watched The Princess Diaries (the books are better)? There is a scene in the first movie were Mia and her mother are creating a work of art using balloons and darts, and every time I watch it I always think how cool would it be to do some balloon painting. Well, fast-forward to now and EC did an art project at his school that was being showcased at Harrods and then auctioned off for charity. Seeing it reminded me of The Princess Diaries painting scene so I told EC and YC all about this cool idea and they have been begging me to do it with them.

Make sure you follow my painting board on Pinterest for more ideas.  Don’t forget to save the pin for later.

I won’t lie, this project takes a lot of time to set up and is just as messy to set up as it is to do the actual craft, but it is SO much fun to do for the whole family.

You will need:

• Water balloons (and lots of them)
• Paint
• Bottles (with a sports cap) or condiment container
• Water
• Loom bands (optional)
• A big piece of paper
• Skewers
• String
• Tape
• Duck tape

First thing first the set up; make sure that you do this in a place that is easy to clean up and in clothes you don’t mind getting paint on, because this set up is really messy and I ended up with paint everywhere.

The end result of setting up; which is a work of art in itself.

Fill your bottle half way up with paint, then fill it to the top with water; close the lid and shake well to mix it.

Attach the balloon to the end of the sports lid so that you can easily fill the balloon with the paint mix. Don’t over fill the balloon or it will burst. If you are rubbish (like me) at tying off the end of balloons, then use a loom band to do it. I only managed to do one balloon before I resorted to the loom bands. Do be careful to hold the top of the balloon securely shut as you tie it or you’ll end up with a face full of paint (like I did)!

I only had 30 balloons, which took about 45 minutes to fill up and then clear up all the mess. Just so you know 30 balloons is not enough, you’ll want lots more.

Luck seemed to be against us when we did it as it started pouring with the rain the moment I stepped outside to set up the paper. Thankfully we had a covered area outside that we could use without getting too wet.

I used the string to hang up some of the balloons so that the paint would drip down.

When EC and YC came out to have a go we tried using stones to break the balloons, but they proved very difficult to hit (that and I have really poor aim), so we changed and went with bamboo skewers to poke them (not throw at them) with. We also tried to throw the balloons at the paper, but they literally just bounced right off the paper! I don’t think I have ever known water balloons to do that! Once they had finished popping the balloons hanging up we pulled the paper of the wall and lay it on the ground. EC and YC then used their hands to pop the balloons or the skewers.

When we started YC was a bit concerned about getting her hands covered in paint, but by the end of it she, and her brother, were covered head to toe in paint. Thankfully we had put waterproof trousers, jackets and welly boots on.

I think all of us really enjoyed making our work of art, and we have added it to our list of activities to do this summer when we have friends over.

Our finished work of art..

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