Under £5
1 hr
Ages 3+
Life-size self-portrait
Lie down on a roll of wallpaper, get someone to draw round you, then colour in a life-size you.
Crafts and slime
Giant wallpaper frieze
Why paint on a small sheet of paper when you can paint something five metres long? Unroll some cheap wallpaper or lining paper, pick a theme and let everyone paint their own bit. Then stick it up along a wall and admire your masterpiece.
Ages3+
Time1 hr
CostUnder £5
MessVery messy
WhereIn or out
What you need
Use washable paint, and keep the floor covered. Wallpaper can be slippery to walk on.
Let's go
Choose a theme together. Space monsters, under the sea, the seaside, a jungle, your street or a dinosaur parade.
Unroll the paper along the floor, plain side up, and tape down the ends so it doesn't curl. Cut it to the length of the wall you want to hang it on.
Paint the big background first across the whole length, like a starry sky, the sea or the grass. Let it dry.
Draw your characters in pencil on top, giving each person their own section, then paint them in.
Add the small details last with felt tips once the paint is dry.
Hang it up with masking tape along a hallway, above the bed or round the kitchen.
Real talk
- Make it a mural. On a dry summer day, ask if you can pin the paper to a wooden fence and paint it standing up, as big as you like.
- Make an alphabet frieze for a younger brother or sister, with a big letter and a picture for each one, A for apple all the way to Z for zebra.
- Add a new bit every weekend over the holidays and see how long it gets.
Made by the Club
My Doodle Adventure
Our own doodle book, made for kids who can't stop drawing. Blank pages for big ideas, grids for careful drawings and lined pages for writing their own stories. Perfect for keeping the creativity going once the paint's packed away.
Ages 3 and up
Check the price on AmazonAffiliate link. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Little artists?
Many galleries run free family art trails and drop-in drawing sessions, especially in the school holidays.
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