Flag Art

Y'all, this time of year, I get all twitchy and crazed because it's birthday season for Sarah and her friends, plus July 4th, and I almost always bite off way more than I can chew DIY-wise.  Like, why did I think it was necessary to make an outdoor table, play grills for the kids, a lemonade stand, a Viking ship (plus coordinating hats), and party outfits for both wee ones?  Pinterest. That's why.

Anyway, I haven't completed any of that stuff (yet), but I did get the kids started on some July 4th decor with a little bit of flag painting.  Here's the thing: when they run the show, they mix all of the colors of paint together and come up with a lovely sludge hue, which they glob repeatedly in one corner of the paper until there's a hole in it.

So, in an effort to control guide their creativity, I only gave my little Monets one color at a time.  Also, I prepped their posterboards during nap time by striping the flag with electrical tape (new crafting weapon).  I thought they would go to town on this, but it kind of took the wind out of their sails when they found out that orange and purple were off the table for round 1.

Here's what we started with:

I gave them an example of the American flag.  They weren't impressed. 

Getting started was easy.

Sarah dutifully painted her flag, while Will painted his fingernails.

Will's masterpiece:

I traced his hand in red paint on the bottom right corner. 

Sarah's work:

They didn't really care about putting on all 50 of their star stickers, but then again, I was getting a little bossy.

Sarah was much more interested in painting the flag of Oceana:

What?  You don't know what Oceana is?  Well, it's mermaid Princess Barbie's realm where good Queen Calissa battles her evil sister Eris.  Their colors are sludge and purple, and their symbol is a dolphin.