Have your kids tried window paints? As the weather turns colder, and night comes sooner, we look for more inside activities this time of year. Most kids love to decorate their own windows.
To start, you will need peel-able window paints, a plastic bag or sheet protector, and a design. To make it easier on yourself, you can purchase a kit like Klutz’s Window Art or Wild and Wonderful Window Art. We have the Klutz set, and it has marvelous designs like dolphins, all sorts of dogs and cats, spaceships, butterflies, flowers, circus animals, and insects. A few are very complicated. They even explain how to use the black outliner to make your window look broken as if your spaceship crashed through it.
Put your design under the plastic. Coloring books work well for this, too. You want a simple design without excessive detail. Thin designs like insect antennas or vines will be more fragile than say a car, or an ice cream sundae. Squeeze black outlining paint onto the lines. Let it dry for a little while, then fill in the lines by squeezing the color paints. Let the whole design for about 24 hours, and carefully pull off. You can put your design on anything glass like windows, mirrors, picture frames, or canisters.
My nine year old twins have a hard time squeezing the black outline paint in a thin line. I either help them, or they just skip that step. Their projects are still impressive without the outlines.
The designs peel off glass, too. So you can reposition them, or trade them out for different holidays. They do get very brittle in cold weather. I’ve had to chip off some with a window scraper.
What I think is so great about this project is how versatile it is. You can pick the colors for your project, and even mix colors. You can write your name on your art, you can combine designs, or make your own original creation. We’ve really enjoyed our decorated windows.
Also See:
Pointillism Art Project (with a little history thrown in)