Painting the Bathroom Mirror

Other posts in this series include:

Golden Glitter Slime (and Dragons)

Pretend Baking:  Painting a 3D Cake

Baby/Toddler Colored Rice Art

10+ Ways to Use Fingerpaint

Make Your Own Puffy Paint Shirt
Starter Art Kit from Discount School Supply

When I first saw Growing a Jeweled Rose's post Paint the Sky, I thought mirror painting would be fun to try someday.  Then my friend Stephanie at Twodaloo recently posted her beautiful photos of the giant mirror her twins painted in her Fingerpaint and Mirrors post and we just had to try it, too!  But where to find a mirror?  We didn't have one and I didn't want to buy one just to paint it and have to deal with the hassle of storing it somewhere.  Then it dawned on me - our bathroom has a giant mirror!  I picked a time where I could devote my entire attention to watching S and staying within arms reach of her - and we painted our bathroom mirror!  

Please use close (within arms reach) adult supervision for a child of any age during this activity!

S was SO delighted to be able to hop up on the counter and paint away.  I think at first she thought I might be a little crazy - but then she really got into it.  

To ensure that our bathroom tile countertop stayed paint-free, I used a bed sheet and applied a strip of packing tape between the bottom of the mirror and the sheet to make a paint-proof barrier.  We used our newest favorite paints, Discount School Supply's Simply Washable Tempera (we bought these ourselves) because they are just as beautiful as they are washable.  We didn't have enough in the budget to buy all the colors, so we'd picked just three - magenta, apple green, and turquoise - and I put them in our Dollar Tree muffin tin and gave S a large handled paintbrushto set to work. True to our previous experiences with Discount School Supply's Colorations brand paints - these were the most beautiful, vibrant, and washable paints!  Please keep in mind that S is OBSESSED with mixing paints, so the odd colors you see as time progresses are her own creations made by mixing the bright and cheerful original pink, green, and blue together.  :)

At first, she was just interested in painting over her face and peeking around the paint.  But then she started telling and painting a story!  It was stormy out, and there was a giant purple storm cloud.  Then it started to rain!

Here she is caught in the rain!  Eek!  She's getting wet!  She painted a house for herself to the left there and she'd periodically duck in to dry off, then pop back out in the rain like a true Seattleite.

Then the story took a bit of a strange turn (as a 3.5 year old's stories so often do) and a jellyfish appeared.  In the sky, apparently.

The jellyfish was mean and looking for fish to sting!

Aw, look at that cute happy little fish!  Who would want to sting such a happy guy?

And after the jellyfish and the fish worked out their problems, S went back to telling stories about getting rained on and taking shelter in her house again.  :)

When S was done, we each took a damp paper towel and wiped down the mirror.  After that, I took one final damp paper towel and one Windex wipeand the mirror was as good as new.  We popped the sheet in the wash, bringing the total amount of time for cleaning up to about 3 minutes.  Surprisingly quick and easy!

Have you read about our other unusual painting adventure?

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Please always supervise your infant/child at play.  Please stay within arms reach and never leave infants/children unattended.