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Materials needed for this project include: A Gallon bucket, four small sponges, two large sponges, a roll of paper towels, one gallon white flat latex interior wall paint, two plastic quart containers, two ounces each of red, yellow and blue acrylic craft paint, one sheet of poster paper, scissors, four new pencils, one paint roller tray, a four foot step ladder, a plastic drop cloth, a bag of party balloons and the wonderful talent of your child.
It is a good idea to have music appropriate to the age of the child playing as you start to work. It will help hold the attention of the children as you complete the wall.
On the wall in your child's room, remove all previous work. Clean off any little hand prints, and if he or she got ahead of us and has already decorated portions of the wall, clean off that also. Admire it before you remove it. Let them know that you appreciate their talent and understand their need to express themselves. Let them know also that since this is their room, you are there only to help. Remember, marking on the wall can be a good thing when you are there to supervise.
Set the work area up before you invite the children to begin the painting. Fill the bucket half way with clean water. Put the plastic covering on the carpet and furniture near the wall. Set the bucket next to the wall and lay the sponges out on the drop cloth in a row.
Together with your child, choose a favorite drawing that they have made for you. It can be one from the refrigerator or even one that they made in school. Now that you have the drawing in hand, choose an item from that drawing to be the "Focus" of the project.
It may be butterflies or cars or even trees. You will see from looking at your child's work that they have a favorite subject. This will be the focus. The type of faux paint you will do together will be based on this focus.
To determine which style is right for your child's room, look at the focus subject. If the focus is a subject in nature you will create background that represents an environment for the subject. A butterfly would be happiest in the sky, so, too, would an airplane. A doll would like lace or satin, and a truck would like sand.
This project will be one of three styles of faux paint.
#1. Soft Sky: butterflies, rainbows, airplanes, birds, and sunshine
You will mix the paint in the quart containers.
For the "Soft Sky" effect, mix two parts flat white latex paint to one part water. Add to this a few drops of the artist's acrylic craft paint for a color tint. This is very thin coloring. Pour a cup of the liquid into the paint roller tray. Tear off all the edges of the large sponge and throw away the scraps. Blot the sponge onto the paint in the tray. Squeeze the excess paint back into the tray. Have your child climb up onto the ladder and while you hold onto the ladder, your child will blot the wall with the sponge. Several patches of these blots and then it is your turn. You do the top of the wall by blotting the thin paint on and overlapping as you go. You do the edges of the wall with the other large sponge while your child works on the middle. (note: your child only uses the ladder while you are holding it).
Let the wall develop it's own personality. There is no right or wrong way to create a blotted "Soft Sky". It is your job to blot all runs and drips as they happen. Do encourage the children to cover large parts of the wall themselves. Use the small sponges to blend in any areas where the pattern needs it.
#2. Satin and lace: flowers, dolls, and clothes
For the satin and lace wall, you will have the children blow up several of the balloons. Mix three cups white latex paint with one half cup of water. Add one teaspoon of the red, three of the yellow and only a half teaspoon of the blue craft paint to the mix. This is mix "A"(the background tint). Next in the other quart container mix two cups of the white latex paint with a half cup of mix "A". This will be the highlight and lace color.
Starting around the edges and corners, blot the paint from mix "A", all over the wall with the sponge. Have the child hold the balloon while you blot the paint onto the wall. As you apply paint, the child pushes the balloon onto the wet paint. This will give the wall a satin fabric look. As you get closer to the center of the wall, trade jobs. Your job is to blot all runs and drips as they happen. The balloon pushing is fun. When this is dry, you will start the lace effect. Using mix "B" and the other large sponge make a row of sponge prints on the wall. This mix is brighter than the first and thicker. Make sure to blot and not rub. The pattern of holes in the sponge create the lace effect. You can have the rows as borders or stripes. Now let this layer dry. Next using the plain white latex paint and the eraser of the pencils, dot on white flowers.Five dots touching equal one flower. Many dots with spaces between look like tiny flowers on the lace stripes.
#3. Sand: trucks, cars, machines or houses
Sand painting is easiest. Mix white latex with a few drops of the artists acrylic craft paint until you have a color you like. This will be your mix "A". Now mix some of the white latex with a different color tint for contrast,(this will be mix "B"). Using the large sponges, both you and your child start blotting the wall with the paint. One should use mix "A", and the other uses mix "B". work a while and trade paint. Your job is to blot all runs and drips as they happen. It is ok to overlap the blots.
To complete the paint job and add some art to the walls, you can use the poster paper to cut a stencil of your childs art. Using the small sponges allow the child to blot color onto the wall using the stencil.
Having their own drawing made into a stencil by you makes this a joint project. I think you should choose the areas for the stencils. Near the light switches served a double purpose. It looks good and it clearly marks the switches.
Have fun and enjoy your wall for many years.
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