Get ready for the easiest gift your baby can make. It’s absolutely perfect- minimal mess, beloved by all, and your baby is HAPPY to do it. In fact, depending on their age, they won’t even know they’re doing anything at all! Let’s backtrack a little bit. Wayyyyy back in February, I needed a Valentine’s Day gift idea for my husband. I wanted it to be something from the baby, and something that he would cherish for years to come. Plus, I knew it had to be simple because we had JUST gotten our puppy, and Hailey was only 4.5 months old. I was overwhelmed but I wanted to make something special for my husband. That’s how this gift came about! I’ve seen lots of these painting projects on Pinterest, but never one with a baby as young as Hailey was! And that’s why I added the extra element of putting it on the floor (in a trash bag!) and letting her jump and leap on it in her bouncer. It’s so easy to do that you’ll be buying paint and canvases by the truckload. I promise!

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Looking for a gift that your baby can make? Check out how to create this mess-free painting that your little one can make using their hands, feet, or their bouncer! It’s the perfect mother’s day gift too! Click to see how easy it is. #babysensorypla…

You will need:

Canvas panels 11x14 (here)
Paints (similar here)
Glad Press’n Seal (here)
Large clear trash bag (here)
Newspapers/fliers
Photo Frame (similar here)

Directions:

Measure and cut your Press’n Seal to size. I ended up using two long sheets since it wasn’t wide enough to do one long one. You want to have enough overlap so that paint doesn’t ooze out anywhere! I used the Press’n Seal instead of regular saran wrap because it stuck to the canvas nicely and it wasn’t a total mess to unwrap from the roll. Usually saran wrap seems to get all tangled up- this made it easy, AND the seams stuck together nicely!

Add your paint around the canvas in little globs. Don’t use too much paint or it’ll take forever to dry. Try to use a nice mix of colors that blend well. You can also use metallic paints for added dimension and shine.

Carefully place the saran wrap over the canvas and seal it closed. For this step, you want to make sure that you don’t smush it shut, but just gently fold the saran wrap and seal the edges as tight as you can. Remember, we want the baby to create the art- not you!

Ta-da! See? The artwork is fully intact after I sealed it in the Press’n Seal. That leaves the smushing to Hailey.

Now for the very last “prep step”- place the saran wrapped canvas into a large clear trash bag. A black bag would work in a pinch, but with clear you can see whats happening. If it’s a larger bag like mine was, you can fold it over for added protection and, mostly, to get it out of your way.

Place the canvas under baby and let him/her jump around, crawl, or play like usual. Guide the canvas around so that all parts of it get spread out. I used the bouncer which ensured that worst case, only her feet would get dirty. Luckily nothing got dirty :) When it got down to the very end, I spread the excess paint into the bare corners of the canvas so that it would go all the way to the edges. This also helps to avoid giant globs of paint next to bald spots!

Take the canvas out of the trash bag, and unwrap it carefully. I recommend having a trash bag handy to toss out the Press’n Seal, because it’ll be covered in paint and so will your hands. This is the messiest part of the entire project- well, the only messy part of this project! Don’t say I didn’t warn ya ;) There are no pictures of this step for obvious reasons.

Lay the canvas on the newspapers to dry. If your paint was thick it may take a few hours or even a day, so you’ll want to make this gift ahead of time. If you need it the same day, just use less paint (a lot less!) which will dry faster. But, to make this canvas a true work of art I highly recommend making it about 2 days before and this way it’ll be perfect- and dry!

I gave this gift to my mom and my MIL for mother’s day and they LOVED it!

The gift recipient is sure to love this gift that came directly from your little one! It’s such a great keepsake for moms, dads, grandmas, aunties… everyone! Seriously, everyone will want one of these for their home. It’s truly the greatest gift a baby can give, besides just being their awesome, poopy self!