Fly Swatters + paint = oh yeah!!!!!

I was inspired by Teacher Tom, preschool teacher and Blogger, to do this activity. We chose to do our Fly Swatter painting outdoors.

I thought it'd be great to set up our paper (we purchased a butt end of a really big roll from the paper mill in town for only a few bucks) on the side of the shed, but it had rained recently and trying to use masking tape on wet wood just doesn't work! Maybe thumb tacks would have worked, but I was too anxious to get started, so we moved it to the deck. We have the benefit of having an old, rotting deck that we'll be (hopefully) tearing down this summer, so if I get paint all over it, it doesn't matter!

First, you dip . .  .

Then you SWAT! and SWAT! and SWAT! Get those flies!!!!

Then, because both you and Mommy are wearing your rubber boots (since it's been rainy outside lately), walk in your paint tray . . .

And make boot prints too!

Then it's time for a little hand washing (which was very easy, and those are her painting clothes by the way, so no stain treatment necessary :o). I used the hose to spray down our paint tray and fly swatters too, and I was cleaned up lickety-split!

Here's a piece of the end result, including a boot print! Be aware that this can splatter very far, so DON'T attempt it indoors unless you feel like cleaning your walls and ceilings.


This theraputic activity (Pretend there are flies EVERYWHERE. "I got one! Whack! WHACK!WHACK!WHACK!") is fun for kids and grown-ups. I want to do this one every week!

We're going to use this giant painting as a back-drop for Happy Birthday letters *now updated with a link* we've made to decorate for Micah's upcoming birthday (one year old!).