Gobble, gobble! Thanksgiving in our family is very busy. Although we don’t host (we do at Christmas!) we do spend lots of time traveling to family all across the province. I love doing crafts with my happy four year old and my twins now almost 9 months but don’t always like the clean up!

Painting in a bag is my solution and if you are like me and want your little one(s) to have the sensory experience of painting but don’t want the mess it will be yours as well.

Here is a fun and super easy painting activity that is perfect for babies and toddlers for Thanksgiving.

Check out Mess Free Fall Art Activity for other mess free art activities!

Here’s how to get started with Mess Free Turkey Painting.

Grab your large freezer bag (I have twins so I did two) and draw a turkey using a black sharpie on the front of the bag.

You don’t need to be an artist so don’t worry if it’s perfect!

Add a few blobs of red, orange and yellow paint into the bag around the feathers of the turkey and brown on the turkey’s body.

Seal the bag – make sure it’s sealed tight and all the air is removed.

Then tape it to the floor or table. If you are doing this with babies make sure to tape it well.

Have your little one move the paint around to “paint” the turkey feathers and body.

This created a beautiful and colourful turkey.

Get them Going

At 8 month my twins are constantly on the move. Since we did this on the floor they did not stay long at the turkey. They would come, pat it and then move on to something else and then return a few minutes later. You could also do this activity in a highchair!

In order to get them going I started to move the paint around for them with my fingers so that they could see the colours mixing. All the while talking about what I was doing and looking at.

Toddlers and preschoolers would definitely be able to move the paint around on their own using their fingers.

Clean Up

And when they were done I tossed the bag away. But if you want to save it all you need to do is rinse it out and use it for another painting activity! Just make sure if has no tiny holes in it!

Supplies

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• Jumbo Freezer Bags
• Black Sharpie
• Red, yellow, orange and brown Washable Kid’s Paint
• Scotch Masking Tape or duct tape

WILL YOU TRY MESS FREE THANKSGIVING ART ACTIVITY WITH YOUR LITTLE ONE? Pin it for later!

Purchase your supplies now on Amazon.com.