• Allowing kids to get messy can enhance the art experience.kid drawing image by KaYann from Fotolia.com
  
  Kids are drawn to colorful, messy art activities. Experiments with colors and forms appeal to children's creative instincts. The freedom to get messy allows kids to fully engage with the art materials, exploring their properties and textures. Offer children open-ended art experiences to give full play to their artistic impulses.
  
  

Food Stamping

• Keep kids busy in the kitchen with this food stamping idea from the KinderArt website. Dip a sponge in tempera paint and set it on a paper plate with the painted side up. An adult should slice a variety of fruits and vegetables in half. Try using apples, star fruit, broccoli, peppers and other foods with interesting shapes. Press the food onto the paint on the sponge. Stamp the food onto the paper to make prints.
  
  

Window Painting

• Let kids create a masterpiece -- on the window! The ChildFun website suggests mixing a few drops of detergent into washable tempera paint. Protect floors and the wall around the window with an inexpensive drop cloth, plastic tablecloth or newspaper. Children can paint the windows using cotton swabs or just their fingers. The paint washes off with a wet rag.
  
  

Colored Shaving Cream

• Kids will enjoy getting messy with colored shaving cream art, from Craftbits.com. Pour 1 tbsp. of powdered tempera paint onto a large piece of paper. Squirt shaving cream on top of the paint, and let kids use their hands to explore the shaving cream. As they play, the shaving cream and the powdered tempera will mix, causing the shaving cream to turn colors. Use multiple colors of tempera paint to create new colors and shades. The shaving cream art will dry without sticking to the paper.
  
  

Shoe Art

• Kids can create their own pair of designer shoes or sneakers, using a decoupage idea from MakingFriends.com. Pick a pair of shoes or sneakers to decorate. Tear two colors of tissue paper into 1-inch squares. Apply a thick coat of outdoor decoupage solution to the surface of the shoes using a foam brush. Press on the tissue paper squares, overlapping them and carefully arranging the colors. Apply a second thick coat of decoupage solution and let the shoes dry. Add a third or fourth layer of decoupage solution, allowing the shoes to dry completely between each coat. Add pony beads in coordinating colors for extra decoration.
  
  

Pipe Cleaner Sculpture

• Invite kids to fashion a pipe-cleaner sculpture, as suggested by the HotChalk Lesson Plans Page. Kids can twist, bend, curl and loop pipe cleaners into an infinite number of shapes. Form designs using only pipe cleaners, or insert the pipe cleaners into a base made of craft foam or plastic canvas. For an extra touch, poke beads, buttons or squares of tissue paper onto the ends of the pipe cleaners.