Reduce the Mess

We love art projects, but sometimes the mess makes me tell my kids know when they ask to pull out the art supplies. A tip that has worked well in our house to reduce the mess is to have the kids put their paper on a plastic school lunch tray when they are painting. This way any extra paint gets on the tray instead of the table and when it is time to move the painting, you can just move the tray. I like this idea because I no longer have to dispose of paint filled newspaper when they are done. And I don't know if it's just my kids, but when I spread out paper, they seem to end up making a mural on the paper.