Today we’re setting up a creative invitation that takes minutes to put together, and clean up is a snap.
As we shared in this post, the basic premise of Creative Invitations follows four simple steps:
- Clear your table of anything that won’t be used in the invitation
- Artfully arrange the materials to provoke ideas
- Limit the choice of materials to just a few items
- Provide clues about how to use the materials, but keep the project open-ended so that original ideas can flourish.
To get started, you could set up your invitation the night before as I did, or take a few moments to arrange it while your child is playing or napping. Or you could include your child in the set-up.
Supplies
- Paint
- Large sheet of paper
- Water container
- Paint brush
- Washable tempera paint
- Container to hold the paint
- Sharpie marker (or other non-toxic permanent marker)
- Rag
Set-up
Place all the materials out on the table. With a permanent marker, draw some basic shapes or looping lines on the paper.
Invitation
Invite your child to paint however he or she likes. You can see that my three-year old and five-year old had completely different approaches and ideas about how to tackle the paper. I love that! The goal isn’t to create anything in particular but to encourage your child to be inventive and use the parameters of the set-up as inspiration. 
My three-year old’s creation on the left and my five-year old’s creation on the right: one painted inside the lines and the other right over the lines. Cool!
Clean-up
Leave the papers on the table to dry or move them to a drying area. Carry the brushes and water container to the sink. Voila!
More Creative Invitations
We love coming up with ways to make your life simpler and more creative, and creative invitations are one of our favorite ways to do that. If you enjoyed this post you might also want to check out Tape Art, Sticker Composition with Frames, Washi Tape and Found Paper Collage. Tinkerlab plays host to a really fun Instagram hashtag: #creativetable. For more creative invitations, pop over to Instagram and search for more ideas from creative parents and artists. Also, our friends at The Art Pantry are hosting an Invitations to Create Challenge this month (October), and you can find out more about it here.
Love this! Thanks for sharing our Invitations to Create challenge. It’s really amazing to see how these simple invitations can change a child’s relationship to art materials and to their own creative process.
Megan – your challenge is a fantastic introduction for busy parents, and seeing the results on Instagram shows just how much fun people are having with it. Props to you!
A really lovely creative invitation. I have something similar planned for Jack and Sarah for next week. I’m really looking forward to seeing where they take it.
Hi Kate, I look forward to seeing how you set this up for Jack and Sarah. I’m always looking for new ways to introduce my kids to materials for exploration.
Love this idea. I don’t even try a lot of craft projects because of the step-by-step nature of them and having to hover over the kids to make sure they’re doing things right or almost right. I’ve always been a firm believer in open-ended creativity. This is perfect!
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