Here’s a painting method that’s fun for toddlers because it involves lots of shaking and noise, fun for parents because the mess is contained, and fun for everyone because it produces a beautiful piece of art. It’s a great way for toddlers to send a card to a loved one…or also to involve toddlers in making art to thank essential workers and heroes.

For set up, Veronika and I poked through the craft bin to find items that would roll; bonus points if they would also make noise! We ended up with a Styrofoam ball, a pom pom, and small beads. I wish I had jingle bells, but we recently used them!

I then cut out heart shapes from construction paper, choosing pink and red. You can use any color of shape of paper you like, but hearts felt appropriate for this project. Tape one heart into the bottom of a cookie tin (or similar container with a secure lid), and then add the round objects.

Now we poured in blobs of paint. I let Veronika choose the colors, and she loved watching me squirt in a generous amount of each.

Close the lid securely and shake! Veronika flinched at first, but then giggled at the loud sound. In retrospect, I wish I’d used my smallest cookie tin for this activity, since the large one was hard for her to hold securely and shake at the same time.

At first she was frustrated, but then she liked watching me shake as I talked about all my movements: up, down, side to side etc.

We opened up the tin for the big reveal: our heart was now covered in spatters and streaks of paint.

Set aside to dry, and repeat with additional hearts. You may not need to add new paint after each round, depending how much is still left in the tin. As a result, we had some that were too painty, and some with perhaps not quite enough, but Veronika was proud of them all.