If you want to spend some time learning about the ocean, you need the mighty sea in your house!!!! 
So we are making a 15 foot mural that will set the mood and create a natural home for our crafts and adventures.
I will hang the mural on the rather short and mostly useless wall in the bonus room.
To do this, you’ll need a roll of paper. We used brown resin paper because it’s a little weightier than the paper roll for C’s art easel but I do think that type of paper could work as well. You also need:
- Blue Painter’s tape
- a variety of non-toxic washable paints in ocean colors of your child’s choosing
- paint brush and painting sponges (available at craft stores)
- paper plates (they will serve as the little maestro’s palette)
- scissors
STEP ONE:
UNLEASH that toddler. Get out the measuring tape and measure how much wall you are devoting to ocean.
STEP TWO:
Take your paper roll and measuring tape outside and roll the paper out alongside your measuring tape. Once you’ve reached the desired length, tape your paper down to the driveway or whatever surface you are painting on.
STEP THREE:
Have toddler squeeze as many colors and as much paint as he/she wants onto the paper plate.
The Palette
STEP FOUR:
Cover the entire paper surface with paint. There is no right way to paint the ocean, imaginations can run free here!
TIP: the painting sponges create a frothier looking sea. Let the kids go crazy with this. You can really set them loose with this one : )
STEP FIVE:
After the mural is dry, take your sponge dip it into white paint and ever so lightly, dab the top of your mural, to create white sea foam.
Don’t worry if edges curl as the mural dries. They will flatten out easily when you attach the mural to your wall.
STEP SIX:
Parents ONLY. Take scissors and trim the top of the mural lengthwise to create a wavy border.
OPTIONAL STEP:
SAND – repeat above steps with sand colors if you want to add a beach to your mural. or use the brown resin paper in its present form.
Now you are ready to hang the mural. We used blue painter’s tape to attach it to the wall. This tape should come off the wall easily without damaging the paint on your walls.
I taped the side and bottom edges to the wall and made sticky bunches of blue tape for the back of the mural. Now that your mural is in place, you are ready to make a month’s worth of crafts to place in your sea or on your beach!
See you TOMORROW… when we make a yellow submarine fit for the seas!
: )
Anna