Peeper loves to create, so when it came to planning her second birthday party, I knew I wanted to incorporate art. Thanks to getting almost no sleep and leaving most of the party prep till the morning of, I had to scale back some of our painting plans, but one activity made the cut: the group DIY easel.
Peeper and her friends got to paint alongside each other in our front yard, and each kiddo took home a piece of art (or several!). Peeper’s painting is now hanging on our wall above the dining table.
The setup was surprisingly easy—and cheap—and we’ve left it up in our yard for now. Peeper continues to use it, and when we do decide to take it down, we’ll recycle or reuse all the pieces for projects later!
Want to get in on the artistic action, too? Here’s how to make an easy group DIY easel for your kids to paint their own outdoor masterpieces.
Make an outdoor DIY easel
Supplies:
- 1-2 pieces of plywood, depending on how many kids will be using the easel at once
- Nails and hammer
- Canvasses or sturdy paper
- 12-ounce paper cups
- Egg cartons
Instructions:
- Lean the plywood against your garage or house at an angle that allows the kids to reach the wood comfortably.
- Hammer nails at roughly your child’s shoulder height, spacing them about 2-3 feet apart.
- Hang the canvasses on the nails, or poke the paper onto the nails.
- Hammer paper cups next to the canvasses at intervals so they can store paintbrushes in the cups when not using them.
- Cut off the top of the egg cartons. Hammer the tabs of the egg cartons to the plywood—they will make the palette for your paints!
- Fill the cups with paintbrushes and the egg cartons with paint and let your little artists loose!
Such an awesome idea. My son would have a blast doing something like this, but a table wouldn’t really work well… I love that these are at perfect standing height!
Thanks! And everything was cheap. Even cheaper if you have some old plywood lying around!
Oh my gosh! I love that pink-cheeked painter picture! What a great idea! (And what a brave mama!)
I feel less brave because everything is washable. I just make sure we’re all wearing scrubs—or, in Peeper’s case, just a diaper!
Cuteness overload!!! The kids look like they are having a great time with their painting party!!!
They had a great time! Good thing everyone brought a change of clothes. 🙂
So cute! And what a great idea. 🙂
Thanks Susan!
Such CUTE photos! Oh my. This is a fantastic idea, one that I will definitely keep in mind for my future kiddos, or for mamas asking for ideas.
Thank you! Peeper and her guests certainly enjoyed it!
I love absolutely everything about this, and will be stealing this for non-birthday party fun. Thank you for the idea!
Yay! We’re using it for non-birthday fun, too. It’s a blast.
Genius idea!!
Thank you! It’s an ongoing hit in our house.
Cute, cute, cute! Her little curls SLAY me!! I love this idea AND it is super simple! Definitely pinning for later. Thanks for sharing, Catherine. Looks like a blast!
Her curls get me, too! I sure hope they stick around. 🙂
What a great idea! We will be trying this once we move into our new rental house!
Congrats on finding a place! I hope they don’t raise the rent on you like crazy this time.
Great idea for the easel! It would be a fun thing to have to use everyday too! Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier today
Thanks Anika! The outdoor easel was so fun and so easy. We used it all summer long!