Letting my kids paint bobby pins tutorial

Okay three things:

1.  You probably don't need a tutorial for this, because I am pretty sure you are really clever and given five minutes you would have figuired this out for yourself.

2.  I am not crazy.  Nope, just a big fan of letting my kids do things.

3. I am not a big fan of crafts for crafts sake.  I try hard to make stuff that someone can use and find value in.   This holds true for my children as well.  Art as well as crafts cannot be learned in gluing foam shapes to a foam backing that comes in a ready made kit, no, it requires thought, process and problem solving.  So while I am not anti-time filling craft kits, I do think that our children are better served by a simple water color set and a pad of paper.   

Items needed:

A painting surface- I used a cut open cereal box
A scrap of said cereal box or old envelope
Nail Polish- clearly we had a small selection
Bobby Pins

Before letting my kids have at it, I tested to see if the bobby pins could be painted all messy style and still look like something that I or they would want to wear.  Once the bobby pins dry, they can be snapped off the paper, clean and simple.  I had no paper bits stuck to them and no globs of nail polish hanging over the edges.  A nice clean edge, just like frog tape.


1. Have kids put bobby pins on envelope.  All the way on.  I had them keep the pins about one inch or so apart.  

2. Place bobby pinned envelope on painting surface.  Watch your children carefully.  If you are worried about clothes, cover them.  

3. Open nail polish for younger children.  Don't wipe nail brush clean.  A little drippy was easier for my almost four year old to paint with.  My five year old could do the nail polish stuff herself.

4. Paint.  Faster meant that less paint actually makes it onto the bobby pin.  Which you might like. Or, go slowly.  Take some time. 

5. Dry.  Wait about forty minutes.  You want the polish to be good and dry.  

6. Touch up or add polka dots, lines or whatever.  Dry again.

7. Snap off and wear.  

8. Give as gifts.  

*****Clearly this is not intended for actual babies, but for children approx. four and up.  If your child is a wiggler or a thrower of things, perhaps you should find something else for them to do. 

*****Also, I think that it would be completely neurotic to go to the store and purchase bottles of nail polish for this craft.  So have a party with friends, get them to bring their nail polish, giggle at their color choices and paint away.