Paint-Your-Own Custom Toy Cars

Sometimes, the best craft ideas come from kids themselves. That's what I really like about this activity—my son invented it himself.

You Will Need:

• washable tempera paint
• paintbrush
• well-loved toy cars
• soap (optional)
• water (optional)
• sink or plastic bin (optional)

Like many kids, my son is on friendly terms with the vehicle world and anything with wheels excites him.

One day, I found him studying a cartoon about painting cars. After watching the cartoon, he very enthusiastically said, “I want to paint cars too!”

Not being as open-minded, we parents said, “No, your cars are different. They don't need to be painted.”

Oh well. He seemed to give up on the idea—temporarily.

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Several days later, I watched him take his paints down from the shelf, grab a couple of cars and set off to paint them. My first impulse was to stop him, but after a moment of hesitation, I decided not to. The cars were already stained and chipped (they were inherited from his daddy) and the worst that could happen would be that the paint wouldn't cover well.

I had nothing to worry about. The paint covered well and it came off well too! The painted cars looked surprisingly good, but the important part was the precision with which my son worked to paint every small detail.

It was a great exercise of his pre-writing skills and I'm not exaggerating when I say I've never seen him as happy using his paints before.

There's also an element of imaginative play in this activity. For example, my son decided that he would turn a crane truck into a red fire truck with a ladder.

The paint takes between 10 and 20 minutes to dry and then my son plays with the cars for hours. He seems more interested in them once he's modified them and they look like new toys.

Painting cars has become one of the staples of our art corner. I cover the table with a piece of paper and my son picks a few cars. We use washable tempera paints for kids, which has a very low pigment content, so it washes off easily.

Depending on the quality of paint, light cases of staining may occur. To be on a safe side, I recommend using cheap and old cars—they'll be especially grateful for the temporary makeover.

We finish the activity with a foamy and joyful car wash, restoring the cars to their original condition—until they get their next paint job!