Before you gather all your tools to make the perfect turkey , grab your bulb baster and some paint! This was a ton of fun, and a huge mess. A tip for after you are done, pop your child and the turkey baster into the bath that way you wont have the tedious task of cleaning the paint out of it before using it next week. All the paint will come out in the bath and you can pop it in the dishwasher after that!
- Gather your materials. You will need paint, a little water, something to hold it , a dish towel, paper, a piece of construction paper and of course a turkey baster.
- Thin the paint a little with water, just a tiny bit though if it’s too thin it will splatter everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Test it out before handing it to your child.
- Dip the baster in and start.
I showed my son how to do it once and off he went, he alternated between actually using it as a baster and just dipping the tip in and onto his paper.
- Try a second or third color! I only made 3 colors because it uses a fair amount of paint up, but there is no reason to not use more if you want. Keep going !My son made 5 pictures- although by the end his fingers were used a bit more than the baster.
- Let dry and tape to a piece of construction paper for the complete masterpiece look!


kidletsmum says
Oh wow. I’m sure it’s fun and I’m CERTAIN that you should win a Super Mom award for this one.
I would have paint dripping from the ceiling, all over the furniture, running down the walls… there’s just no way I would be able to convince EcoKid to keep her baster pointed down.
Good thing we’re vegetarian and as such, don’t own a baster. I don’t have to come up with an excuse for not doing this one…
But in theory, I love it!
MoziEsmé says
Great artwork!
We did something similar with a medicine dropper and watercolors – only we painted on newspaper (spread all over the floor) to minimize the mess. What fun!
loosina says
i’ve just order a baster on ebay to be able to do this and the colour mixing with the water you described on here! fun times ahead!! thanks!
nopinkhere says
I’m not sure I can grit my teeth and manage this one. Maybe we can do it outside.
I love your projects and that you include books so often that go along with. It makes it so nice when I’m at the library trying to choose books while keeping an eye on a small boy who can’t share and is never where I left him. I see one that looks familiar from your site and just snag it!
Brenda says
Can I just save a step and actually DO this projec IN the bathtub? 🙂
CC says
what a fun idea! I totally was singing “it ain’t gonna rain no more…” when I saw the title of the book 🙂
Rachel@oneprettything.com says
Oh how fun! And I love his expression of concentration.
Allie says
Yes it was messy- not as messy as what we did today, but you have to wait to see that!
Eye droppers or doing it in the bath would both be great adaptations though.
CC- I was singing it too !
(fairy) Godmother says
Eye droppers are wonderful! They are used in preschools (and lower elementary grades) to help develop and strengthen fine motor and pincer grasp. Love the projects we have made with them… as far as the turkey baster…Allie, you are one brave chick!
loosina says
my son and i just did this activity and it rocked!! he LOVED it!! the only thing id say is for some reason sometimes there was far too much paint coming out at once.. was my paint too thin maybe?? then we did some of the colour mixing activity you described a while ago which he adored!! it turned into pouring vast amounts of coloured water from one jug to the other but its all good!! thanks so much!! off to clean up!!
Allie says
I’m so happy he had fun! Yeah , my baster was being funny the other day too ,it was fine the day I did that activity though. I think maybe if too much air it taken in with it a LOT comes out.
Pepper says
What great fun!! With my boys may be an outside project though. LOL Great idea about the bath though.
Angie Bryant says
these could be turned into place mats too