What do you do with all that left-over paint?

Often times when I am preparing for an activity, I pour what I think will be a fair amount of paint into a bowl or dish for the children to use. I try not to over-do it so the paint will not go to waste but inevitably, I end up with left-over paint that I just hate to toss away…

So I got to thinking that I could use these little plastics containers to save up some of this left-over paint….

I bought these at the grocery store – they only hold about 1/2 cup. I use them for a variety of activities like holding glue and cotton swabs so I decided to use them for the left-over paint too…

Even after the paint gets all mixed up, it can create some unusual colors that I might not ordinarily have or make myself. I think they will be fun to pull out for something down the road but no plan yet what I will do. But it is nice to know I have them ready to go and that I won’t just have to toss those odd colors of paint away…

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Tagged as: painting, plastic cups, recycle, teacher tips

Comments on this entry are closed.

1 Alesia August 28, 2011 at 10:46 am

I reuse peanut butter jars for my paint. The jars fit perfectly in my easel, and when I am finished with them I put the lid on them and put them away.

2 Deborah J. Stewart, M.Ed. August 28, 2011 at 1:17 pm: Great idea Alesia! Saves the extra step:)

3 Maria Walker August 28, 2011 at 10:07 pm

Use leftover paint for “tall paintings”!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=d6egUsZvWu4

4 Amy A August 29, 2011 at 10:58 pm

We take our left over paint outside and let the children use it on anything they like in our outdoor play space .

5 Deborah J. Stewart, M.Ed. August 30, 2011 at 3:29 pm: I hadn’t thought of that Amy – what a great idea. I wonder if my husband would mind a few purple trees:)

6 Maria September 29, 2011 at 10:22 am

What a great idea! I’m going to see if I can find those little cups at costco. I imagine I could do a lot of fun things with them. I mean, I imagine my son can do a lot of fun things with them.