Fun with Painter’s Tape

I was lying, sick, in bed recently and the girls wanted to play games that involved me lifting them repeatedly with my legs (the closest thing I get to rest when I’m with the kids). I had already been lifting them for a while and my legs were worn out.

I found myself saying, “Why don’t you girls go get into trouble or something?”

They jumped up a little too excitedly saying, “Okay! Let’s go get into trouble!”

“Woah woah.” I said. “Why don’t you go get the painter’s tape and set some traps or something.”

It’s amazing what kids can do with painter’s tape and a license to do whatever they want as long as their not asking for anything. The tape is designed to come off walls and floors in one strip without ruining anything, so there’s not much harm in letting them go wild. I would say that this is more of an activity for 5 years and up because they can get the tape off the role themselves. I have provided pictures of what Robin chose to do with the tape. If it hadn’t been so close to bedtime I would have involved the little kids by saying it was an obstacle course. It did make getting Robin a bedtime drink of water a more interesting experience.

She TPed the bathroom for good measure as well. Totally worth the time I got to lie there. And the price of an entire role of tape.

Robin has also had fun taping cardboard boxes together, or marking off the places on her floor that I am not allowed to go (so I don’t mess with her boxes). Watching Parent Trap and Home Alone has really inspired some of these creative wonders.

Little Kids

Painter’s tape is also perfect for making little roads for cars. At first I thought every green masking tape was painter’s tape, but after a lot of floor scraping, I realized it isn’t. I prefer to make roads in the kitchen so I can do dishes or prepare meals while I supervise play. It only took a minute to do this and another 30 seconds to convince Robin that I would give the tape back after I was done.

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