by Laura Falin posted in Life & Home

There are some art and craft projects that are about the finished result. The kids follow specific steps and end up with something cute to give as a Christmas or Mother's Day present, or to proudly display in their own room.
Then there are art and craft projects that are about the process. Kids use things like crayons or paints or clay to experiment and see what they can make without too much instruction from adults. I know teachers who could argue all day over which is better, but I don't see anything wrong with doing a little of both.
This roller painting is definitely more about the process. In other words, get ready to make a mess.

It's a really fun way to explore texture, and color, and to let kids try their own thing. Find them a good spot to get set up -- maybe a patio you can hose off afterward, or an old table (this is one of the times I'm thankful the kids have already destroyed all my stuff...I'm not too worried about them painting at my table anymore.) Then let them try out a few different forms of painting.
We started with a small paint roller. We took foam shape stickers and put them on the roller, and made a few patterns that way, but really the kids had more fun just painting with the roller.

Then we tried this patterned fondant roller (I found it in the cake decorating section at Michael's for about $5). We dipped the whole thing in paint and made these fun patterns with it. After we finished with that, we put some ...