Birthday Party Craft Project: Taped Painted Canvases

Every year we have a joint birthday for my two daughters because their birthdays are only two months apart in the year. That way grandparents only have to travel one time instead of twice. Last year, our girls were 6 years and 8 years and our party guests ranged from age 4 1/2 to almost 10 years. I felt like we were at a point where the kids were old enough to handle an art project activity at the birthday party. We they arrived, they found a place at the table I had set up on our deck (thankful for an August party date!).
It was nice, I knew our guests well enough to know what colors most of their bedrooms had so I put out colors that matched. Just in case they wanted to hang their creations in their room. :-) Each child received an 8 x 10 canvas (I purchased these in a value pack on sale at Michael's). I was inspired by this post I found pinned on Pinterest (image from pin below):
This project is soooo easy! Just have the kids tape their canvas with painter's tape. I made sure it was all firmly pressed down so the paint wouldn't slide under it. Then I gave them each the colors they wanted on a cheapy little plastic palette. We used mostly acrylic paints. We had some washable Crayola paints, but realized those did not cover quite as well as the acrylic. I bought the acrylic paints for a very reasonable price at Walmart, believe it or not.

They went to town painting!
The best part was, we could leave them on the table to dry because it was so warm out. At the end of the party, I took everyone's tape off and they had their party favor to take home! They seemed to really enjoy the activity and were proud to show off their artwork.

Here are the final pieces: