Milk Jug Face Painting: Craft Ideas for Kids

Ever since my 3 year-old attended her first face painting party, she's been obsessed with painting faces. As a mom who vehemently opposes make-up, but whose daughter is fascinated with it, I find face painting to be an excellent compromise, and like to promote it whenever I can. The problem, however, is that I get sick of being her model. Not only does she cake the stuff on, but she can paint for hours. Not wanting to invest in one of those Barbie mannequins, I decided to test out an empty milk jug. My daughter loved it and spent the next hour laboring over her new "model." From there, you can create fun crafts using your painted milk jugs.

Milk Jug Mask Ideas

If your kids are particularly crafty painting their milk jugs, have them create milk jug masks for Halloween. If your milk jug is facing forward (handle in back), cut out the mask by cutting it from seam to seam (on the sides). Then make a cut along the top and bottom, making it long enough for your child's face. Paint your mask, using spray paint if necessary. To make a smaller mask, turn the jug around and then flip it upside down. Cut out a "face" that includes the handle (if you look carefully, you can see that the handle is the nose of your mask and the slight indentations around the handle are the eyes). Click HERE to see how it works.

Milk Jug Helmets

Another craft idea is to make a milk jug helmet. With the jug flipped upside down and handle facing you so that you can see the "nose" and "eyes". Simply cut off the bottom, just below the handle, and remove some of the back of the jug around the bottom, so that your child's head will fit through.

Tips for Face Painting Milk Jugs

The nice thing about face paint is that it isn't nearly as messy as regular paint, unless your daughter intentionally rubs it all over your favorite vinyl table cloth. Also, it rubs off of milk jugs easily, though it will leave a slight smudge. Eye shadow pencils and Q-tips make great face paint applicators.

While you can buy face paint just about anywhere, if you wait until right after Halloween, you can get those clown or costume kits for 50 to 75 percent off.