I have a blank wall in my dining room. I have always wanted a giant mirror for that spot but never found one big enough that wouldn’t literally cost me an arm and a leg. I’ve thought about it a lot over the years and nothing has really suited my tastes.

Our HOA is fabulous. We have some really talented people who have shared their gifts over the years. One was having a kids’ craft time monthly. One of the first were these adorable, giant turkeys. But where on earth would I display 3 similar—but not identical—giant turkeys.

See where I am going with this?

This is how the kids’ gallery wall was born. Since then, we’ve created some fun art to display on this blank wall. Sometimes the HOA has sponsored an event and sometimes we’ve done it ourselves. It’s been a fun project. I absolutely adore when you can tell that kids have done their own art. Give me a wonky art project any day of the week over something that an adult obviously guided a little too much.

Some of our favorites have been the water color Christmas design using black paint in white glue to create the outlines. The big kids drew their own tree with some guidance and then added the garland and ornaments. I outlined them with the glue and they did all the water colors. For Theo’s, he just had to draw a couple of lines and a rectangle then do his best to stay in the lines while painting. He wasn’t even 2 at the time.

Next we needed to replace Christmas with winter. We created one of my all time favorite to do with my students—snowmen. It’s perfect because some turn out exactly like snowmen. Others look a bit…melty. They are all adorable.

We made super cute hearts out of puzzle pieces for Valentine’s Day but for some reason I cannot find a single picture of them. They also made a kissing heart one but couldn’t tell you where those are. That’s when I just kinda quit with this fun project. I blame my ADHD for this.

McKenna mentioned a few weeks ago we needed to take down our snowmen. It’s Chicago so we might be able to get away with snowmelt in March and into April. BUT…I had a fun idea for an Easter display. How adorable are these negative space bunnies?

Today I wanted to get a jump on what will go up when the bunnies come down after this weekend. I was going to have them make a flower project using the same method as the bunnies but I just couldn’t figure out how to make it work. Then while at the Dollar Tree, inspiration struck. They each painted the canvases the color of their choice using paper towels pinch with a clothes pin as the paint brush. McKenna liked to dab, George preferred to make lines while Theo did swirls. I cut out vases from cardboards. The kids then rolled and shook a ping pong balls in paint over them to create the marble look. They glued the vases and Dollar Tree flowers to the canvas to create these awesome 3D flower displays for the spring.

It’s been a fun way to get creative over spring break. Nothing was expensive and I had a lot of it around the house. McKenna and I have a fun idea for fireworks for the Fourth of July but I’m taking suggestions for summer, fall, and Halloween.