Friday Flip Out!

Here is something for both you and your kids to flip out about - in a good way!

Do-A-Dot Art is fantastic!

I have one child in particular who loves to do anything art related. We constantly have a path of art supplies strung through the house in which you can follow the course of our free spirited daughter's mind! Paint was one of those things.

As a mom who does not enjoy messes of any sort, paint was never one of my favored activities - we're talking once a year the kids might be allowed to paint and we call that night the night before Easter when they color Easter eggs!

I found these great Do-A-Dot art supplies at a local kids' store here and I am completely in love with them and so is my daughter. She gets to feel like she's painting on a regular basis and I get to enjoy the fact that these paints make NO MESS!

These paints come in tubes of sorts with a round sponge applicator tip head on them, tidied by a cap that you can take on and off freely. Tip them upside down and the paint doesn't come out! You have to press down on the tips in order to get the paint out.

These aren't like Color Wonder paints. They will paint on anything, but with the adorable coloring books you can get with them, your kids really won't need to fulfill their curiosity elsewhere, like on your walls!

The paints come in packages of 4-6 paint bottles in primary and pastel colors. They are pricier than regular paints, but have lasted us for months and my daughter paints a few times a week now! By the time we'd buy other paints and my kids would mix them up and dump them everywhere, I'd spend $10 a pop anyway. No more!

These things are most definitely washable too!

Here's the meat for you:

You can buy them at Amazon here. The paints range from $8-$14. The coloring books are $3-$8 a piece. All Do-A-Dot items are eligible for free shipping if you spend $25 or more.

At the main website, www.dotart.com, the markers are $10 for the 4 packs and $15 for the 6 packs. The coloring books are $5 a piece no matter which one you choose. Dotart.com charges shipping at a tiered level - $4 for an order up to $20; $5 up to $50; $7.50 up to $100; $10 on orders over $100.

At Christianbook.com the coloring books are $4.50 a piece and they also sell markers individually for about $2 a piece and in sets for $14.50. It's great to be able to buy them individually if you run out of a particular color and don't want to go buy another complete set. You can find their shipping rates here. They definitely estimate high on the shipping dates. I usually receive my order much faster than they state for suggested shipping arrival dates.

Finally, kazootoys.com has them the least expensive of all for the month of May, offering the paint sets for $12 a piece for a set of 6 (regularly $15) and the activity books for $4 a piece (regularly $5). They may make up for it though, depending on how much you order, on their shipping prices, which you can find here.

If you're still with me :), here's a great place where you can print out free printable activity pages for the Do-A-Dot art!

Happy Do-A-Dot arting!