I have been looking for ways to incorporate my son into my hobbies (aka parties) so that we are spending more time together and so that I nurture his creativity. We had a ton of fun together creating the paintings for our Halloween party. When thinking about how I was going to decorate the Thanksgiving table this year I wanted to work on something together that would give him a little ownership to the meal and table. A little paper and paint and we had a plan– a DIY Table Runner! Paper table runners are a great way to set the holiday table because you don’t really have to worry about spills ruining your good linens. Kids can draw on the runner when bored and waiting for the rest of the party to finish their food. It is just a win win.

DIY Table Runner with Watercolor Paints & Paper

I have a pretty good selection of every day craft supplies in my house. However, the one supply that I like to keep in stock that may not be in the average household is a large roll of butcher paper. I currently have a large roll of white paper and a large roll of black paper. I often find a use for large paper rolls whether it be a craft project or a last minute wrapping need. Below is a short list of supplies that I used when my son and I created this watercolor DIY table runner.

Supplies:

(Links below are affiliate links to products I use and would suggest!)

• Watercolor palette (you don’t really need both liquid and solid water color paint, but I did use both for this project)
• Liquid water colors
• Paint mixing palette
• Paint brushes in various sizes
• Paper cut to the length of my table

Directions:

This was such an easy project and it really didn’t take too much time or effort. Use the steps below to create your own DIY Table Runner.

1. Cut paper to length of table or desired length/width (you could also make great little place mats or wrapping paper with this same method!)
2. Decide on a color scheme for this project. If you choose a lot of different colors then you are likely to get a pretty muddy mess. I like to choose colors that are shade variations. This project we took blue, green, white, and black paints to create different shades of blue-green. NOTE: Test out your desired color scheme on a scrap piece of paper so that you don’t have to waste the larger sheet if you don’t like the final look.
3. Paint in varying directions in large swatches. We really wanted the runner to look organic and a tad messy. This makes this project great for kids as it doesn’t require a lot of precision. Vary the amount of water on your brush to mix up the water color look with a bolder dry brush effect. My son really could have done this whole thing by himself with just me guiding him on when to switch colors so that they didn’t clump up all in one area.
4. Once you have the amount of coverage that you like let the paper dry. Water colors dry extremely fast. I think ours took about 10 minutes to dry once completed.
5. Fold the sides of the paper under for a seamless look.
6. DONE! Set your table and enjoy!

What else could you use this method of painting for in your home?