Crafts

Totes Beachy! Paint Your Own Beach Tote

There are a million ways to decorate a beach bag. If you are looking for a simple and fun summer craft to keep your kids busy, this might be just the bag for you! It’s easy and you can use your masterpiece when you are done, my favorite kind of art!

Supplies you’ll need:

pre-washed plain tote bag (found at your local craft store)
fabric paint
sponge
paintbrush (optional)
wax paper or a piece of cardboard (for protection)

How to Make Your Beach Tote:

Make sure your bag is ironed and clean so that it’s a nice smooth surface to work on. Lay out your bag on a hard protected surface. (Fabric paint stains! So protect your clothes too and wear an old t-shirt or an apron you don’t care about in case it gets stained.) Insert wax paper or piece cardboard if you intend to use a lot of paint so the paint doesn’t soak through to the other side. Cut up your sponge into small geometric shapes.

A handy artist tip: I like to limit my color palette (three or less colors) when I’m doing activities like this with kids. It challenges their creativity and the end result is more fashionable in my opinion. But if you want to let them go crazy with the whole rainbow, please do! It’s all good.

Squeeze out a dollop of fabric paint onto paper plates. Direct your kids not to mix the colors (unless you are okay with that, of course). Blot your sponge shape into the fabric paint and then stamp it onto your tote. I encouraged my kids to create simple designs using the triangle and square shapes but they interpreted my directions differently. One kid created a scene, the other swiped the sponge sideways and painted stripes. But guess what? Both bags turned out really cool. Of course I had to make one too so I created a geometric triangle design only using triangles that reminds me of ocean waves.

Touch up your shapes with a paint brush.

Let your fabric paint dry, following the directions on your fabric paint bottle (usually a day), and you’re ready to fill up your tote with your favorite beach or pool accessories and head for the water!