What you will need
new terracotta plant pot of any size
emulsion paint in a range of colours - at least two
wide and thin paint brushes

Cover your work surface with old newspaper, and ensure your children are wearing old clothes or a painting apron. Now they're ready to paint their pot with a base coat of emulsion. They don't need to paint the base, and only need to paint inside down to the bottom of the rim. Then they can stand it on an old coffee jar lid to dry. Wash their brush and let this dry too. When they've decided how they are going to decorate the pot, they can paint it on with the thin brush. They can paint spots or stripes, flowers, a face, or even some ladybirds! Tell them to let their imagination go wild or try some of our design suggestions below. If they are using more than one colour for their decoration, they need to let the paint dry between each colour.

Tips and advice
Always try to use water-based emulsion paint for this project, as it's very easy to clear up, and it dries quickly.
Your children will probably be tempted to paint everything at once. Avoid this. Wet paints will run together and make a mess!
Talk about the design with your children before they start, then let them get on with it. Just ensure they have the right amount of paint on their brush - neither too much nor too little