Tips for painting with young children:
- Transfer paint to dropper bottles [Click for VIDEO] Save space, stop spills, stop paint drying out (save money). You can even chuck them in a bag to go on holiday! This is the single biggest improvement to painting with kids! The flow improver mixed in means paints thinner and as you work from a palette (GW paint pads are perfect and can be cut in two to save money) kids put less on brush.
- Half brush rule! This is the only painting rule we have. No paint should be more than half way up the bristle of brush at any point. This means paint and brush used very carefully.
- Cheap brushes are fine - hobby shops often sell 3-5 for a few pounds
- Work on getting kids to do solid block colours then wash. This allows good results both fast and simply. Lighter undercoats work well as easier to see details. Contrast paints also very well received.
- Cheapest Models:
- Snap Fit space marines - cheap (ish) and kids able to assemble and paint.
- Boxed sets - especially if you can get scenery for yourself....
- Ebay for cheap models - vehicles especially.
- Colouring books are a great place to start working with paint and brushes. My youngest worked colouring in before more regularly moving to models. Also easy to chuck in a bag (with those dropper bottles!) to go with you or tidy away fast.
- Share mistakes!! Process of correcting errors important as kids see process and realise it's ok if things go wrong (not getting perfect first is single biggest frustration for kids.... and all of us I guess). Experiencing this is good for social and intellectual development as well
Introducing 40k to my kids
The first glimpse of 40K that my kids got was when I went on Steam and downloaded the original Dawn of War computer game as it was on sale. Seeing me play it they asked me about it. This lead me to begin talking about the universe of 40K. They were much more interested in the story of 40K than the computer game and we began to talk about it and I told them the various stories that I remembered from playing 40K when I was a kid myself.
Unfortunately this led to more questions! Who was the Emperor? Why are the Eldar dying out? What is an Ork? Whats Chaos? It reminded me of how rich, but also tragic the 40K universe is. Unsurprisingly the idea of a universe of terrible monsters and incredible deeds was very appealing to my eldest two in particular. I guess I should disclose at this point that I have 5 kids, currently 12,10,9,7 and 7 (planned for 4 but got twins!). |
They also liked hearing about what I had played, so stories of collecting, painting and playing were duly passed on.
It was only at this point that we actually had any sort of interaction with GW. We went on down to our local store for a look around. Bearing in mind I worked part time in the GW store in Oxford Street (the Plaza) in the mid 90's I thought it would be familiar but loads had changed! |
First of all the boards were now plastic and detailed, but there was no no fantasy battle? It turned out that chaos had won and it was all over! What the....! 40K was still there however. We picked up some figures and a starter paint set and got home for some painting. The kids loved this. Spent a nice weekend painting together, with the youngest two painting pictures. GW paint is water soluble! so easy to wash off!
Since then we picked up some codex's and then the new 8th edition rulebooks. These are regularly taken to bed and have to be saved as they fall asleep in them! It seems they are pretty sturdy and survive having the face of a drooling child peeled off them!
Sadly they have not followed me as a guard lover, instead my eldest (girl) like nurgle! the boys like Eldar and Tau.
Since then we picked up some codex's and then the new 8th edition rulebooks. These are regularly taken to bed and have to be saved as they fall asleep in them! It seems they are pretty sturdy and survive having the face of a drooling child peeled off them!
Sadly they have not followed me as a guard lover, instead my eldest (girl) like nurgle! the boys like Eldar and Tau.
Reflecting on involving them in the hobby I think its great for their literacy, although to be fair they eldest two devoured all the Harry Potter books as I'm 'one of those' dads that won't let them see film till they have read the books, and they like Roald Dahl, who has always had a dark core to his books. Its also led us down avenues of exploring historic events, as so much of GW stuff is linked to events/periods in real history.
Another benefit is the maths side of things. Even list building using power levels involves math, and we have played a bit with spreadsheets too (so some basic algebra) when working out points.
My biggest concern at the minute is cost. We have a 'nothing new' till everything is painted rule.
With summer holidays looming I hope to get a bit more time doing some modelling with them, will post updates.
Another benefit is the maths side of things. Even list building using power levels involves math, and we have played a bit with spreadsheets too (so some basic algebra) when working out points.
My biggest concern at the minute is cost. We have a 'nothing new' till everything is painted rule.
With summer holidays looming I hope to get a bit more time doing some modelling with them, will post updates.