Total Time Needed: Weekend Project
By day, this cityscape mural makes a great backdrop for playing with toy cars and trucks. When the sun goes down, all it takes is a night-light to illuminate the buildings and night sky.
Materials
- Interior acrylic white wall paint
- 2 or 3 rectangular sponges of assorted sizes
- Paintbrush (optional)
- Interior acrylic glow-in-the-dark paint (generally available in several colors and sold at most hardware or craft stores)
- Night-light (the moon-shaped one shown here, manufactured by Lightning Bug Ltd., is battery-operated)
- 1 or 2 dozen glow-in-the-dark stars
Instructions
- First, make sure the wall you plan to decorate is clean and dry. Then pour a shallow layer of white wall paint into a flat-bottomed container (you need an opaque white undercoat to make the buildings clearly visible during daylight).
- Dip one of the sponges into the paint to evenly coat its surface, then holding it upright, evenly press the sponge against the wall just above the baseboard to create a "building" imprint. You may want to practice on newspaper until you are able to achieve an effect you like.
- Continue in this way, using all the sponges to stamp a row of buildings. You can even trim a sponge into a triangular roof or steeple shape or use a paintbrush to add finer details.
- Once the paint is dry, use the same method to apply a topcoat of glow-in-the-dark paint to all the buildings.
- Let the final coat dry thoroughly. Then attach the night-light and glow-in-the-dark stars to the wall.
