painting with tea

As a part of our tea study we put away the paints and painted with bags of tea instead. The colors were so pretty and the room smelled quite fruity. The children experienced a number of senses as they painted with the bags.

I get to class up to an hour before the kiddos arrived so was able to heat up some water in the microwave warm enough to help the tea develop but cool enough that the bags would be cool to touch when the kiddos arrived.  You can do this with your kiddos at home as a science experiment by placing small containers of water containing a tea bag each outside in the sun. The children could make predictions on how long the tea would take to turn the water a happy color, what color each tea would turn the water, and what the breed tea would smell like. We used single-serve applesauce containers for our tea (the kiddos love saving their containers for our room).

I covered a table with white paper and popped the tea paint within reach on top. I am an avid tea drinker and friends send me tea so did not spend a penny but if you are looking to purchase tea for such a project basic black and green tea are different enough in color and scent to engage your kiddos (especially if you pick up a blend such as jasmine or pumpkin spice chai) and are easy enough to find at your grocery or dollar store. The red tea up above is a rooibos from Mighty Leaf. I really like Mighty Leaf as the fabric bags make it easy to see all the pretty inside. If you find you are without tea, to save some moolah I recommend a variety pack such as this (I am not affiliated with the company, I just really like their tea)!

What you need:
*2-4 varieties of tea in bags
*water for brewing
*heat or the sun to help brew the tea
*time (about an hour) to let the warm/hot tea cool
*small clear containers such as custard cups or clean single-use applesauce cups
*white paper, the thicker the better