painting with snakes!

 

an invitation to paint: with berry baskets

 

stamping with plastic eggs

 

paint with paper

 

painting with herbs and leaves

 

paint with cotton balls

 

In preschool we set up paint invitations daily. The easels are always open, there is always paint available at the painting wall, and the children know where they can get more paint, paper, and paintbrushes when needed. Sometimes, we set up a painting invitation in a new way to encourage the childen to explore paint differently. 

Here, we set up tinted paint (as we tell the children, a tint is when we add white paint to another color), black paper, and cotton balls with clothespins to act as brushes. 

painting with a straw

 

It takes a little coordination to paint with a straw. First you need to use your fine motor skills to transfer liquid watercolor from a paint cup to your paper, then you need to work on your hand-eye coordination to position the straw where you want it, then you have to remember to blow air through the straw, not suck up the paint! Sometimes, the paint is blown completely off the paper, sometimes the straw is abandoned and hands become brushes, and sometimes, the paper itself becomes the brush when it is picked up and tilted this way or that way. 

Have you tried painting with a straw? 

paint with veggies

veggies, and blossoms...chive blossoms... 

I tried my best to match paint to veggie colors but couldn't bear to add brown for the mushroom 

which seemed to be a favorite non-brush brush...

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

from the archives: alternative paintbrushes

check it out here.

last minute fireworks painting

Here's a fun and slightly messy fireworks painting project for your kidlets. This one is definitely for the outdoors. Beware of fits and giggles!

You will need:
*2 or more small bouncy balls.
*at least 1 pair of old tights or hose
*splat mat
*scissors
*white paper
*red and blue paint (or any other two colors you prefer)
*containers for the paint
*water to thin paint
*mess friendly clothes and work area

scrumdilly-do it!
Set up your work area by filling your containers with paint and water. I used a little too much water for mine so the colors are quite muted. Liquid watercolor or tempera is fine for this. You could even use food color and water if you wanted to.Have your kidlet cut the legs off the tights near the top where the legs meet.Pop a ball, I used large super balls, into each leg and shake it down to the toe. Add a knot just above the ball to ensure it stays in place.Toss your new paintbrushes into your pain mixture and let them soak up a bit of paint.When your tot is ready, pull out a "brush" and WHACK it onto the paper. It will make satisfying THWACK and splatter as it hits. Make sure your kidlet knows to only bounce their new brush onto the paper and NOT at their sibling or friend. Have your kidlet try different techniques. Try dropping the ball directly onto the paper or dragging it across for lines. Whatever you do, the more colors your tots use, the more fireworks-y their pictures will appear.Have fun and don't say I didn't warn ya!

Paint with dots! Lotsa lotsa dots!

Here are some pics from a recent class I taught. We did all of our "painting" and printmaking using items that would produce a dot. We first talked about Pissaro and Seraut and pointillism and then started with index cards and toothpicks.We worked our way up to larger cards and q-tips, paintbrush tips and crayon tips.
Then we got bigger and used the rims of cups and glasses and I passed out the parts of a chopped up swim noodle.

Things got a little wacky when we tried dotting our papers with marbles. The marbles took on a life of their own and produced some nifty experimentation! Have fun and don't limit yourself. Have your wee ones go on a circle hunt in the house to look for household items that would produce a circle. Start with a reading of the dot and have fun!