This is one of our favourite activities in the art boxes we’ve been giving out so we thought it would be fun to try this week. We are using materials from around the house to make interesting ‘brushes’. It is fun to add some variety to what we use to make marks with the paint. This will keep it new and interesting for wee ones and also gives nice new textures for sensory exploration.
You need:
- Paint in trays or on a plate
- Paper
- Pegs if you have them (sticks and tape if you don’t)
- Interesting scavenged materials like cotton wool balls, kitchen towel, tin foil, packing card, bubble wrap, dish cloths, feathers, leaves etc
- Covered floor or table
This one is about trying out lots of different tools for getting paint onto the paper but it’s a fun treasure hunt and sensory exploration on the way. Your wee one can help you look for different textures and materials around the house. Let your wee one feel them all and talk about how they feel and what they might look like on the paper.
If you have babies still putting things in their mouths then make sure everything is large enough to be safe and that you know any plants are non toxic. As with all activities this needs to be supervised by a grown up.
Now you can make a ‘brush’ by pinching some of your finds into the end of a peg. Favourites of ours for making brushes are a feather, a bit of old dish cloth cut into strips so the end is raggy, a cotton ball, a bunch of leaves, some shredded bubble wrap and bit of dish sponge folded a couple of times. If you don’t have pegs you can also just tape your materials to the end of a twig or chop stick.
And then have fun testing them! They will get some interesting different results.
