Painting and Art
Submitted by: Doug Warburton

Painting can be fun and creative for everyone involved. You can teach them how to use different tools to add a bit more excitement and textures to their masterpieces. This is easily done with soap, sponges, straws and even plastic! You can have an amazing amount of fun with so many simple things and teach them how to make so many different things and it will amaze them that you know how to do it. Also, it helps to create time with your children and they will love you for it!

You will need a variety of things, but not so much that it will empty you pocket!

List of supplies:

Table Cloth - Something like a picnic cloth would be ideal. They are plastic on top most of the time with felt underneath, and so they don't slip around too much and if water is spilled, you can clean it up pretty quick.

Paper - If you can choose paper that is more like the "construction" paper. A bit thicker so the paint doesn't leak thru.

Paint - The little water color paint kits with the brushes already in them will work great. A bonus is that these are washable if someone gets some on a shirt or pants or even maybe on the carpet!

Brushes - A small variety bag of different size brushes are not very expensive but can spark the imagination into places it might not have gone before.

Sponges - These are all sorts of fun because of the different textures that can be created as they are dabbed and smudged across the paper. You can use your imagination too by cutting a normal every day cleaning sponge into different sizes and shapes.

Straws - Straws are fun utensils because not only can they be used to create scraping textures you can use them to blow the paint around. Blowing art is enormous for all involved because not only can you create fantastic pictures you can hold paint races which will ensure no two pictures will turn out the same.

Plastic - Lunch bags will do just fine. Plastic sandwich bags or saran wrap is an interesting way to expand the mind as new textures are created.

Soapy Water - It’s not just for clean up time. Wait to see what can be created with some colored bubbles on the paper.

All of these are really cool for a bit of painting because they can be used so differently.

Now all you have to do is get some cups, plastic disposable are best, and fill them with some water. It does not have to be all the way to the top. Have one cup that is for rinsing only. The others are for getting soap into and it will depend on how many colors you want to have out to dictate how many cups you place.

Other items are the brushes, sponges and plastic and they are used to put paint from the dispenser onto the paper.

For the soap cups, add water, soap (dish soap) and color and mix. Take a small (thin straw, not like a McDonalds straw) and place it into the cup and then blow softly. It will start to make a bubble or perhaps more. You then take the paper and place it on top of the bubble and let the bubble reduce. It will leave a circular impression along with some of the color of the bubble from different parts that had color on it.

You can do this with many or just one color. It really is pretty cool, and your kids will like seeing that they have made something really neat. One tip is that if they want to do another color on the same piece of paper, have them clean the straw or their colors will mix.

For another project, have them take some paint with the brush and place a few brush fulls of paint on paper and then take the straw and blow. It will push the paint away from the main puddle, if you will, and branch out in what ever direction they want it to go.

The sponge is pretty basic as you have them just dip it in the paint and push it onto the paper. You can cut different things like squares or triangles into the sponge and let them squish away.

The plastic bag is pretty cool. You have them paint some paper with different colors and roll the bag all crumpled up on the wet paint, or you can have them paint and then dip the bag in the paint container and then roll it around. Either way, they will get some very unique art!

I hope you have fun with this! My girls had a blast and we sat for a couple of hours having fun. Problem now is finding enough space on the refrigerator, kitchen wall, dining room wall and a few other walls in order to put all of them up!

Have fun,

Doug