Paintbrushes Not Permitted!

 

Art is an area that I absolutely love! There are no boundaries with what materials and tools you can use to create magnificent art pieces. Often in our classroom, I will set out different materials and tools that the children can paint with, other than paint brushes. I don't tell the children what they are to paint. It is up to them what they want to create. Recently, I set out some dandelions in a cup with brown, green, yellow, and white paint, paintbrushes, and some cut up pieces of cardboard as their canvas. I told the children they could paint the dandelions. Some children actually painted a still life picture of the dandelions (that is what I had intended for them to do) while some actually started to paint the dandelions (too funny!). Even a few painted the dandelions and then made impressions on the paper with them. When the children started to do this, I almost went to stop them because my intent was not to actually paint the flowers themselves but to paint a picture of them!!! But then I realized how creative they were being and the art pieces they produced were all so unique and different!

Abstract Art with Toothpicks
 

Potato Prints

Using cotton balls to decorate an Easter egg. It was fascinating to see how some children would dab with the cotton ball to make circle designs and others would slide the cotton ball across to make lines.

Bubble Wrap Art Prints

Potato Mashers.
The kids enjoyed mixing the colours together to see what different colours they could make.

Toothbrush Art
This picture is so beautiful! I love the way her lines streak across the page and her choice of colours.

Using forks to create art pieces. This student chose to create flowers.

Sponge Art.
After this student was done her art piece she labelled it with what tool she used and then the whole class gathered around her so she could show it off and explain how she created it.

Paper Towel Art.
It was interesting to see what technique they would choose to do with the rolls. Some would roll them along the paper while others would use the ends to do circle imprints.

Q-Tip Art

Pinecones and Scrap Wood Pieces.